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Some areas with a lower percentage of Welsh speakers have seen an increase in the number of
Welsh speakers over recent years, following the growth of Welsh-medium education, and
mobility trends which see people moving from rural areas to urban areas – and from the north
and west to the south-east. This has led to the strengthening
of the language in some areas, bringing Welsh language capacity to the workplaces and the
economy of the south, which in itself is slowly enhancing the status of the language.
The challenge in these areas, where Welsh is heard less often than in areas of higher
percentages of Welsh speakers, is to expand the
opportunities for people to be able to use the language in their daily life.

Life-course approach

This strategy recognises the key contribution of language transmission in the home to the future
vitality of the Welsh language. However, we also acknowledge that we cannot ensure an increase
in the number of speakers on the required scale by increasing transmission rates alone. The
contribution of speakers who acquire Welsh outside the home is vital to the success of our
strategy. Creating the right conditions for new learners of all ages to develop and use their skills is a
key objective – from the early years, through every stage of compulsory education and post-16
provision, to opportunities for adults to learn Welsh.

Recent research on new speakers provides valuable insights into the experiences and trajectories
of those who acquire language through education or some form of learning, rather than through
home or community exposure to the language (O’Rourke, Pujolar et al. 2015). Specifically, the
concept of mudes, or ‘adaptations to language behaviour’, provides a useful basis for
understanding how people develop their language skills and practices over their lifetime
(Pujolar and Puigdevall 2015). Our focus in this strategy is on how opportunities for individuals to
acquire or learn Welsh, and how opportunities to
use the language, build up a narrative over time. We also need to remember that individuals’
linguistic journeys do not necessarily follow a systematic linear pattern, and that they interrelate
with a variety of social factors.

This focus on the accumulation of experiences over time, and on the connections between
individual trajectories and the social context that shapes them, draws on the principles
underpinning the
life-course approach. While life-course models have largely been applied in areas such as
public health, ageing and socioeconomic

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