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The problem with Welsh is that there are many local variations. It's not just a north south divide, but I've witnessed two Welsh speakers, one from north east Wales and the other from Snowdonia, totally unable to communicate over something as simple as parking arrangements, and have to resort to speaking English.

Most colloquial Welsh consists of a vocabulary of about 600 words, with the counting (and the swearing) in English. This is of course derided by the purists as "kitchen Welsh" fit only for casual discourse. It is however what most Welsh speakers use.

This leads to the problem of how do people who count themselves as fluent Welsh speakers deal with technical legal issues? A Welsh speaking Magistrates' Court Clerk told me that in his area only one in four Welsh speaking Clerks felt up to conducting a court in Welsh.

There are technical committees who define high level Welsh, but the reality is that the Welsh speaking lawyers I've known over the years seem to prefer conducting complex business in English. This extends to the clients. I asked one Welsh speaking client why all his communications with a Welsh speaking customer were in English, and his reply was "We do the haggling in Welsh, but because he's from the other valley, we confirm it all in English so we are sure what has been agreed."

It's all a lot more complex that it looks.