Sir, To the majority in Wales, Welsh is neither a “linguistic millstone”, nor a tool of Welsh nationalists “with inflated egos” (“Census language”, letter, Mar 11). It is the bedrock of a culture that is thousands of years old (older than English), and it is the language that many use as their primary method of communicating in their daily lives: parents to children, colleagues to colleagues, professionals to professionals.
Undertaking a census in someone’s primary language is therefore both practically logical but it is also a fundamental mark of cultural respect.
Jack Edmondson
Oxford
Sir, Leaving aside the patronising opinions on the Welsh language and its usefulness, many years ago I met a woman who lived on a remote farm in Carmarthenshire and who was a Second World War refugee.
She spoke only Dutch and Welsh.
Gaynor Madoc Leonard
London NW3
Sir, If we really want to know if the nation wants electoral reform, could the matter not have been included as a question in the census form?
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Laura Greenaway
Bloxham, Oxon