Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

Canu caneon yn y Gymraeg

By Simon

Heddiw fe ddes i o hyd i ddau wefanau diddorol iawn:

CanuDrosGymru.com
Pwrpas y wefan hon ydy dod â chaneuon Cymraeg at sylw y Cymry di-Gymraeg – ond os bydd yn atgoffa ambell Gymro neu Gymraes am ein hetifeddiaeth gerddorol, gorau’n y byd!

Codi Canu – Ystafell Ymarfer
Eich siop-un-stop i ddysgu caneuon newydd gyda’r corau, neu ail-ddysgu hen ganeuon i berfformio ar eich teithiau i gemau’r 6 gwlad! Mae darnau’r Soprano, Alto, Tenor a bas yma i chi, felly peidiwch oedi.

Today I came across a couple of interesting websites:

Sing4Wales.com
A website that includes the a number of well-known Welsh songs with their lyrics and videos of people singing them. It’s designed to encourage those unfamiliar with these songs, or who have forgotten them, to (re)learn them. Quite a few of the videos seem to be Siân James singing the songs and accompanying herself on the harp – hyfryd!

Codi Canu – Rehearsal Room
Includes a small selection of Welsh songs with recordings of their tunes, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass parts with an online practice tool, and recordings of the words being spoken so that you can get to grips with the pronunciation.

Language maintenance

By Simon

This week I’ve been trying out yet another language learning and maintenance strategy. Instead of spending most of the day listening to online radio in one language or other, as I’ve been doing up to now, I’ve started listening to lots of lessons in the languages I’m focusing on at the moment (Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Spanish). At the same time I’m converting the lessons I have on tape to mp3 format. Once I’ve done that, I copy them to my mp3 player.

I bought myself a new mp3 player for my birthday and am filling it with language lessons, podcasts and audiobooks. It can also display images, so I might try to make some virtual flash cards for it. Usually I don’t bother with flashcards as they’re quite cumbersome to carry around. This is no longer an issue.

Language learning challenge

By Simon

A number of the denizens of the forum at How to learn any language are conducting an experiment to see how much of a language they can learn in 6 weeks. They’ve chosen languages they haven’t studied before and there has been quite a lot of discussion about learning techniques and how to measure the results.

Are any of you taking part in this challenge, or have you done anything similar before?

I did something similar with Italian a few years ago when I tried to learn as much of the language as possible in 2 months before going on holiday to Italy. When I got to Italy, I was able to have basic conversations and to generally get by, but I was a long way from fluency. Unfortunately I didn’t continue studying Italian after the holiday and have since forgotten much that I learnt.

By the way, it’s my birthday today – dau dwy ar bymtheg ar hugain ydw i.

It’s never too late to learn

By Simon

The University of Wales Lampeter’s Welsh Department runs a number of e-learning courses which can lead to degrees in Welsh or Welsh Studies. The courses are delivered mainly over the web, but students are encouraged to go to summer schools at Lampeter.

Recently a retired telecommunications engineer from Nottingham was awarded the Lampeter’s first e-learning degree in Welsh Studies. He didn’t speak a word of Welsh before he started the course in 2002, but got interested in the language when his son married a Welsh-speaker. He now speaks Welsh well and there is a regular Welsh class in Nottingham thanks to his enthusiasm. He graduated in July last year at the tender age of 74.

So don’t let anybody tell you that it’s too late to start learning a language!

I myself was originally planning to study German and Swedish at Lampeter and was offered a place there. Later I decided to study Chinese and Japanese at Leeds instead. I plan to attend the Welsh language summer school at Lampeter in June this year, and am considering having a go at some of their e-learning courses.

Haiku as Gaeilge

By Simon

Here are a few more haiku, in Irish this time, which I found on the Irish Gaelic translation forum. Some of the translations are my own, so may not be entirely correct.

Tá sé in ann dom
Bheith ag foghlaim Gaeilge
Go deireadh an saoil

I have to
be learning Irish
to the end of my days

tá mo shaol go breá
ag foghlaim le mo chairde
aon anam amháin!

my life is so nice
learning with my good friends here
one soul together

An crann úll lasmuigh
lán le torthaí na gréine
M’obair féin romham

The apple tree outside
full of fruit of the sun
My own work is done

céard a réaltacht í
ach titim agus éirí
an bhfuil a fhíos againn?

what’s reality
but falling and then rising
do we know for sure?

Here’s one I just composed in Welsh

cymaint o ieithoedd
yn gwthio am le gwag
yn fy mhen

so many languages
jostling for space
in my head

Lexicelt

By Simon

Ddoe mi ddes i o hyd i wefan gydag enw lexicelt. Gwefan defnyddiol iawn ar gyfer y rhai sy’n dysgu’r Wyddeleg trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg, neu sy’n dysgu Cymraeg trwy gyfrwng y Wyddeleg. Ar a gwefan hon, mae geiriadur Cymraeg <> Gwyddeleg, a llyfryn ymadroddion yn cynnwys brawddegau, geirfa ddefnyddiol a ffeiliau sain. Yn ogystal â hynny, mae gwybodaeth am hanes a diwylliant Iwerddon, gwybodaeth i deithwyr, a manylion am y Wyddeleg ar y We.

Inné, tháinig mé ar suíomh idirlín le ainm lexicelt. Suíomh idirlín an úsáideach atá ann don té atá ag foghlaim Breatnais trí mheán na Gaeilge, nó don té atá ag foghlaim Gaeilge trí mheán na Breatnaise. Air an suíomh idirlín seo, tá foclóir Gaeilge <> Breatnaise, agus leabhrán frásaí. Sa leabhrán frásaí tá abairtí, foclóir úsáideach agus comhaid fuaime. Chomh maith leis sin, tá eolas ann faoi stair agus faoi chultúr na Breataine Bige, eolas do thaistealaithe, agus sonraí faoin Bhreatnais ar an Ghréasán.

Yesterday I found a very useful website called lexicelt which contains a Welsh <> Irish dictionary, a collection of phrases for every occasion with sound files for both languages. In addition, there is information about the history and culture of Ireland and Wales, information for travellers, and links to Welsh and Irish online resources. The site is in Welsh and Irish.

Oes llawer o bobl yng Nghymru sy’n dysgu Gwyddeleg?

Do many people in Wales learn Irish?

An bhfuil go leor daoine in Éirinn ag foghlaim na Breatnaise?

Do many people in Ireland learn Welsh?

Breed your way to linguistic security

By Simon

There was an interesting discussion on Radio Cymru’s phone-in discussion programme, Taro’r Post, today. They were talking about comments made by a former major of Aberystwyth, Sion Jobbins, who is urging Welsh speakers to have more children in order to secure the future of the language. He’s not proposing that all families have a large number of children, but wants policies on sustainable population.

Some callers on to programme were in favour of the idea, but pointed out that children are expensive so they would need to be sure of receiving significant financial incentives and support before considering have more of them. Others argued that more places in Welsh-medium schools are needed.

Last week I heard a similar discussion about the Hebrides, where one problem is that many young people, especially young women, leave the islands to study and work on the mainland. Few return, except perhaps many years later when they retire. Many more would return if suitable jobs were available. As a result, fewer and fewer children are being born on the islands and there was talk of finding ways to encourage young families to stay and raise their children there. One proposal is to give grants to people to set up businesses. Here’s a report with more details.

Word of the day – pendramwnwgl

By Simon

Today’s word, pendramwnwgl [pɛndram’ʊnʊgl], is the Welsh word for headlong, topsy-turvy or pell-mell. This word is made up of three parts: pen (head), dra – a mutated form of tra (beyond) and mwnwgl (instep/neck). I came across it the other day and just liked the sound of it. Related words include pendraphen (head beyond head) and wynebwaered (face descent).

Tourism and minority languages

By Simon

The other day, I came across an article that discusses the impact of tourism and migration on minority languages, particularly on the Welsh language. While tourism brings a significant amount of money to Welsh-speaking areas, it can also have a negative impact on the language.

When relatively large numbers of non-Welsh speakers visit or move to a Welsh-speaking area, the local people often feel some pressure to speak English rather than Welsh, and English-speaking parents who move to such areas aren’t all convinced of the benefits of education through the medium of Welsh or bilingual education.

Many in-migrants to Welsh speaking areas are apparently those who have been there on holiday before and/or who have a holiday home or a caravan there. Quite a few holiday home owners move to those homes when they retire. One negative aspect of in-migration is on house prices, which tend to rise beyond the reach of the locals.

I suspect similar tensions can be found in other areas where minority languages are spoken, such as the gaeltachtaí in Ireland, parts of Scotland, Brittany and so on.

The original Welsh version of the article can be found here.

Language exports

By Simon

The other day I read in an article on the University of Notre Dame website that 51 universities outside Ireland teach Irish and that 29 of them are in the USA. Some of those studying Irish in the USA have Irish roots; others came to the language through an interest in Irish culture. The other countries where Irish language is taught include the UK, France, Canada and Germany. Does anyone know in which other countries it’s taught?

These factoids got me thinking about how languages are exported and promoted outside their original homelands. The most successful language export is obviously English, which has spread to every continent. Other successful language exports include French, German, Spanish, Italian, and increasingly Chinese and Japanese.

What about ‘smaller’ languages like Irish and Welsh? Well, Irish seems to be almost more popular outside Ireland than it is in Ireland. In the USA, Welsh is taught by Cymdeithas Madog, an organization that describes itself as being “dedicated to helping North Americans learn, use and enjoy the Welsh language.” There are quite a few other Welsh societies, some of which teach the language, in the USA and Canada. I understand that Welsh is taught at at least one university in Moscow, and there’s a small Welsh colony in Chubut province of Argentina that’s home to several thousand Welsh speakers.

Does anyone know of any other courses in Welsh or other Celtic languages outside their homelands?