In Steven Poole’s review of the book Four Words for Friend: Why Using More Than One Language Matters Now More Than Ever by Marek Kohn (Review, 9 March), I think he has, as often happens, used the word British instead of English when he describes disdain for foreign languages.

We in Wales have two languages, Welsh and English, and many of us speak both fluently on a daily basis. We tend to be very interested in other nations and their languages because we can often make connections between some of the words and their meanings.

Steven Poole says “to know another language is also to know more about how others think”. I like to think that Wales is a more tolerant and open-minded nation because of its bilingualism, but we are often victims of the disdain that Poole describes.

Eleri Jones

Talysarn, Gwynedd

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