Is the english you refer to the one we waffle on in when full of lovely drink?
Besides gaelic in all its forms was the original lingo of the land until we let all the invaders in up to the Norman conquest. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland still have so do the Welsh and Irish. Yet in most cases its their first language but they have to speak English for people not to be offended. Once in N. Wales I whatched a guy crack up when 2 boys spoke Welsh yet he still didnt understand them when they spoke English either at least they kept their cultural identity.