Newyddion gwych – that’s ‘great news’ for you non-Welsh speakers
Welsh is the fastest growing language in the UK, according to an end-of-year report from language education app Duolingo.
The number of people taking up Welsh as a new language rose by 44% on last year’s figures, making Welsh the ninth most popular language to learn in the UK.
People learning Welsh are also some of the most serious language studiers in the world, according to the stats. They rank third behind Esperanto and Norwegian learners for racking up the longest learning streaks, as well as coming in third for the average number of completed lessons.
To date, over 1.5 million people have started learning Welsh on Duolingo.
According to Duolingo, “The shift is down to people wanting to learn Welsh to connect with the country and see Welsh thrive as a language.
“This is partly driven by education, with 23% choosing school as their primary motivation – but it is also much broader. Many people now want to learn because they have an interest in Welsh culture and heritage.”
About 29% of people in Wales speak Welsh, both as a primary and secondary language. The Welsh government has ambitious plans to increase this, and have over one million people speaking the native language by 2050.
Welsh was named the fastest growing language in the UK, followed by Hindi, Japanese, Turkish and French.
Globally, the UK is one of the ‘hardest working’ countries when it comes to learning languages on Duolingo, ranking 11th out of 190, measured by average number of lessons completed.
