Translate the text from English to Welsh.



 
### Wales Millenium Centre, 7 February 2023



> "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”


Those words belong to philosopher poet George Santayana.


They tell us that to ensure our language’s future, we must learn lessons from our past. And when we learn those lessons, I wonder if we’ll be doing things differently?


That’s why I’m so glad to be here to launch the 'Stori’r Iaith' programme together with a new partnership between Cymraeg 2050 and S4C.


By examining our heritage as 'Stori’r Iaith' does, we can understand the challenges our language has faced over time.


It’s important for us to know our story.


And everyone’s story is different, personal, and emotional.


I know 'Stori’r Iaith' will be looking at Welsh language statistics. And I want to say frankly that the recent census headline figures were disappointing, and not what I was hoping to see.


I also want to say that I’m an optimist by nature and that there’s more to the story than just the headlines, and there’s more to our language than just the census results.


So what do we have to do differently?


For one thing, we have to listen—deeply—to what the people of Wales are saying about the Cymraeg. And more than just listening, we need to hearwhat they say.


And maybe hear things we wouldn’t want to hear. What else?


* We need to understand Welsh language confidence issues people raise with me.
* We need to understand what could help more people of all types use more Welsh.
* We need to understand Welsh speakers’ fears when it comes to using their language in formal or unfamiliar situations.


And a whole lot more.


And on top of all that, we need to meet people where they’re at, as it were, and not assume that everyone feels like we ourselves do about the Welsh language.


I’ve said that Cymraeg is more than just something I speak, it’s something I feel.


But for some of course, Welsh is just something they speak. Or something they could speak if an appropriate opportunity were available.


So that deep listening I mentioned is important—as is hearing what people have got to say. And I hope we can do a lot of that with the Memorandum we’re publishing tonight.


That MOU is just a skeleton. It sets a framework to collaborate with each other.


So, what could it do?


It could help us collaborate with people who’ve had a Welsh\-medium education but aren’t confident to use it after leaving school. One question that*I*have is whether the problem is the lack of opportunity, or the formality of Welsh used in education, or something else, perhaps? What do you think?


It could help us to get a lot more English and Welsh subtitles on S4C programmes by using the S4C archive to train speech recognition technology. Using stories of the past to help people of the future understand and use more Cymraeg!


It could see a lot more collaboration between us and others on activities for young people to enjoy in Welsh. ‘Monolingual spaces’ as it were.


And we’ll work together to understand who Welsh speakers of the future might be, where they’re likely to be, and how often they might use their Welsh.


And just a quick little note to emphasise that it’s not the role of government to create or manage S4C content. There’s nothing in this MOU that affects S4C’s editorial freedom. And that’s just how it should be!


Before concluding, I want to turn my sights to one of the most critical areas of the MOU—one of the most critical areas of language policy, which is the intergenerational transmission of Welsh. And that’s a lot more to that just encouraging parents to send their children to a Welsh medium school.


We already know that the majority (69%) of young Welsh speakers started learning to speak Welsh at school. We know that not all those ‘new’ Welsh speakers will necessarily use Welsh with their own children later in life.


We also know that those who did acquire their Cymraeg at home use the language more often than those who learned it any other way.


So I’m looking forward to working together with S4C on Welsh language transmission so that more people who didn’t have Cymraeg in their homes as children will use it with their own children in the future.


So as we remember Santayana’s words that I quoted earlier, we need to work together to learn lessons from our past to help our language in the future. That future depends on more than just us and S4C obviously. My main message is that it’s important for each of us to listen deeply to a range of different people as they share their experience of Cymraeg. That’s what 'Stori’r Iaith'does and that’s what I’ll also be doing between now and the national Eisteddfod. Together we can succeed, if we to listen, hear, and act on the reality of the everyday experience of all kinds of Welsh speakers.







Translation:


 
### Canolfan Mileniwm, Cymru, 7 Chwefror 2023



> "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”


Dyna ddywedodd yr athronydd o fardd George Santayana.


Mae’r dyfyniad yna yn dweud wrthon ni: er mwyn sicrhau dyfodol i’n hiaith ni, mae’n rhaid dysgu gwersi o’n gorffennol. Ac o ddysgu’r gwersi hynny, tybed a oes rhaid i ni weithio’n wahanol?


Dyna pam dwi mor falch o fod yma wrth lansio rhaglen 'Stori’r Iaith' a phartneriaeth newydd gydag S4C.


Drwy edrych ar ein treftadaeth ni fel mae 'Stori’r Iaith' yn ei wneud, mae modd i ni ddeall yr heriau mae’n hiaith ni wedi eu hwynebu dros amser.


Mae’n bwysig ein bod ni’n gwybod ein stori.


Ac mae stori pawb yn wahanol, yn bersonol, yn emosiynol.


Dwi’n gwybod bydd 'Stori’r Iaith'yn edrych ar ystadegau’r Gymraeg. A dwi eisiau dweud yn blaen bod penawdau diweddara’r cyfrifiad yn siomedig, ac nad dyna roeddwn i’n eisiau ei weld.


Dwi hefyd eisiau dweud mod i’n optimistaidd wrth reddf a bod mwy i’r stori honno na jest y pennawd, ac mae mwy i’n hiaith ni na jest canlyniadau’r cyfrifiad.


Felly beth mae’n rhaid i ni neud yn wahanol?


Yn un peth, mae’n rhaid i ni wrando—ond gwrando’n ddwfn ar beth mae pobl Cymru yn ei ddweud am y Gymraeg. Ac yn fwy na jyst gwrando, mae’n bwysig ein bod ni’n clywed.


Ac efallai clywed pethe fydden ni ddim yn dymuno eu clywed. Beth arall?


* Mae angen i ni ddeall y problemau hyder mae pobl yn eu codi gyda fi.
* Mae angen i ni ddeall beth allai helpu mwy o bobl o bob math i ddefnyddio mwy ar y Gymraeg.
* Mae angen i ni ddeall ofnau siaradwyr Cymraeg o ran defnyddio’u hiaith nhw mewn sefyllfaoedd ffurfiol neu anghyfarwydd.


A llawer mwy.


Ac ar ben hynny oll, mae angen i ni gwrdd â phobl le maen nhw, fel petai, a ddim cymryd yn ganiataol bod pawb yn teimlo fel ni, caredigion yr iaith, am y Gymraeg.


Dwi wedi dweud bod y Gymraeg yn fwy na jest rhywbeth dwi’n ei siarad, mae’n rhywbeth dwi’n ei deimlo.


Ond i rai wrth gwrs, mae’r Gymraeg jest yn rhywbeth maen nhw’n ei siarad. Neu rhywbeth gallen nhw ei siarad pe bai cyfle priodol ar gael.


Felly mae’n bwysig gwrando’n ddwfn—a chlywed. A dwi’n gobeithio bydd modd gwneud lot o hynny ar sail y Memorandwm ry’n ni’n ei gyhoeddi heno.


Dim ond sgerbwd yw’r MOU ‘na. Gosod fframwaith i weithio gyda’n gilydd mae fe.


Felly beth allai fe wneud?


Fe allai fe helpu i ni weithio gyda phobl sy wedi derbyn addysg Gymraeg ond sy ddim yn hyderus i’w defnyddio hi ar ôl gadael ysgol. Un cwestiwn sy gyda fi o ran y bobl hynny yw ai diffyg cyfle yw’r broblem neu ffurfioldeb iaith addysg, neu rywbeth arall? Beth rydych chi’n ei feddwl?


Fe allai fe helpu i ni gael lot mwy o is\-deitlau Cymraeg a Saesneg ar raglenni S4C drwy ddefnyddio archif S4C i hyfforddi technoleg adnabod lleferydd. Defnyddio straeon y gorffennol i helpu pobl y dyfodol i ddeall a defnyddio mwy o Gymraeg!


Fe allai fe weld lot mwy o gydweithio rhyngon ni ac eraill ar weithgareddau i bobl ifanc fwynhau yn Gymraeg. ‘Gofodau uniaith’ os hoffwch chi.


Ac fe fyddwn ni’n gweithio gyda’n gilydd i ddeall pwy allai fod yn siaradwyr Cymraeg y dyfodol, ble maen nhw’n debygol o fod, a pha mor aml y gallen nhw ddefnyddio eu Cymraeg.


A jyst nodyn bach sydyn i bwysleisio nad rôl llywodraeth yw creu na rheoli cynnwys S4C. Does dim yn yr MOU sy’n effeithio ar ryddid golygyddol S4C. Ac fel yna y dylai fe fod wrth gwrs!


Cyn cloi, dwi eisiau jyst troi fy ngolygon at un o feysydd pwysicaf yr MOU—un o feysydd pwysicaf polisi iaith mewn gwirionedd, sef trosglwyddo’r Gymraeg rhwng rhieni a’u plant. Ac mae hynny lot yn fwy na jyst annog rhieni i anfon eu plant i ysgol Gymraeg.


Ry’n ni’n gwybod yn barod bod mwyafrif (69%) y siaradwyr Cymraeg ifanc wedi dechrau dysgu siarad Cymraeg yn yr ysgol. Ry’n ni’n gwybod nad yw’r holl siaradwyr Cymraeg ‘newydd’ yna o reidrwydd yn defnyddio’r Gymraeg gyda’u plant eu hunain nes ymlaen yn eu bywydau.


Ry’n ni hefyd yn gwybod bod y rhai sydd wedi caffael y Gymraeg ar yr aelwyd yn defnyddio’r iaith yn amlach na’r rhai sydd wedi ei dysgu mewn unrhyw ffordd arall.


Felly dwi’n edrych ymlaen at y cydweithio gydag S4C ym maes trosglwyddo’r Gymraeg fel bo mwy o bobl wnaeth ddim cael y Gymraeg yn eu cartrefi pan oedden nhw’n blant yn defnyddio’r Gymraeg gyda’u plant nhw yn y dyfodol.


Dyna ni, felly, cofiwn ni eiriau Santayana a ddyfynnais i’n gynharach. Gweithio gyda’n gilydd i ddysgu gwersi o’n gorffennol i helpu’n hiaith ni yn y dyfodol. Mae’r dyfodol ‘na yn dibynnu ar fwy na jyst ni ac S4C wrth reswm. Fy mhrif neges i yw ei bod hi’n bwysig i bob un ohonon ni wrando’n ddwfn ar ystod o wahanol bobl wrth iddyn nhw rannu o’u profiad nhw o’r Gymraeg. Dyna beth mae 'Stori’r Iaith' yn ei wneud a dyna beth bydda i’n ei wneud hefyd rhwng nawr a’r Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. Gyda’n gilydd ma llwyddo, ond i ni wrando, clywed, a gweithredu ar sail realiti profiad bob dydd pob math o siaradwyr Cymraeg.