Maddi Dorronsoro Olamusu on a research visit to Wales
From February 16-23, our colleague Maddi Dorronsoro Olamusu was on a research visit in Wales. The Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies at the University of Wales invited Maddi as part of their research and policy work focussing on the contemporary social use of the Welsh language. Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of the Centre, organised an eventful schedule crossing Wales from South to North and introduced her to various actors working on the Welsh language, such as governmental institutions, NGOs, researchers, teachers and community members.
Commission for Welsh-Speaking Communities
Set up by the Welsh Government in 2022, the Commission for Welsh-Speaking Communities is an independent body that makes recommendations to strengthen public policy regarding language sustainability in communities, and the use of Welsh as a social language. The Commission met in Merthyr-Tudful where they visited the local community centre and learned about their work using the Welsh language as a tool for community development. Afterwards, the Commission gathered in a roundtable and Maddi had the opportunity to present her ongoing research on the heartlands of Basque or arnasguneak.
University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
The University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth is home to several multi-partner and interdisciplinary research projects and is located on the site of the National Library of Wales. Maddi visited the centre where she met the Staff of the Dictionary of the Welsh Language and several visiting researchers working on different Celtic languages and had the chance to visit the National Library.
The BRO Survey
The University of Wales is currently conducting fieldwork for the BRO Survey, which is a Comprehensive Sociolinguistic Survey of Contemporary Welsh-speaking Communities focusing on the areas where the density of Welsh speakers is high. This survey is based on the research previously conducted on Scottish Gaelic. Maddi joined the research team in Blaenau Ffestiniog, a post-industrial town of 5000 with over 70% of the inhabitants being Welsh speakers, where they carried out door-to-door interviews.
Welsh Medium School and Language Centre in Bangor
The Ysgol Tryfan is a secondary school in the city of Bangor that teaches most of the subjects through the medium of Welsh. Maddi spent a morning there and had the opportunity to chat with some teachers about their work teaching languages, the sociolinguistic context surrounding the school and the language attitudes of pupils, among other topics. Also, Maddi visited the Tryfan Secondary Language Centre, which is in an adjacent building. This Language Centre aims to provide an intensive Welsh course to non-Welsh-speaking children who recently moved to the County of Gwynedd to help them integrate into the local bilingual society.
The research visit was full of insightful discussions, allowing Maddi to learn from her Welsh colleagues while sharing her research. Thank you to everyone who was part of this visit, particularly Elin, for making our colleague feel at home!
