Welsh

Y Tywysog Bach, in Welsh.

Welsh (Cymraeg / y Gymraeg) is a Brittonic language of the Celtic language family that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, a country within the United Kingdom. Historically, it has also been known in English as British, Cambrian, Cambric, and Cymri.

Welsh is traditionally written using the Latin script. Welsh pronunciation can be quite different from English. It features various vowel sounds, including long and short vowels. The Welsh alphabet includes some additional letters not found in English, such as “ll,” “ch,” “dd,” “ff,” “ng,” and “rh.” These represent distinct sounds in the Welsh language.

About 550 thousand people (19.0% of the population of Wales) aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales, making it the only language that is de jure official in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being de facto official. The Welsh government plans to have one million Welsh language speakers by 2050. Welsh is the most vibrant of the Celtic languages in terms of active speakers, and is the only Celtic language not considered endangered by UNESCO.