As to Mary's post - I think children have an unfailing knack of spotting anything that marks out difference, which can be anything from hair colour and accent to levels of achievement. I had the opposite experience to Mary. We moved to Wales in the early 1960s and I was picked on unmercifully for being English and having an English accent as well as for being clever (I had passed my 11 plus exam early and was therefore at grammar school at the age of 10). I can vividly remember the unpleasantness of it all - it's not all one sided, and never was!
As to the language issue - there are many countries in the world who have attempted to stop a language in its tracks. France with both Breton and Occitan, Spain with Catalan, England with Welsh, Irish, Cornish and Scots Gaelic are the first ones that come to my mind, but I'm sure there are others. There's an element always involved in suppressing revolutionaries and insurgents, but also an element within the population of self interest in learning the language that will give an economic advantage (which is why I assume India has retained English as an official language). Many members of my extended family, who are Welsh, have a healthy scorn for the Welsh language and a total ignorance of their own culture.

Anne