Duolingo Welsh - makes a change from knitting!

Nos da. Good luck I’m Welsh but don’t speak it so I have just started a course on Duolingo it’s addictive. Good luck to you

I have decided to learn Welsh too Witzend.We live on the Shropshire/Wales border.DH is Welsh,grandchildren are Welsh and so I figure I need to learn the language.

I hadn’t thought of duolingo and have been looking for a class locally.Will have a look at duolingo tomorrow.

DH speaks with the South Wales dialect, grandchildren learning the North Wales dialect.I don’t suppose when I speak it will sound like either!

I’m learning Scottish Gaelic, it’s fun and interesting. I would like to try Welsh too, I can remember a few words my Welsh Gran used. It’s a lovely musical language.

I am learning Welsh using Duolingo.

I find it fascinating.

I have been thinking that although it says that yn, which sometimes abbreviates to 'n as in Dw i'n and as in Dych chi'n does not translate into English, I think of it as meaning "doing".

Here is a song with lyrics in both Welsh and English.

I am nowhere near understanding the Welsh of the song at this time.

LINK > www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3D1wQb0cA

Nos da.

My mother and all her family are North Welsh and native speakers but I was born in London. We visited the family often but my mother never taught me Welsh which I regret. She thought I wouldn't need it being English born. Now I study the family history it would be very useful to speak Welsh. I had a long complicated document in Welsh and my cousin's daughter had to translate it to English for me which was no mean feat! I was very impressed.

Chestnut, what a shame your mother didn’t speak Welsh to you when you were little - learning is effortless at that stage, when your brain is programmed to mop a language up. Dds have sundry friends who are very cross that a parent chose not to speak to them in their mother tongues, because they thought it wouldn’t be needed - Norwegian, Vietnamese and Arabic are the 3 that come to mind.

I had a look at Wikipedia, where it says that a former form of Welsh probably came to the U.K. during the Bronze or Iron Age. I knew it was a very ancient language, like all the Celtic ditto, but no details. I like to think of it being spoken by my remote ancestors - or some of them anyway.

I’m finding Duolingo fine at this very early stage, but do feel the need to write things down, plus if I go much further I will need a book with the grammar and vocab. laid out to refer to. I sent for an Usborne beginners’ book, which I thought came with a CD, but it didn’t, which is annoying, although there are internet links for pronunciation and maybe more.

Bore da.

I have been writing notes of every word as it arises and every sentence and its translation.

It takes much longer to get through a lesson but I find it very valual;e to do.

For the words I write three things, the word in Welsh, the translation into English, and then, within quote marks, how the word in Welsh sounds to me using a sequence of English words or parts of English words that give the sound.

There are some lovely words, such as mwynhau.```

Oh, I don't know how ``` got in there. It is not part of what I intended to write.

I’d love to learn it,too but no one speaks it here. Gt grandma and gt gt grandad were from North Wales and I am proud of that heritage.

nanna8

I’d love to learn it,too but no one speaks it here. Gt grandma and gt gt grandad were from North Wales and I am proud of that heritage.

I don’t know where you are nanna8 (Australia?) but there are Welsh societies all over the world, birds of a feather definitely flock together when they are Welsh or have Welsh roots. I know they’d be delighted to welcome Welsh learners.

Bore da, nanna8.

Well, if I ask you a question in Welsh, then if you follow the Duolingo course you will soon hopefully understand the question and you could then learn how to reply and you could post your reply in this thread.

So you would have communicated in Welsh.

Here us the question.

Athrawes dych chi?

Only if you want to do it though.

My heritage is certainly Welsh, I was born inChester (Very close). My parent were both from North Wales. My Nain was a Welsh Nationalist, her brother was a founder member of theWelsh Nationalist Party, but my parents chose not to encourage my sister and I to speak the language. Something I regret now, but living in Yorkshire now it would be extremely difficult especially with an aged addled brain.

Witzend

*Chestnut*, what a shame your mother didn’t speak Welsh to you when you were little - learning is effortless at that stage, when your brain is programmed to mop a language up. Dds have sundry friends who are very cross that a parent chose not to speak to them in their mother tongues, because they thought it wouldn’t be needed - Norwegian, Vietnamese and Arabic are the 3 that come to mind.

I had a look at Wikipedia, where it says that a former form of Welsh probably came to the U.K. during the Bronze or Iron Age. I knew it was a very ancient language, like all the Celtic ditto, but no details. I like to think of it being spoken by my remote ancestors - or some of them anyway.

I’m finding Duolingo fine at this very early stage, but do feel the need to write things down, plus if I go much further I will need a book with the grammar and vocab. laid out to refer to. I sent for an Usborne beginners’ book, which I thought came with a CD, but it didn’t, which is annoying, although there are internet links for pronunciation and maybe more.

Hi Witzend!
Before I sign up, can you tell me please whether Duolingo is interactive in any way? My early (and only!) self-directed study with Gaelic was and that was brilliant.
Like you, I learn best with a primer (or several) in front of me.
I am also worried about knowing how easily understandable I will be to native speakers if I can't practice - AND be corrected- as I go along!
Thanks for any advice!

I cheated and looked up what you said, stardreamer. Now and since Covid, my memory is shot to pieces so I am not sure if I would be able to cope. Once , a long time ago, I was a teacher of English but we are going back to the 1970s and 80s.

Perhaps you might find having a go at some Esperanto would be much easier and get you in the mood for some Welsh at a later date.

LINK > www.gransnet.com/forums/culture_arts/1314422-Learning-Esperanto-using-Duolingo

You can have a free trial, ixion. I’ve only just signed up for £4.99 (IIRC) a month.

Yes, it’s interactive in that you have a lot of keyboard input, choosing what you hear, writing this or that in Welsh or English, etc. and it tells you whether your answer was correct - showing you the right answer if not.

There’s a ‘speaker’ where you can hear the same phrase repeatedly, plus a ‘slow’ version, which I’m finding very useful.

So far (I haven’t got very far!) it’s apparently working on much the same sort of principle as the listen, understand, repeat, method, which of course is how you learn as a child. However a native speaker child has years of total immersion in a language, so it’s just not the same for an adult learner, particularly when their brain is past the ‘mopping up’ stage.

Hence I do need pen and paper, and something written to refer to, even at this stage.

Thank you so much for your reply. That's really helpful!

I know what you mean about 'mopping up' - it's what I do a lot of these days, but not the language learning?
My small grandsons are totally bilingual- both grandmas have different languages, so they respond appropriately and fluently.

One does not need to pay anything though. In which case one gets advertisements. However, not intrusive, only in a panel and only between lessons, not within a lesson.

Inspired by you all I have signed up for the free trial and have done my first lesson today.

We were looking after the grandchildren today and while I was stumbling over pronunciation even the two year old was putting me right??‍♀️

nanna8

I’d love to learn it,too but no one speaks it here. Gt grandma and gt gt grandad were from North Wales and I am proud of that heritage.

An Australian spoke Welsh to us when we were over in Australia, thinking we'd understand because we live in Wales. He was hoping for a conversation in the language of his forefathers and mothers but unfortunately he was disappointed.

I don’t suppose I’ll ever get to the stage of speaking it to anyone who will understand, nanna8 - I’m really just doing it out of interest (mostly) plus it’s supposed to be a good exercise for the brain.

Very pleased today to have learned how to say ‘I don’t like ironing’ in Welsh! ?

Prynhawn da pawb from North Wales. Good luck with your Welsh lessons.

Thank you! What does pawb mean? I know the other two.