Nearly three in five people in Wales believe that there is a need to improve the status of the Welsh language further, a BBC survey suggests.

The study was commissioned by BBC Radio Cymru to mark 50 years since the Tynged yr laith (Fate of the Language) lecture. This lecture is seen as the most important in Welsh politics, where Plaid Cymru founder Saunders Lewis predicted the decline of the Welsh language. Lewis, who spoke on 13^th February 1962, argued that revolutionary means were needed to save the Welsh language.

Radio Cymru’s recent investigation surveyed 510 Welsh speakers and 510 non-Welsh speakers. Of those surveyed, 72% believe that providing an education in the Welsh language for Welsh school children is the most important way to protect the Welsh language.

Last month, chair of the Cymdeithas yr laith (The Welsh Language Society) Bethan Williams, said that protecting the Welsh language is their primary goal. “Some people say that the struggle for the Welsh language is over, but we don’t want to see it just as a marginal language, or as a language of education only.

“Now, as we step forward to the next period in our campaigning we are turning our sights to our communities, and ensuring that Welsh is a living language, used day to day,” she told the BBC.

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