Aw c'mon. Best night out in the country, bar non.
Why the downer?

i figured, but languages aren't static. the welsh they speak now is potentially as different from old welsh as modern english is from old english - i don't know because i don't speak welsh.

i'm not trying to start anything, just curious, languages are an interest of mine

Downer? It's banter David tis all.

There's been dramatic change in the language, In fact to the point in which North Wales and South Wales basically have two divided adaptations of the language, the South Wales is the more slang Welsh really.

As far as I know, Welsh is pretty much how it was thousands of years ago.
I'm not entirely sure how much the language has changed, if any, over that time period.
I believe Cornish is as old, or thereabouts.
I doubt you'll find an older language that's still spoken today than Welsh.

Tis heresy, is what it is!

And this is why I probably know more Welsh than you do.

It's the norm to rip on the Welsh right or wrong but however bastardised their language has become it is still the closet to the original language of 'Albion' as it was known (Britain) and is the original language spoken here before we were overrun by all manner of invaders.

Slightly drifting off topic but the legend of King Arthur stems from Welsh legends and not English legends and yet again says as much about our ignorance and brainwashing that
we now attribute to other English speaking nations.

Welsh has it's roots in Basque. Also, the majority of English nationals are derived from Basque Celt.

Cornish is still known as Breton in some parts and is virtually a dead language which is a crying shame to me. Despite speaking the English language I am still utterly fascinated by pre history and how much was eradicated by Roman and subsequent invasions.

RENAME: British History thread!

Here's an interesting map, although simplified, but it gives a decent idea of the demographics;

http://nativebriton.files.wordpress..../map-550ad.jpg

Not much has changed since 550 AD. The languages may have, but the population hasn't.
I think the exception would be Ulster (Northern Ireland) when the "Irish Immigrants" in western Scotland, returned to Ireland as protestants.