Madam,

Allan Phillips (Letters: ‘Extremist views do not benefit wider community’, last week’s Cambrian News) is concerned about discrimination.

He is worried by the perfectly reasonable intent to help provide Welsh speakers with the opportunity to use their language, in their land, when dealing with their council. How is this discriminatory?

The definition of discrimination is to treat someone differently on account of an unalterable physical trait.

The ability to speak Welsh is simply that, ie, an ability. It can be learnt like any other similar attribute. Mr Phillips considers it a difficult language to learn. It is not. All that is required is will and intent. The legion of Welsh-speaking youngsters from English-speaking homes bears testament to that.

He rails against an imagined slight his English-speaking friends endure, but they have no problem accessing the services they require in the language of their choice. They are and always have been, catered for.

Mr Phillips states: “In a democratic country it is essential that there is individual freedom of choice.” Exactly: that is the point. A freedom of choice for Welsh speakers should be mandatory. Historically, it is the Welsh language element that has been actively ignored for generations.

Nowadays, we consider that we live in more enlightened times than previous generations and a Welsh language service for the Welsh-speaking people of the county is just another facet in the process of improving the quality of our society. The days of others making themselves masters in another man’s land have surely gone.

Yours etc,

Siôn Griffiths,

Trawsgoed,

Aberystwyth.