Prepared by Ida Wrzesień from Kolegium Karkonoskie in Jelenia Góra

Speaker four - Cerys

My name is Cerys. I’m 28 years old and I’ve lived in Wales all my life. I’m originally from a place called Beddworth , which is in the south-east of Wales. It’s near Caerphilly. Caerphilly has the huge castle I think you might’ve been to. Er, I went the university in Swansea. That’s in the West Wales, on the coast. It’s a beautiful city with natural parks and the coastline and all that sort of thing. I’m working in the Backpackers now. Only’ve been here for two months because I went backpacking myself all around Australia and New Zealand. And I’ve seen all of that, all those countries and so now I want to tell everyone that to appreciate Wales, all the people that come here, show them where to go and that sort of things cos it’s so nice here.

Q: Okay, um. So could you tell me what in your opinion makes Wales so unique?

A: Er ... we still have our own language so although we are a part of the United Kingdom, Welsh is spoken quite widely mainly in the north and west of Wales, not so much in the south here; more city dwellers and people coming in and so we need to speak English more. Um. We’ve got great history and heritage in Wales. And the people are generally very, very friendly, and most travellers that come here have normally come from London and then they come to Wales and they can’t believe the difference. And they come for a day and end up staying for weeks and weeks cos it’s so nice. (A laugh) The weather isn’t so good but ... eh ... I don’t know really.  Well, see, we’ve got everything, as well: big cities, coastline, mountain ranges and it’s pretty unspoiled. Still a lot of greenery and all that here.

Q: So you’ve said that the language and the history constitute the identity of the Welsh.

A: Welsh people are also very proud to be Welsh. And they get rather annoyed if they get called English. We don’t even like British very much, really. We always introduce ourselves as Welsh. Er ... and my generation weren’t taught the Welsh language at school so more and more of us, myself included, are learning it as adults, because we don’t want the language to die out. And it’s like a ... It’s a choice, it isn’t a thing, nobody is forced to learn it. And the universities provide it really cheaply, just so that the culture can live on, that sort of thing. Er ... Rugby is rather a big passion here. I’m a girl and I even played rugby at school. Our na ... our national team isn’t so good anymore. But they still have a huge huge following. And when Wales play in Cardiff, and the Millennium stadium is always full. And the city is pedestrianised and it’s a big event for, you know, for families, or groups of girls, groups of boys. It’s a non violent fun-sport and there are never ever any trouble.

Q: Okay, the next question. Maybe ... er ...  Um, okay. Are there any stereotypes about the Welsh people, so called Welsh jokes?

A: Yeah, there are lots of jokes about but, oh, it’s a bit rude. They call us sheepshaggers.  Do you understand? Because, oh, there are loads of sheep in Wales and, er, and, you know, people just sort of think that we live up the mountains and we all wear wellington boots and we all have sheep as pets. So that was typical. Er ... if you see like caricatures, as well, they’re normally of sheep or coalminers because ... er ... there’s another really important part of Welsh history. There’s a colliery in nearly every single village in Wales. Um, the coal isn’t so widely used anymore and that’s why a lot of jobs are lost, people made redundant because they don’t have them any on / more.   And it is now, and they’re now tourist attractions: the Big Pit and the Rhondda Heritage Park. So people can go underground and see what life was really like for the miners. But you will see caricatures of ... of coalminers and ... and they think that the Welsh people are stupid and they just go down the pit or have sheep as pets.

Q: Are the young people, the younger generation, in Wales different in any way from the young people from the rest of the UK?

A: Um, I don’t really think there’s much of a difference. I would say the Celtic nations like Wales, Scotland and Ireland they seem to be more proud of where they’re from than the English and they’re much more friendly but I don’t think it’s just the youngsters. I think it’s just the nation as a whole that the Celts are a different, different breed to the English people. Um, it’s because we’re smaller, as well, a smaller country and so we like to just to be proud of it. Sorry (Carrey has to answer a phone).

Q: How is Cardiff different from the rest of Wales?

A: Cardiff’s quite a cultural city. We get the most, more tourists than any other part of Wales; they all come here. It’s small enough to get around easily, yet it’s big enough to feel like you’re in a city. And I think Cardiff’s got everything. Like at the moment, there’s the Cardiff Festival so there’s a lot of free events going on. The Cardiff Bay has recently been redeveloped and regenerated, (some clattering noise in the room) becoming ...  oh, it’s becoming more, more of a modern... um ... European city, Cardiff. Whereas if you go out into the Valleys, you get more of a sense of a community. Everybody knows everybody, and knows everybody’s business. People don’t lock the doors in the Valleys. It’s quite old-fashioned in that way. There’s not much crime out there whereas in Cardiff itself it might be a little bit more. (More noises further away in the room) …. Singing is another thing about Wales, as well, as I forgot to say that earlier. We’ve got a reputation for being really good singers, the Welsh, and there’s a lot of choirs, male-voice choirs that tour all around the world and again (the phone ringing).  You’ll find ... um ... if you go in any record shop CDs of different choirs and things, and they all mostly sing in Welsh, as well. ‘can play you a few songs if you want (a laugh).