Any Welsh speakers here?

Anniebach is, I shouldn't speak for her but I know she loves her native language and she'll be along soon. Annie are you out there.............?

mmm LondonGranny, intriguing.

Thanks Terribull

grapefruitpip
I do also want to learn a language and it's the obvious one to learn in terms of
a) I'd get a chance to use it
b) my husband speaks four languages fluently and another four he can get by in and none of them are Welsh. It's a bit like never get your spouse to teach you to drive if you want your marriage to survive!
c) I've always thought it was an amazing language
d) there are loads of 'learn Welsh' podcasts so I have the opportunity

Wow, I know intelligence is intelligence but 4 languages fluently.....impressive.

Another thing. There's a wealth of different languages spoken where I live but most people around me want to use and get better at English and it seems churlish to not help by trying to get them away from English whereas that's not a big deal in Wales.
A friend's grandchild in Wales goes to school with some Syrian refugees and they now speak Welsh and English as well as their mother tongue which pleases me greatly.

He's got a very good ear. He's a wicked mimic too. The things he excels at are music, languages and computer programming. He says they're essentially the same thing.

...by wicked mimic I mean sometimes if we're at a gathering of some sort he can imitate people's voices quickly and I often have to kick him under the table because it can look like he's taking the mick. Which sometimes he is.

Pwrynhawn Da (good afternoon) LondonGranny ?

Same spelling, if you were to sit GCSE Welsh same spellings if you were North or South .

There are some words same meaning, spoken and spelt differently, example - if you lived North you would call your grandmother Nain, in the South Mam-Gu , but Nain is used in the South too, never heard Mam-Gu in the north

Good luck

Welsh! It's a hard language to learn I found mainly because the pronunciation sounds nothing like it looks written down! I also have a degree in French and German which seem easy in comparison!
My mum didn't speak any English until she was 10 when she was sent to boarding school over the border because she was a clergyman's daughter. She always said there was a divide between north and south Wales though I have no idea in terms of pronunciation.
Good luck! Sounds like a challenge!

Anniebach, thanks so much. I was curious as some pronunciation is so different...the same word in South Wales sounding like 'should' and in North Wales 'sit' I am just going for learning to speak Welsh first and then when I'm more confident I may well move on to reading it, then writing it.
My friend's neighbour's first language is Welsh and we always have a chinwag when I'm there and she'd be thrilled if I could speak to her in Welsh (as would I). Even if it's just about the weather or how nice her garden is looking

I literally started today.

...anyway...back to my learning...no time like the present!

If you're religious how about the lovely

eglwys gmraeg canol llundain

Five minutes from Oxford Circus

Just thought and a suggestion ... if you're in London (from your name!) there's a friendly Welsh church/chapel in town where Welsh people meet. They are keen to carry on the traditions and language. Maybe you could learn a few hymns in Welsh if you're that way inclined!

Ha ha! Crossed post Riverwalk.

My first language is Welsh and I work in a primary school which is a category A Welsh school. Ellianne I'm surprised that you find Welsh difficult as it's a phonetic language and 90% of the time you say what you see lol LondonGranny speaking Welsh first is definitely the way to go.

As a north Walian Welsh speaker, I know there is a difference not only between north and south pronunciations but north east and north west as well!

Don’t be intimidated by that LondnGranny, as I’m sure Geordies don’t always understand cockney and vice versa, and the same is true across all regions.

Pob hwyl hefo eich ymdrechion!

Helen .... it's the dd and ll and cwm type words which look alien to me, but then my main languages are latin/romance based.
I've heard Welsh is very much like Breton?

Respect to LondonGranny - my mother was north Welsh and the family spoke it round the table. But I was born in London (English father) and she never thought I would need it so never taught me! Having visited the family and Wales countless times I can say she was wrong. I would have loved to speak it. They had to speak English when I was there, which made me feel like the odd one out, but then she would jabber away in Welsh on the phone to her family. Since then I have done the family history and come across old documents and newspaper articles in Welsh, which I have been obliged to ask relatives to translate. All in all very annoying. I suppose I should make the effort to learn Welsh, but there is little opportunity for me to speak it now.

Ellianne yes it is similar to Breton. All the Celtic languages are similar but also very different. dd is said the same way as th in the word the. ll is very difficult to explain. I'll have a think lol

Don’t always say what you see ? f and ff for example

DH home now so I'll do more Welsh tomorrow...I can usually have a stab at Welsh placenames. I know how to say Cwmdu & Eglwyswrw for instance (both Powys & Pembrokeshire have excellent B&Bs). Depending on what your English accent is like this may not be phonetically how you'd say it but it's Coomdee and Eggloosooroo for me (ish). However today I've learned that in conversation a lot of words are shortened or modified a bit, like in most conversations in most languages. I'm definitely going for the informal conversation rather than formal declaiming. I'm not ready for the Eisteddfod just yet....

...and thank you all for some really useful advice & suggestions