Well, it seems that every day is a special day. Besides the usual international holidays such as Christmas, New Year and Easter, there is a plethora of days that are dedicated to celebrating just about anything; many of which may not be noted in your diary.

In March alone we have World Book Day (5th), Commonwealth Day (9th), World Storytelling Day (20th) and Poetry Day (21st), to name but a few.

But Sunday 1st March is a genuinely special day for those with Welsh connections. St. David’s Day has been the national day of celebration in Wales since the 18th century, although St. David has been recognised as the national patron saint for a long time before that.

And in 2003, the United States officially recognised the Welsh national day, with the Empire State Building being adorned with the floodlit national colours of Wales – red, green and white.

Indeed, Welsh societies across the globe celebrate St. David’s Day, and there are small pockets of Welsh speakers in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia.  But there is another place on earth that has the largest Welsh community outside of the UK, a place that will probably surprise most people.

The Chubut province in southern Argentina has a Welsh-Argentine community of around 25,000 people, who originate from a Welsh settlement of tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, doctors and miners in the late 19th Century. Although the language is still alive to some extent, Spanish is the more commonly used tongue and Welsh teachers are sent to Chubut to assist in keeping the language alive.

But closer to home, Welsh is positively thriving. The passing of the Welsh Language Act in 1993 gave Welsh equal status to English in the public sector, and has helped to stem the decline of a language that was becoming threatened by the increasing use of English in recent decades.

Indeed, Lingo24 has received many Welsh translation requests over the years – both as a source and a target language – and we have had project requests from as far away as Japan. Which is pretty impressive for a language that has less than a million speakers throughout the world.

Of course, there is a fierce determination to keep the language alive. And this Sunday, dinners, parties, concerts and parades will be held by Welsh societies across the globe, to mark the national day of Wales. St. David’s Day truly is a special day.