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The great-great-granddaughter of the musician who composed the melody for the Welsh national anthem has revealed she is learning Welsh in tribute to her illustrious forebears.

Alisa Baker, who was born in Cardiff and attended English-medium schools in the Rhondda, grew up without learning Welsh, although her grandmother spoke some to her when she was very young.

Her great-great-grandfather was James James, of Pontypridd, who in 1856 composed the tune for Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau , while his father Evan wrote the words.

“My ancestors have played a very big part in me wanting to learn Welsh,” Alisa explained.

'Reconnect with family roots'

“My grandmother on my dad’s side is the granddaughter and great granddaughter of James James and Evan James , who wrote the Welsh national anthem. They wrote it for the people of Wales and gave it to them. Learning Welsh is helping me reconnect with those family roots.”

“There was Welsh on my mother’s side too and I’m now living in my maternal great-grandparents’ house in Tonyrefail. It’s a good feeling when I speak Welsh in my house as a long time ago Welsh was the only language spoken there,” the mother-of-three said.

Alisa is doing a Welsh for Adults course at Llwynypia College, run by the University of South Wales on behalf of the National Centre for Learning Welsh.

She hopes to work as a nursing assistant and says learning Welsh will should help in her career.

Efa Gruffudd Jones, chief executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh , which is responsible for Welsh for Adults courses across Wales, said: “We know people have lots of good reasons for wanting to learn Welsh, whether to support children in Welsh-medium education or to widen job prospects.

Special reason to learn the language

“This is something quite special, though – wanting to learn Welsh because your ancestor composed the Welsh national anthem.

“We wish Alisa ‘lwc dda’ – good luck – as she continues with her studies.”

(Image: Carolina Zelaya)

Meanwhile, the Welsh Government has announced it will invest an extra £3m in the National Centre for Learning Welsh to improve and increase the use of Welsh in the workplace.

A joint plan to get more people speaking the language at work includes information and advice for employers and courses including residential courses to provide specialist terminology for workplace Welsh.

Welsh language at work gets £3m boost with £2m more to come

Alun Davies, minister for the Welsh Language, said: “The goal of this Government is to have one million Welsh speakers by 2050. In line with our shared ambition with Plaid Cymru we are allocating an additional £3m to ensure the Welsh language is used more extensively and to encourage more people to speak it.

“This investment will enable the National Centre for Learning Welsh to provide practical support to bodies, putting them in a position to provide an outstanding bilingual service to the public and comply with the Welsh language standards.”

The money has been allocated as part of the Welsh Budget 2017-18 agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.

The Welsh language will receive an additional £5m as part of the agreement and an announcement on allocating the remaining £2m will be made in due course.

Watch: beautiful version of the national anthem released to support Welsh football team