albatross around one's neck

Also found in: Idioms.

albatross around one's neck

A constant burden or source of concern; from the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), in which a sailor who killed an albatross was made to wear the dead bird around his neck as a penance.

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Sion's relaxed attitude is mirrored in his belief that the Welsh language should not be thrust upon people like some mandatory burden; an albatross around one's neck that will demote from the pleasure of speaking or learning it.

'Bilingualism is child's play and Welsh should be encouraged' In our final article to coincide with this weekend's Shwmae Su'mae Day, presenter Sion Tomos Owen tells how his own experience of parenthood helps shatter 'the myth that learning two languages confuses' children..

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