Hospital doctor tells mother 'not to speak Welsh' to her daughter

[geardaddy]

A hospital has apologised after a doctor asked a mum and her daughter to stop speaking Welsh.

The North Wales mum had taken her 15-year-old daughter to the emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan on Tuesday.

She said the doctor had made the comment when she was treating her daughter.

While the mum and daughter had a discussion in Welsh, the mum claimed the doctor said she would take it as a “personal insult” to her if they continued speaking in their own language

The mum said her daughter "was crying and upset.” She said her daughter replied that she had a right to speak Welsh.

Afterwards, the doctor apologised.

Yesterday, Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board apologised for what it called an “insensitive and unacceptable” comment.

More at link:http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/hospital-doctor-tells-mother-not-7063663

[shenmue]

1. Yipes

There's no reason for that.

[WhiteTara]

6. assholes everywhere. nt

[LeftishBrit]

2. Unforgivable

Especially with a young patient and her mother in a hospital.

And Welsh is one of the official languages in Wales (not that this behaviour would have been acceptable with regard to a foreign language, either.)

[Mr Sancho Panza]

3. Personal insecurity?

Sounds like the good doctor was afraid that mum and daughter might be talking about her right in front of her face. OH the aggravation of not knowing what foreign speaking people are saying! Pfft. At least she apologized.

[Warpy]

5. That's what a lot of xenophobes think

Clue phone: you're not that important and the conversation is rarely about you unless you're being a total putz.

I got to understand a lot of bits and pieces when I lived in Boston and I can tell you the conversation was never about me, even when I was overtired and cranky.

[Warpy]

4. Doctor Insensitive needs to work at a big teaching hospital

in any city in this country. S/he would never get out alive.

[Leith]

7. I Lived in Japan for 3 Yearsin My Youth

My "foreign" friends were from the US, Canada, Australia, & the UK, and naturally we spoke English. We talked about things that were interesting to us: other friends, plans, etc. We didn't talk about anything that anyone else would be interested in. I learned then that people speaking a foreign language around me were just talking about stuff that nobody else would be interested in - least of all talking smack about people.

I sat near the bilingual person who chatted a lot with his friends and on the phone in Spanish. I studied Spanish about 6 years in high school and college, but it faded away over the years. But listening to the Spanish speakers, I picked up a lot of it again even though I couldn't really put together a good sentence in the language. And they weren't talking about anything that others would be interested in.

People really need to let go of their paranoia.

[FreedRadical]

8. Is welsh not english?

I'm sure I could just look it up, but on the surface this doesn't make since to me.

[WinkyDink]

9. No, it is decidedly not!! (Yes, please look it up.)

[FreedRadical]

10. I will. I think I just assumed it was.

[FreedRadical]

12. Oops. Pardon me me.

Last edited Sun May 4, 2014, 07:17 PM - Edit history (1)

Didn't mean to offend anyone. Seems something of a touchy subject.

Looks like one of the world's endangered languages.

From wiki:Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric.

Four periods are identified in the history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: The period immediately following the language's emergence from Brittonic is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh;[20] this was followed by the Old Welsh period, considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to the 12th century.[20] The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh.

The name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning "foreign speech" (see Walha). The native term for the language is Cymraeg and Cymru for "Wales

[Siwsan]

15. I'm currently working on learning Welsh

My Grandfather spoke Welsh, as a child. My ultimate dream is to retire to North Wales and while I will likely never be fluent, I can at least put in a good faith effort.

[subterranean]

11. Not even close.

Here's an example (from Wikipedia):

English: I get up early every day.
Welsh: Codaf yn gynnar bob dydd.

Even in writing, it bears no resemblance to English.

[MADem]

20. But in speaking, you can get every fifth word. Maybe every tenth!

You have to tune your ear, though.

[LeftishBrit]

23. No. In fact, English has a lot less in common with the Welsh language than with French or German

The most closely related language to Welsh, that is still spoken, is Breton.

About 20% of people in Wales can speak Welsh (many of these also speak English), and the number is going up. One of my oldest friends is an English woman living in Wales; her partner is also English, and neither speaks much Welsh. But their kids go to a Welsh-medium school and are bilingual.

[mwooldri]

25. If you're interested...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newyddion/ - BBC's output in Welsh

http://www.s4c.co.uk/ - Channel 4 Wales, now 100% Welsh.

In Wales, the language has official status. It's mandatory at school, all government documents must be available in Welsh as well as English.

[Marshall III]

13. Actually there is a legitimate, medical reason, not to speak Welsh in front of a doctor.....

it can be mistaken for Shetland, which is a "little horse" (pony actually).

You don't want your doctor to think your voice is a little horese unless it actually is. Don't want a bad diagnosis......

[Wolf Frankula]

14. Hitz egin Keltar Izkunea, ama

Speak the Galtar language mother. You daughter should hear her people's speech.

Wolf

[mahina]

16. Where were they again? Oh, right, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan.

I'm offended that the place has a Welsh name.

That doc is a wanker.

[MADem]

17. My favorite Welsh word is Ysbyty!

No one who isn't from there (or visited) knows how to pronounce it.

As be ta (hospital)!!

The comments in that article are enlightening.

[geardaddy]

18. uhs-buh-tee

[MADem]

19. Every Welsh person I knew called it Aaahs bah tah--maybe Uhs buh tuh...

I never heard it pronounced with the tee at the end!

[geardaddy]

21. It's a shortened 'tee' somewhere between 'tee' and 'tuh'

In South Wales, it's definitely a stronger 'tee' sounds.

[MADem]

22. I need to thank you! And yes, you are right and I misremembered!

I called an old friend in Wales (I have an annual conversation with the family, it's a bit of a tradition, sort of like the Christmas card letter only we do it by phone and we don't do it at Christmas, either--we often do it as the days get longer, because that reminds us of Welsh summers) after our little conversation here and he put me straight (it's been many years since I've been to Wales and I never learned more than a few trouble-making words).

You're quite right, the way he said it was with the tee at the end!

I must have been thinking of some other word...probably a swear, knowing me!

[geardaddy]

24. No problem.