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Theme 3:

Creating favourable conditions – infrastructure and context

In the preceding themes we have explained what needs to be done to
increase the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050, and what
changes are required to achieve an increase in the use of Welsh. Under
this theme we discuss the changes we need to see over the next three
decades to support efforts to increase the number of speakers and
the use of Welsh. This is about creating suitable conditions and an
environment where the Welsh language and its speakers can thrive.

The economy is integral to creating the social conditions where Welsh speakers can stay in Welsh-
speaking communities, or return to those communities. While we cannot control every factor
which influences economic growth, there are things which we can influence. These include skills,
the prestige placed on the Welsh language, the location of public sector jobs, clusters, ensuring that
the Welsh language is seen as a valuable skill in large developments, and opportunities to use those
skills.

In order to facilitate an increase in the number of Welsh speakers, raise their confidence and enable
the language to be used in a variety of settings, digital resources, a healthy and diverse media, a
modern and responsive translation profession which makes full benefit of the latest technology,
and language resources (dictionaries, terminologies, and corpora) are required. These are all
elements that reflect and maintain the Welsh language’s status as a living language, and are
essential for Welsh speakers whatever their ability.

For the strategy to succeed we need to share responsibility for language planning across a
wider range of organisations, and in doing so build capacity and expertise in language planning,
and increase understanding of bilingualism.

In order to be able to measure the effectiveness of our interventions and develop future policy on
the basis of evidence, it is essential that we continue to develop our programme of research and
evaluation for the Welsh language. We will do this by working in collaboration with research
partners in Wales and beyond.

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