... and the English crown. Furthermore, the act said that English should be the only language of the courts in Wales and that the sole use of Welsh would debar one from administrative office. On the linguistic side, the translation of the Bible in Welsh in 1588 did much to standardise the language and provide a basis for the development of the language as it is spoken and written today. However, despite this standardisation, four principal dialects can still be identified today. According to "History and Status of the Welsh language" by the Welsh Language Board (http://www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk/), at the beginning of the twentieth century, Welsh was spoken by almost half of the population of Wales. Towards the end of the second millennium, this figure had fallen to around twenty percent for numerous reasons. In an attempt to arrest the decline in numbers speaking Welsh, a first Welsh Language Act, which permitted ...

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