Currently browsing tag

Welsh

Translation app launched by Welsh language theatre company

The Telegraph has reported on a new app launched by a Welsh language theatre company, designed to allow audiences to listen to its plays in other languages. The app is called Sibrwd (meaning Whisper in Welsh) and will allow audiences of the Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru to listen to lines from particular scenes through their headphones, an experience which is hoped to provide a more “fulfilling experience” for theatre-goers than subtitles. Continue reading →

Did the Welsh win the battle of Agincourt?

It is often said that Welsh archers were the reason why Henry V won the battle of Agincourt. But recent research by Dr Adam Chapman at the University of Southampton has looked more closely at the Welsh archers raised for the invasion of France in 1415. (Read his posting of 1 March 2013). He drew on financial records and muster lists in the National Archives at Kew (especially TNA E101/46/20). Continue reading →

Polish now England’s second language

The Guardian newspaper has reported that Polish is now the main language spoken in England and Wales after English and Welsh, according to figures from the 2011 census released by the Office of National Statistics. Language-speaking figures were recorded for the first time in the census of 56.1 million people in England and Wales. Of these, the census data reveals that 545,000 speak Polish, making Polish the second main language in England. Continue reading →