Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

Idiom of the day

By Simon

In English when you give up on something or admit that you’re defeated, you might say that you’re throwing in the towel or the sponge, a phrase that comes from boxing. In Welsh you put the fiddle on the roof: rhoi’r ffidil ar y tô. I like the image this conjures up.

Other Welsh idioms I like include siarad fel melin bupur = to talk like a pepper mill, i.e. to talk non-stop, mae hi’n bwrw cyllyll a ffyrc = it’s raining knives and forks, i.e. it’s raining heavily, and mae’r olwyn wedi troi = the wheel has turned, i.e. times have changed.

Word of the day – 差不多 (chàbuduō)

By Simon

差不多 (chàbuduō)

The phrase 差不多 (chàbuduō) is one of my favourite phrases in Chinese. It literally means “lacking not much” and can be translated as “more or less”, “near enough”, “almost” or “about”. It’s used frequently in Taiwan, and also in China I think, and seems to embody quite a common philosophy, i.e. there’s no need to do everything perfectly, as long as things get finished, so don’t worry too much. That’s my impression anyway.

A longer version of this phrase is 差不多就可以 (chàbuduō jiù kěyǐ), which means “near enough, that’ll do”. Quite good English equivalents are “close enough for government work” and “near enough for jazz”.

You can see a good example of chabuduoism from Taiwan on Pinyin News.

I found an equivalent expression in my big book of Welsh idioms: yn rhywle o’i chwmpas hi (lit: “somewhere around it”).

Do similar phrases exist in other languages?

Sunshine

By Simon

My Welsh course finished a midday today, after which we had the obligatory group photos on the steps outside the main entrance. We were then presented with certificates for completing the course which mention that we have earned 40 credits for it. Unlike many of my classmates, I’m not doing any of the online courses offered by Lampeter, so these credits aren’t much use to me at the moment.

Mae fy ngwrs Cymraeg wedi gorffen am hanner dydd heddiw. Wedyn mae rhywun wedi tynnu lluniau o’r grwp i gyd ar y grisiau tu allan y priffynedfa. Cawson ni ein tystysgrifau ar ôl hynny.

A number of speeches were made, then two new books were launched – Teach Yourself Welsh Conversation and Teach Yourself Welsh Grammar, the authors of which are members of the Welsh Department at Lampeter. A buffet lunch was also provided, after which most people made their escape, though a few are coming back next week for another Welsh course.

Mae nifer o areithiau wedi’u wneud, ac yna roedd dau llyfrau newydd wedi’u lansio – Teach Yourself Welsh Conversation a Teach Yourself Welsh Grammar – mae’r awduresau ohonyn nhw yn aelodau yr Adran Cymraeg yn Llambed. Roedd cinio bwffe ar gael, ac wedyn dihangodd y mwyafif y myfyfrwyr, ond bydd rhai ohonyn nhw yn dod nôl yr wythnos nesa i wneud cwrs Cymraeg arall.

I have really enjoyed this course and have particularly enjoyed speaking Welsh to other people. I’ll be returning to Brighton tomorrow and will be back at work on Monday.

Dw i’n wedi mwynhau’r cwrs yma yn dda iawn, a dw i’n wedi mwynhau siarad Cymraeg gyda bobl arall yn enwedig. Yfory dw i’n mynd nôl i Frighton, a bydda i’n gweithio un waith eto o ddydd Llun.

Helfa trysor (treasure hunt)

By Simon

We went on a treasure hunt this morning. We were supposed to go yesterday afternoon, but it was raining (surprise, surprise!). Fortunately the sun came out today, at least for a while. I saw bits of Lampeter I hadn’t seen before and learnt a bit about its history. The treasure was some chocolates, which we all shared.

In class this afternoon we played a number of Welsh games, including Gêm yr Eisteddfod and trilingual (Welsh/Breton/Irish) dominoes. The dominoes had pictures of animals on them with their names in the three languages. Some of the names that really caught my eye were gwas y neidr (lit. “snake’s servant”) – dragonfly, glöyn byw (lit. “living coal”) – butterfly, and bilidowcar – cormorant.

Another word for dragonfly is gwachell y neidr (“snake’s knitting-needle”), and there are many words in Welsh for butterfly, including iâr fach yr haf (“little summer hen”), pili-pala and bili-bala. Other words for cormorant are morfran (“sea crow”), mulfran (“sad mule crow”), llanciau Llandudno (“bachelors of Llandudno”) and wil wal waliog.

Word of the day – lol

By Simon

The Welsh word lol means nonsense, and according to the dictionary on the BBC Learn Welsh site, it also means foolery, bosh, bunkum, gammon, moonshine, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, tomfoolery or twaddle. Every time I see it, it reminds me of the abbreviation lol for ‘laugh(ing) out loud’.

Here are some examples of usage:

Dyn ni’n siarad llawer o lol yn y dosbarth weithiau.
We talk a lot of nonsense in class sometimes. (quite true!)

Mae’r newyddiadurwr yn ddymunol iawn ond mae e’n ysgrifennu lol weithiau.
The journalist/reporter is very pleasant, but he writes nonsense sometimes.

Words with a similar meaning to lol include ffiloreg, ffwlbri and dwli.

What words do you use to say that something is nonsense?

Aberystwyth

By Simon

As I have no classes this weekend, I decided to go to Aberystwyth today. The bus took about an hour and a half to get there and went through some nice scenery and some pretty villages and towns along the way. I particuarly liked Aberaeron, a small town by the sea with attractive Victorian houses painted in many different colours.

Photo of Aberaeron

Er nad oedd dosbarthiadau heddiw, penderfynais i i fynd i Aberystwyth. Treuliodd y daith ar y bws tua awr a hanner ac aethon ni’n trwy gefngwlad hyfryd ac trwy nifer o drefi a phentrefi pert. Mae Aberaeron yn arbennig o ddeniadol, gyda llawer o dai Fictoraidd lliwgar.

In Aberystwyth I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the town and bought some Welsh CDs, a new Irish course, and another book of tin whistle tunes to add to my collection. There are some good bookshops in Aber, including one with French-Welsh and German-Welsh dictionaries, and courses for learning Breton and Irish through the medium of Welsh. They also had a Cornish course and dictionary.

Photo of Aberystwyth seafront

Treuliais i maith o amser yn grwydro o gwmpas y dre a brynais i gryno ddisgiau gan Siân James, Gwenan Gibbard a Swci Boscawen, Cwrs Gwyddeleg newydd, a llyfr o diwniau ar gyfer y chwiban. Mae nifer o siopau llyfrau da yn Aber, yn gynnwys un sy’n gwerthu geiriaduron Cymraeg-Ffrangeg a Chymraeg-Almaeneg, a chyrsiau Llydaweg a Gwyddeleg trwy gyfryng y Gymraeg. Mae cwrs a geiriadur Cernyweg da nhw hefyd.

After having a look around the castle, I walked along the prom, and then went up Constitution Hill on the cliff railway. The views from the top were amazing – I could see more or less the whole of Cardigan Bay from the Llŷn Peninsula in the north to the Pembrokeshire Peninsula in the south. The sun even came out for a while and the clouds cleared making the view even better.

Photo of Aberystwyth from the Cliff Railway

Ar ôl i mi gael cipolwg ar y castell, cerddais i ar hyd y promenâd ac es i i lân y Graiglais ar y rheilffordd y graig. Oedd y golygon i lawr y bryn yn ardderchog – o’n i’n gallu gweld Bae Ceredigion braidd i gyd o’r Llŷn yn y gogledd i’r penrhyn Sir Benfro yn y de. Disgleiriodd y haul am sbel a gwasgarodd y cymylau hefyd ac felly, oedd y golygon yn well.

On a semi-related matter, I received an email today from Steafan MacRisnidh, a speaker of Scottish Gaelic who is currently working in Japan. He has set up a new blog with some Gaelic lessons in Japanese. He also has a number of other blogs in Gaelic. Just though I’d mention it here.

As we usually have a quiz at the weekend, I don’t want to disappoint you today, so here it is:

Which of the following places is the odd one out?
Caerhirfryn, Caerliwelydd, Caerlŷr, Caernarfon, Caerfaddon, Caergrawnt, Caergaint, Caerwysg, Caerwrangon

Word of the day – treiglad

By Simon

Today’s word, treiglad (pl. treigladau) is the Welsh word for mutation, the process of changing the initial consonants of words – something we were practising in class today. This is a characteristic of all the Celtic languages and takes quite a bit of getting used to.

The most common mutation in Welsh is the soft mutation or treiglad meddal, which changes t to d, p to b, c to g, and so on. It’s quite hard to keep track of all the occasions when this mutation is needed, but I think I’m getting better at it. I haven’t tried to memorise all the rules because there are so many of them. Instead I notice where mutations are used in the Welsh texts I read and when I hear Welsh spoken. This gives me a good feel for when to use them.

If you practise reading and listening to a language as much as possible, you get a lot of exposure to grammatical patterns like mutations. This helps you to develop instincts for the grammar and seems to me to be the best way to learn it. I think this method works better than trying to memorise all the grammatical rules first. Once you have developed a feel for how a language works, then learning the rules might be helpful and certainly will be easier.

Glaw

By Simon

We were practising questions and answers in class today. There are no exact equivalents of yes and no in Welsh. Instead when answering a question, you repeat the verb in the appropriate form, or in some cases you use other words. For example, responses to the question Wyt ti’n mywnhau’r cwrs ma? (Are you enjoying this course?), could be Ydw (I am) or Nag ydw (I’m not).  It often takes me a few moments to work out the correct answer.

O’n ni’n ymarfer cwestiynau ac atebion yn y dosbarth heddiw, ac ddoe hefyd. Yn aml mae rhaid i mi feddwl am ychydig eiliadau i ddewis yr ateb cywir. 

This morning we also attended a local cyd – an informal get together of local Welsh speakers and Welsh learners. It took place in the one of the pubs in town, and we heard and spoke quite a lot of Welsh, so it was very useful.

Y bore ma, aethon ni i’r tafarn yn y dre i gymryd rhan mewn cyd – cyfarfod anffurfiol bobl leol sy’n siarad neu sy’n dysgu Cymraeg. O’n ni’n siarad llawer o Gymraeg gyda nhw, felly oedd hi’n defnyddiol iawn.

It started absolutely tipping it down after dinner and I thought there might be floods like there were here last week. Fortunately the rain didn’t last more than about half an hour.

Ar ôl cinio, cychwnodd hi’n bwrw glaw trwm iawn. Ond oedd hi’n gorffen cyn hanner awr ac nag oedd llifogydd fel yr wythnos diwethaf.

I have some more homework to do for tomorrow, so I’d better go now.

Rhaid i mi mynd nawr, achos mae gen i mwy o waith cartref i wneud cyn yfory.

Lampeter

By Simon

I arrived in Lampeter yesterday evening after a long train and bus journey. After dumping my bags in my room – I’m staying in one of the university residences – I had wander around the town. There wasn’t many people about and only a few of the pubs and restaurants were open. I eventually found a fish and chip place that was open and had dinner there.

Photo of the hall of residence where I'm staying during the course

Cyraeddais i yn Lambed neithiwr ar ôl taith hir ar y trên ac ar y bws. Rhoddais magiau yn fy ystafell – dw i’n aros yn lety y brifysgol – ac yna es i am dro o gwmpas y dre. Doedd dim llawer o bobl ar y strydoedd ac oedd mwyafrif y siopau a bwyty ar gau. Or diwedd o’n i dod âr hyd o fwyty pysgod a sglods a ches fy swper yno.

This morning I meet the other people on the course – there’s about 25 of us, I think – and registered, which invovled filling in loads of forms. I was initially put in the intermediate class, but moved up to the advanced class in the afternoon.

Photo of the oldest part of the university - our classroom in in the corner of this building

Y bore ma, cwrddais i’r pobl eraill ar y gwrs – mae tua 25 ohonon ni i gyd, dw i’n meddwl – ac gofrhestriais i – oedd llawer o ffurflenau i lenwi. Yn gynta, o’n i yn y lefel canolbarth, ond yn y prynhawn, symudais i i’r lefel uwch.

Language in the workplace

By Simon

According to an article on Eurolang, the travel company Thomas Cook has requested that staff in it’s branch in Bangor “speak English when discussing work-related matters in the workplace”. This has been interpreted as a ban on staff speaking Welsh in what is one of the strongest Welsh-speaking areas. As a result, there have been a number of protests and talk of legal action.

An article on this story on the BBC News site mentions that Thomas Cook “told staff they must conduct business conversations in English, as it is the UK’s common language.” This policy apparently applies to all non-English languages and to offices throughout the UK. This is intended to ensure clear communication, the company claims.

There’s some discussion of this story here and there’s an article about it in Welsh here.

In a polyglot office like the one I work in, the language we all have in common is English, which is the main language we use. Some of us also speak to each other in other languages such as Spanish, Italian or Mandarin.

Does your company tell you which language you should speak at work? Do you think they have any right to do so?