I know nothing about Welsh, so could I ask you a couple of direct questions?
Is Welsh a real language, or was it "restored" (i.e. invented, with inclusions from real historical sources, like so many "real" languages today, starting with Hebrew)? Is it alive (i.e. being really used by the population) or is it a language for a sort of semi-nationalistic, semi-multicultural posing in the mass media?
No, it's alive and well, and has existed continuously since Roman times. There are significant differences between the north and the south of the country. For instance "I have a cat" is "Mae cath gyda fi" in the south, and "Mae cath gen i" in the north. What the grammar book claims is correct, and what people actually say in real life often differs a lot too, especially with verb forms
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Also, the BBC has discovered in the past few years that large numbers of people enjoy watching atmospheric crime and thriller shows in other languages, with subtitles, as long as they had great cinematography and stories.
UK viewers don't like dubbing on live action shows, it's seen as tacky and low-budget, and the received wisdom was that people were too lazy to read subtitles on entertainment shows. The BBC started showing Borgen and Forbrydelsen from Denmark (with subtitles) though, because they bought them cheap, and they were a huge, huge hit, so they started showing French shows like Engrenages and les Revenants too, and they were also a massive hit, so the time seemed right for a high budget Welsh/English crime thriller.
It's real and alive - one of the oddities of Torchwood was that they never showed anyone actually speaking Welsh in any episode, despite being set there.
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Is Welsh a real language, or was it "restored" (i.e. invented, with inclusions from real historical sources, like so many "real" languages today, starting with Hebrew)?
Is it alive (i.e. being really used by the population) or is it a language for a sort of semi-nationalistic, semi-multicultural posing in the mass media?
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UK viewers don't like dubbing on live action shows, it's seen as tacky and low-budget, and the received wisdom was that people were too lazy to read subtitles on entertainment shows. The BBC started showing Borgen and Forbrydelsen from Denmark (with subtitles) though, because they bought them cheap, and they were a huge, huge hit, so they started showing French shows like Engrenages and les Revenants too, and they were also a massive hit, so the time seemed right for a high budget Welsh/English crime thriller.
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That was a really vague trailer.
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