Dwi'n leicio siarad Cymraeg.
The first language I ever tried to learn (aside from English, of course) was German. That was probably sometime around third grade. Of course, not being in a formal class or even having a formal course didn't get me very far. I had an old German book of my Mom's that I tried to decode as best I could. Needless to say, I didn't get very far. My Mom tried to help me of course, but it is often very difficult for an American third grader to grasp not only masculine, feminine and neuter, but also all the odd conjugations and things that make German so hard. The only thing I really retained from my third grade pursuits was der kugelschreiber, the pen. However, I loved it. From that time on, I adored language. Words, to me, were the most wonderful and fascinating thing I'd ever encountered (and even though German is not always thought of as the most beautiful language in the world, I thought it was, and I still have a soft spot for it to this day). After that, there was rarely a period where I wasn't at least dabbling in some tongue or another. Fourth grade was French; fifth, Russian and Italian; sixth, Spanish and Japanese, et cetera, et cetera. Mind you, I don't consider this anything extraordinary - nay, I'm sure many of the people reading this will have had done the same or similar thing, perhaps getting much farther than I. I never really got to speaking level, but I tried. You can only do so much on your own. What I did get though, was a fair knowledge (at least a secondary knowledge) and feel for language itself. Though I couldn't speak a fluent German sentence, I could usually tell if a word was German and perhaps guess at the meaning. And by learning primarily Germanic and Romantic languages, I was able to see the connections between all of them, thus making it easier to learn any one of them. My understanding of English itself was improved, as well.
Then there was 9th grade. It was my first year of high school, and indeed my first year of public school (I had gone to Catholic school all my life). I absolutely detested it. It was horrid, hostile and sterile looking - and the level of work was horrendous! Everyday we had to make some new poster, or mobile, or something like that! In English class, we only read one book the entire year, and that was out loud! Aughh! It was the worst year of my life. Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkle became my official theme song. Weekends became the most glorious moments in the entire history of my existence. And the stupidity and false cheerfulness was absolutely stifling.
One day, my Mom, who was pregnant at the time with a girl, began discussing baby names with me. We were going alphabetically through a babyname book. We were on B.
"Hey, how about Bronwyn? (hahaha)"
"Oh, I've always loved that name. (hahaha)"
"Wouldn't it be funny (hahaha) if we named her Bronwyn?"
...
...
...
"Well why the heck not?"
"Well, because it's..."
...
It was Welsh. We weren't Welsh. Most people around here don't even know what "Welsh" is. I knew one person who literally thought it was what whales spoke. My mother's side of the family is Irish/Italian/German, but so far as we knew no one in our family had ever had anything to do with Wales. But still...it was a nice name. It was unique, but not made up or even too weird. My mom and I fought the battle and won, and my youngest sister is now named Bronwyn.
But Welsh, really? Being name people, we had to research the etymology of the name and everything that had anything to do with it. It means "white breast" spelled Bronwyn, but "white raven" spelled Branwen, which was actually my preferred spelling, but which was deemed too masculine (which is funny, since this is actually the more feminine form in Welsh) and confusing. For obvious reasons, we opted to use the second definition for all practical purposes. Many strange things came about regarding that name, all of which will be discussed at some later date. But there was one thing that happened which I shall expound upon you.
We began to get into Welsh the language. It was incredible. It was something I had never seen the likes of before. It was graceful, mysterious, enchanting and challenging. I no could longer simply guess with 80% accuracy what a word meant. It was not related to anything I had ever studied. As the good professor J.R.R. Tolkien said, it "pierced my linguistic heart" and had "an abiding linguistic-aesthetic satisfaction." And thus my long affair with the language of the gods began.
I first began to use the BBC "Big Welsh Challenge" program online, which, though helpful, is only a conversation course. I really wanted to learn the whole thing, grammar and all. I was now more serious about this language than I had ever been about any before (except perhaps Esperanto). I searched and searched, and finally found a very good site. I didn't think I could buy a course (though I do have a book and CD now), so I had to find a free online one. What I found was this wonderful website. Say Something in Welsh is an amazing place. It is completely free and offers 25 beginner lessons at 30 minutes each. Since Welsh is so strange grammatically, it's pretty difficult to learn the traditional way (textbooks). This method (a bit like the Pimsleur method I think, which is kind of silly for something easy and regular like Spanish, but quite appropriate for Welsh) relies solely on listening and speaking. In fact, they tell yon that you are not allowed to see how the words are spelled. This allows you to quite literally learn like a baby. It is rather easy and by the third lesson you start to feel like learning Welsh, once very intimidating, is a very doable thing. I highly recommend it.
If one is perhaps interested in learning Welsh, another thing I would highly recommend is listening to and learning Welsh songs. Bronwyn (2) already knows all the words to Calon Lân, her favorite Welsh song. In fact, she frequently requests "Tewys Matoos!", whom the rest of the world knows as Cerys Matthews, a Welsh singer. Her second favorite is Arglwydd Dyma Fi, and third, Bachgen Bach o Dincar. She is an odd child.
LEARN WELSH!! It is an endangered language, and it must be kept alive!!!
LEARN WELSH!! Even if you are already learning another language, because, of course,
Dyw un iaith byth yn ddigon!
(One language is never enough!)
Hwyl!
The first language I ever tried to learn (aside from English, of course) was German. That was probably sometime around third grade. Of course, not being in a formal class or even having a formal course didn't get me very far. I had an old German book of my Mom's that I tried to decode as best I could. Needless to say, I didn't get very far. My Mom tried to help me of course, but it is often very difficult for an American third grader to grasp not only masculine, feminine and neuter, but also all the odd conjugations and things that make German so hard. The only thing I really retained from my third grade pursuits was der kugelschreiber, the pen. However, I loved it. From that time on, I adored language. Words, to me, were the most wonderful and fascinating thing I'd ever encountered (and even though German is not always thought of as the most beautiful language in the world, I thought it was, and I still have a soft spot for it to this day). After that, there was rarely a period where I wasn't at least dabbling in some tongue or another. Fourth grade was French; fifth, Russian and Italian; sixth, Spanish and Japanese, et cetera, et cetera. Mind you, I don't consider this anything extraordinary - nay, I'm sure many of the people reading this will have had done the same or similar thing, perhaps getting much farther than I. I never really got to speaking level, but I tried. You can only do so much on your own. What I did get though, was a fair knowledge (at least a secondary knowledge) and feel for language itself. Though I couldn't speak a fluent German sentence, I could usually tell if a word was German and perhaps guess at the meaning. And by learning primarily Germanic and Romantic languages, I was able to see the connections between all of them, thus making it easier to learn any one of them. My understanding of English itself was improved, as well.
Then there was 9th grade. It was my first year of high school, and indeed my first year of public school (I had gone to Catholic school all my life). I absolutely detested it. It was horrid, hostile and sterile looking - and the level of work was horrendous! Everyday we had to make some new poster, or mobile, or something like that! In English class, we only read one book the entire year, and that was out loud! Aughh! It was the worst year of my life. Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkle became my official theme song. Weekends became the most glorious moments in the entire history of my existence. And the stupidity and false cheerfulness was absolutely stifling.
One day, my Mom, who was pregnant at the time with a girl, began discussing baby names with me. We were going alphabetically through a babyname book. We were on B.
"Hey, how about Bronwyn? (hahaha)"
"Oh, I've always loved that name. (hahaha)"
"Wouldn't it be funny (hahaha) if we named her Bronwyn?"
...
...
...
"Well why the heck not?"
"Well, because it's..."
...
It was Welsh. We weren't Welsh. Most people around here don't even know what "Welsh" is. I knew one person who literally thought it was what whales spoke. My mother's side of the family is Irish/Italian/German, but so far as we knew no one in our family had ever had anything to do with Wales. But still...it was a nice name. It was unique, but not made up or even too weird. My mom and I fought the battle and won, and my youngest sister is now named Bronwyn.
But Welsh, really? Being name people, we had to research the etymology of the name and everything that had anything to do with it. It means "white breast" spelled Bronwyn, but "white raven" spelled Branwen, which was actually my preferred spelling, but which was deemed too masculine (which is funny, since this is actually the more feminine form in Welsh) and confusing. For obvious reasons, we opted to use the second definition for all practical purposes. Many strange things came about regarding that name, all of which will be discussed at some later date. But there was one thing that happened which I shall expound upon you.
We began to get into Welsh the language. It was incredible. It was something I had never seen the likes of before. It was graceful, mysterious, enchanting and challenging. I no could longer simply guess with 80% accuracy what a word meant. It was not related to anything I had ever studied. As the good professor J.R.R. Tolkien said, it "pierced my linguistic heart" and had "an abiding linguistic-aesthetic satisfaction." And thus my long affair with the language of the gods began.
I first began to use the BBC "Big Welsh Challenge" program online, which, though helpful, is only a conversation course. I really wanted to learn the whole thing, grammar and all. I was now more serious about this language than I had ever been about any before (except perhaps Esperanto). I searched and searched, and finally found a very good site. I didn't think I could buy a course (though I do have a book and CD now), so I had to find a free online one. What I found was this wonderful website. Say Something in Welsh is an amazing place. It is completely free and offers 25 beginner lessons at 30 minutes each. Since Welsh is so strange grammatically, it's pretty difficult to learn the traditional way (textbooks). This method (a bit like the Pimsleur method I think, which is kind of silly for something easy and regular like Spanish, but quite appropriate for Welsh) relies solely on listening and speaking. In fact, they tell yon that you are not allowed to see how the words are spelled. This allows you to quite literally learn like a baby. It is rather easy and by the third lesson you start to feel like learning Welsh, once very intimidating, is a very doable thing. I highly recommend it.
If one is perhaps interested in learning Welsh, another thing I would highly recommend is listening to and learning Welsh songs. Bronwyn (2) already knows all the words to Calon Lân, her favorite Welsh song. In fact, she frequently requests "Tewys Matoos!", whom the rest of the world knows as Cerys Matthews, a Welsh singer. Her second favorite is Arglwydd Dyma Fi, and third, Bachgen Bach o Dincar. She is an odd child.
LEARN WELSH!! It is an endangered language, and it must be kept alive!!!
LEARN WELSH!! Even if you are already learning another language, because, of course,
Dyw un iaith byth yn ddigon!
(One language is never enough!)
Hwyl!
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