Cymraeg(
Welsh) is very much a living
language. According to the report "Arolwg Cymdeithasol
Cymru 1992: adroddiad ar y Gymraeg" some 600000 people speak welsh in
Wales, though this includes people who speak it as a second language. Perhaps a more accurate count is given by those who speak it as a first language, who number about 325000. Whilst these figures aren't massive by anyone's standards, even compared to the population of Wales (some 3 million) it is still in active everyday use and a disproporsionatly large amount of literary work is written in it. You can even get spellcheckers for M$Word for it.
Language is an important part of cultural identity, just try and imagine the English being forced to speak German or French. The Welsh language is a very symbolic part of welsh culture and identity simply because so much effort has been invested in trying to destroy it in years past, in an attempt to take the Welsh as a people down with it.