An overview — Tobin Miles, independent scholar, Sydney · Asynchronous talk · 10 minutes · Captions available

Taking part. Watch at any time, then bring your questions, comments and disagreements to the discussion thread below. Tobin will be checking in regularly during 28–29 September, and the thread stays open until 6 October. First-time commenters are held briefly for approval.

About this talk. The Pacific Ocean is about as far as you can physically get from the Celtic-speaking regions of Western Europe, but even here these languages do have a presence, even if it is somewhat limited. Colonial legacies in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Argentina, mean that there are significant groups with cultural and genetic ties to Celtic homelands (some of whom have proficiency at some level in a Celtic language), while in nations like Japan, Celtic languages can be an academic pursuit or simply something of personal interest. For the majority of people in all these places, the acquisition is as a second language, not as a mother tongue, for which access is needed to teachers, classes, and learning materials. To develop an understanding of the current state of Celtic language learning and teaching across the Pacific region, this paper will examine some of the available data and statistics, explore the existence of formal and informal language-learning opportunities, and sample the accessibility of physical Celtic media through a case study on bookshops and libraries in Sydney, Australia.

Sources.

Main census data
Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Census of Population and Housing: Cultural diversity data summary, 2021”, 28 June 2022: abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021
figure.nz, “Census – Usually resident population by detailed ethnicity, MEC group, and language spoken 2023”: figure.nz/table/pk0jkzEasMmu8wvq
Statistics Bureau of Japan, “Population Census / 2020 Population Census / Basic Complete Tabulation on Population and Households”, 30 November 2021: e-stat.go.jp/en/stat-search/files?stat_infid=000032142722
Statistics Canada, “Table 98-10-0620-01 Knowledge of languages by immigration status and period of immigration, all languages spoken at home and age: Canada, provinces and territories and economic regions”, 4 December 2024: doi.org/10.25318/9810062001-eng
United States Census Bureau, “2017–2021 American Community Survey: Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2017–2021”, June 2025: census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/language-use/2017-2021-lang-tables.html

Other
BBC, “Viewpoint: The Argentines who speak Welsh”, 16 October 2014: bbc.com/news/magazine-29611380
Welsh Government, “Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers. Annual report 2023–24”, 2024: gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-11/cymraeg-2050-a-million-welsh-speakers-annual-report-2023-2024.pdf

Images in the talk are from Wikimedia Commons unless otherwise attributed.

Questions outside the thread: celticlanguageresearch@gmail.com