Wales is Kool

In article
,
DaveS writes
eems we have been in a hotbed of Welsh language speakers. Im into
languages and in the process of getting around have asked a few times
of folks for help pronouncing things. Well, Our little group has
become something of a community project. Yesterday the postman stopped
and backed up on the little lane we were hiking down to administer a
pop quiz for retention and added a few new vocabulary words by way of
assignment. Then at dinner another fellow pointed out proudly that he
had taught me the one and two letter connectors, (the y words), to
which Dewi added some racy bits. I think it would be possible to be
speaking Welsh in a month or two more of immersion as almost everybody
here is at least partially bi-lingual and once you get some of the
things like the W, the ff, the dd, the ch etc down, the spelling
doesn't seem so strange. And many of the words that look weird in the
Welsh spelling, sound out like English, pronounced with a heavy Welsh
accent.

Hi Dave,

the problem with the Welsh language is - there is literary Welsh and
colloquial Welsh and never the twin shall meet :-)

I love Cymraeg Llenyddol - Literary Welsh and that can be quite daunting
for a learner. Colloquial Welsh is equivalent to (say) doncha Know.
and a learner might never realise the origin of the phrase or word.

The mutations in Welsh are a mine field, but for a true natural Welsh
speaking Welshman it is natural for him to mutate certain consonants.

You mentioned the y word. this is the definite article and causes the
first consonant of a feminene noun to mutate. eg a cat would be cath
but /the/ cat would be y gath.

My the way it is said that in Welsh we have no swear words in stead we
blaspheme.

Mwynhewch eich gwyliau.

Perhaps one of your new found friends will translate for you.

Bye for now.
--
Bill Grey

In article , W. D. Grey
writes
In article
,
DaveS writes
eems we have been in a hotbed of Welsh language speakers. Im into
languages and in the process of getting around have asked a few times
of folks for help pronouncing things. Well, Our little group has
become something of a community project. Yesterday the postman stopped
and backed up on the little lane we were hiking down to administer a
pop quiz for retention and added a few new vocabulary words by way of
assignment. Then at dinner another fellow pointed out proudly that he
had taught me the one and two letter connectors, (the y words), to
which Dewi added some racy bits. I think it would be possible to be
speaking Welsh in a month or two more of immersion as almost everybody
here is at least partially bi-lingual and once you get some of the
things like the W, the ff, the dd, the ch etc down, the spelling
doesn't seem so strange. And many of the words that look weird in the
Welsh spelling, sound out like English, pronounced with a heavy Welsh
accent.

Hi Dave,

the problem with the Welsh language is - there is literary Welsh and
colloquial Welsh and never the twin shall meet :-)

I love Cymraeg Llenyddol - Literary Welsh and that can be quite
daunting for a learner. Colloquial Welsh is equivalent to (say) doncha
Know. and a learner might never realise the origin of the phrase or word.

The mutations in Welsh are a mine field, but for a true natural Welsh
speaking Welshman it is natural for him to mutate certain consonants.

You mentioned the y word. this is the definite article and causes the
first consonant of a feminene noun to mutate. eg a cat would be cath
but /the/ cat would be y gath.

My the way it is said that in Welsh we have no swear words in stead we
blaspheme.

Mwynhewch eich gwyliau.

Perhaps one of your new found friends will translate for you.

Bye for now.

Please forgive the typos - it appears my English isn't all it's cracked
up to be :-)
--
Bill Grey

On Jun 28, 4:34*am, "W. D. Grey" wrote:

ddiolch Bill. I have enjoyed my holiday time in Wales and have been
blown away by its people, countryside and the bit of history Ive
picked up. Then went North to Chester and then Manchester/Bury, the
Lake country, Bronzewood, Ruskindale (;-)) and a bit of Yorkshire
before training down to London. Wales definitely the best. Got enough
in sketches etc for a small show.

Yep I was told that the literary and colloquial Welsh differ greatly.
Also that the regional dialects differ greatly and observed that
pronunciation differed allot just going 20-50 miles or so. But what
impressed me most was the dynamism of the language and what looked to
me like a critical mass of active speakers that point to survival of
this Celtic language in a homogenizing world. Little things like kids
speaking the language at recess on the schoolyard, people bragging
about their kids in college at a Tesco, the capture and modification
of useful foreign technical and cultural words, the adoption of the
language by non-ethnic Welsh in the Welsh language southern Welsh
speaking heartland, etc.

London. What can I say. Never been there before. Impressive but not my
thing. The National Gallery and the British Museum made it worthwhile
for me. Back home now. Wales definitely has me as a booster.

Dave

In article
,
DaveS writes
On Jun 28, 4:34*am, "W. D. Grey" wrote:

ddiolch Bill. I have enjoyed my holiday time in Wales and have been
blown away by its people, countryside and the bit of history Ive
picked up. Then went North to Chester and then Manchester/Bury, the
Lake country, Bronzewood, Ruskindale (;-)) and a bit of Yorkshire
before training down to London. Wales definitely the best. Got enough
in sketches etc for a small show.

Yep I was told that the literary and colloquial Welsh differ greatly.
Also that the regional dialects differ greatly and observed that
pronunciation differed allot just going 20-50 miles or so. But what
impressed me most was the dynamism of the language and what looked to
me like a critical mass of active speakers that point to survival of
this Celtic language in a homogenizing world. Little things like kids
speaking the language at recess on the schoolyard, people bragging
about their kids in college at a Tesco, the capture and modification
of useful foreign technical and cultural words, the adoption of the
language by non-ethnic Welsh in the Welsh language southern Welsh
speaking heartland, etc.

London. What can I say. Never been there before. Impressive but not my
thing. The National Gallery and the British Museum made it worthwhile
for me. Back home now. Wales definitely has me as a booster.

Dave



Glad you like our little spot on the globe.

The various areas are so different. South East Wales is the industrial
belt, West Wales has the lovely coastline, Central or Mid Wales has nice
scenery while North Wales e.g. Snowdonia, has the most beautiful rugged
scenery.

Well done hope your artistic recollections will impress everyone.
--
Bill Grey