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Post by deiniol on Feb 14, 2011 18:59:10 GMT -1
Just wanted to ask for some advice or opinions. Should I focus on learning North Or South Welsh first? North, obviously.
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Post by Heron on Feb 14, 2011 20:05:10 GMT -1
Just wanted to ask for some advice or opinions. Should I focus on learning North Or South Welsh first? Why do you want to learn Welsh? If you wish to speak it because you live in Wales , then you need to learn way of speaking in the area you live in. It's a bit like saying 'I'm learning English, should I learn Cockney or Geordie'? If to read Welsh, or even toliusten to TV broadcasts etc, then the distinction is not important. Or at least you would have to learn possible variations, but standard literary Welsh is not so different wherever it is written.
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Post by Heron on Feb 15, 2011 16:46:24 GMT -1
I want to learn it in order to Speak it. I don't think you should be into any Celtic flavored Neo-paganism and not place importance on the language. Plus it's a living language why not learn it? I don't live in Wales North or South at the moment. It's just to my limited understanding that the the Southern Variation is spoken more in industrialized areas. So what are the actual differences? There a some words that are different in the North and the South, but it's more complex than just that simple division. Regional dialects are more strongly preserved generally, so a southern dialect like that of Pembrokeshire is quite distinctive and not based on an industrial area. It's in the industrial areas where the language effectively died out, so those dialects don't really survive intact. There has been a revival but learners tend to learn a more standardised form with the possible insertion of dialectal aspects related to accent or revived features. Speaking dialects, anyway, probably requires living in the communities where they are used. The sort of Welsh usually taught to learners is usually pretty much a standardised form and if you are not living in Wales you probably have no choice but to learn that.
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Post by dreamguardian on Feb 16, 2011 10:33:28 GMT -1
...Speaking dialects, anyway, probably requires living in the communities where they are used. The sort of Welsh usually taught to learners is usually pretty much a standardised form and if you are not living in Wales you probably have no choice but to learn that. I concur. When I moved to Wales, I went to night school & was taught 'book welsh'. The trouble I had was when I spoke to my friends & work colleagues was, that they kept saying 'we don't say it like that - we say it like this'. When I went back to school, they wouldn't accept the localisms! I abandoned school & am now picking it up via 'the locals'. It said that my dodgy south london accent cannot be heard when I speak welsh, in fact I have a ceredigion accent with a lampeter twist ;D
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Post by deiniol on Feb 16, 2011 16:03:01 GMT -1
I concur. When I moved to Wales, I went to night school & was taught 'book welsh'. The trouble I had was when I spoke to my friends & work colleagues was, that they kept saying 'we don't say it like that - we say it like this'. When I went back to school, they wouldn't accept the localisms! Out of interest, are they still teaching that utterly incomprehensible Cymraeg Byw, or have they moved since then? The first time I picked up an academic book on Welsh, it was written in Cymraeg Byw and utterly terrified me, making me think that my (native!) Welsh was horribly substandard. Ah, poor man, speaking like a Cardi and not knowing any better
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Post by dreamguardian on Feb 16, 2011 16:08:06 GMT -1
There are a few versions. I even was told not to bother with it by a Head of Department Welsh Language teacher.
Ha! Cardi's, eh? The difference in just 10 miles is MAD ;D
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Post by Heron on Feb 16, 2011 16:59:18 GMT -1
Ah, poor man, speaking like a Cardi and not knowing any better Good Cardi Welsh - nothing like it!
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Post by Francis on Feb 16, 2011 17:31:21 GMT -1
Good Cardi Welsh - nothing like it! Caernarfon Welsh - absolutely nothing like it!
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Post by deiniol on Feb 16, 2011 19:33:11 GMT -1
And for that we're all grateful!
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Post by Tegernacus on Mar 6, 2011 20:09:09 GMT -1
www.saysomethinginwelsh.combest way to learn the language without moving to Wales and immersing yourself in it. It doesn't matter which version you learn. Welsh is Welsh. You learn Northern and you'll be understood in the south, and vice-versa.
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