BBC Radio 1 Bungles Welsh language - Burnham

4.45.39pm GMT Mon 22nd Jan 2007

Eleanor Burnham AM today slammed the BBC Radio 1 program Star Pupil, which was broadcast live from a North Wales school, for repeatedly describing Welsh as a dialect and not a language.

Ms Burnham, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Welsh Language, said: "I'm shocked that a national BBC radio program couldn't tell the difference between a dialect and a language, particularly when they were broadcasting from a Welsh secondary school in the middle of North Wales.

"A dialect, as many people know, is a variety of language used in a particular area of the country. North Wales has a multitude of dialects as it is, but Welsh is obviously a fully fledged language, one of the oldest in Europe.

"Frankly, I find it bizarre that the program's researchers didn't point out to the present Edith Bowman that she was visiting a Welsh school in Colwyn Bay, and that Wales is a bi-lingual country - using both English and Welsh everyday.

"Incidents like this just highlight the need for Welsh to be recognised as an official language of Wales, as we have seen with Irish being accepted as an official language by the EU, and also show how much more the Welsh Assembly needs to do to promote the language and culture of our country beyond its borders."

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