Category: Welsh (Cymraeg)

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?

Word of the day – 衛星

By Simon

weixing/eisei - satellite in Chinese and Japanese

The Chinese word for satellite, 衛星 [卫星] (wèixīng) means literally ‘guard(ing)/defend(ing) star’. When I came across this word the other day while working on a Chinese version of a website, it took me a few moments to work out what it meant. Eventually I deciphered it from the context and the second character, which I knew meant star. The same characters, 衛星, are used in Japanese, but they’re pronounced eisei.

One of the things I like about Chinese is that when you encounter an unfamiliar word, you can often guess its meaning from the meanings of the individual characters.

According to this Online Etymology Dictionary, the English word satellite first appeared in writing in 1548, when it meant “follower or attendant of a superior person”. It comes from, via French, from the Latin satellitem (nom. satelles) “attendant”. It was first used to mean “man-made machinery orbiting the Earth” in 1936, when such things were theoretical. The first artificial satellite, a name used to distinguish them from natural satellites like the moon, was Sputnik 1, which was launched in 1957.

The Welsh word for satellite is lloeren, which comes from lloer, moon. In most of the other languages I’ve checked, the word is satellite or something similar.

Word of the day – moron

By Simon

The Welsh word moron, which means carrots, is an example of a false friend (cyfaill anwir?). The word for carrot is moronen, one of a small group of Welsh words that become shorter in the plural. Confusingly, the English word moron, which comes from the Greek for ‘foolish, dull’, has been borrowed into Welsh and has the same meaning.

Here are a few more Welsh/English false friends that I’ve noticed recently. Some look the same as English words, but are pronounced differently, so are only false friends in writing.

pan = when (pan is padell)
pant = hollow (to pant is dyhefod)
dim = nothing (dim is pŵl or aneglur)
mud = mute (mud is mwd)
hurt = silly (hurt is dolur (n) or dolurio (vb))
hen = old (hen is iâr)
brain = crows (brain is ymennydd)
nod = aim (nod is amnaid (n) or amneidio (vb))

Dyslecsia / Dyslexia

By Simon

According to an article I came across today, dyslexic children tend to it easier to read and write Welsh, with its regular and consistent spelling system, then English, with its somewhat eccentric orthography. Similarly, few children have problems spelling other regular languages like Italian and Spanish.

However dyslexic children who start by learning Welsh, then later learn English tend to find English spelling very challenging and often use Welsh-style spelling when writing English.

Here are some examples of English spelled with Welsh phonetics:

Ddy cwic brawn ffocs jymps owfer ddy leisi dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Tw bi o not tw bi: ddat is ddy cwestiyn.
To be or not to be: that is the question.

The article also mentions that dyslexic children tend to have more trouble getting to grips with Welsh grammar than with English grammar.

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?