its singers; and if the language perishes that perishes too. One cannot hope to enter fully into any national culture without a knowledge of the national language; this is peculiarly true of Wales. A great deal may be done, of course, through translation, always remembering that there is a point beyond which translation is almost powerless. The characteristic features of Welsh poetry written in the "strict" metres, for example, cannot be well conveyed by translation.
The importance of the Welsh language in the school curriculum cannot therefore be over-emphasised, and this will be the theme of the next chapter.
2
Language Study
WALES IS ONE OF SEVERAL BILINGUAL COUNTRIES. THE TERM "bilingual" however is so elastic that it is necessary to define the extent of "bilingualism" in a country before discussing the effect of bilingualism on the educational problem. The paragraph in the Norwood Report quoted previously gives the broad general picture. The following figures taken from the Census figures for 1931, describe the position in its quantitative aspect.
| Total Population (3 years of age and over) | Welsh-speaking only | English and Welsh-speaking | English-speaking only |
| 2,472,378 | 97,932 | 811,329 | 1,563,117 |
Bilingualism is not a problem peculiar to Wales; it is as acute in countries like Belgium and South Africa. But conditions in bilingual countries differ considerably, and while one may usefully examine the solutions arrived at in other countries, it by no means follows that those solutions would be appropriate in Wales. In other countries a solution has been arrived at by a central government, and its terms have been applied generally throughout the schools, and in some cases, within the higher educational institutions, but that is not the position in Wales. We are still seeking our complete solutions but their application cannot be imposed from above: the genius of educational administration in this country requires a co-operation between central and local government, administrators and teachers, public representatives and parents.
