The Welsh national anthem’s spine-tingling finale – “O! Bydded i'r hen iaith barhau!” (“Oh! May the old language endure”) – has been something of an unofficial rallying cry for language activists for more than a century. Its inclusion is deliberate and demonstrates the importance that the vernacular plays in the country’s national identity. As one of the oldest surviving tongues in Europe, Cymraeg has withstood the linguistic changes that were brought by both the country’s Roman and English conquerors and rapid industrialisation in the 19th century.Now the language is enjoying something of a renaissance. It is partly driven by a younger generation that is confident in its own skin and it is increasingly common for children from English-speaking homes to attend Welsh-medium schools across the country. Since 2017 the Welsh government has been implementing ambitious plans to boost the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050. It would be no small task in a corner of the UK where English still dominates and it should be applauded. Indeed, nationalism in Europe can take many ugly forms but the Welsh language is a great advertisement for the civility of knowing where you’re from and what you’re about.