Noson Cofrestru...enrolment evening

It was great to see so many people turning up to enrol for Level 1 Welsh last night, as well as getting a chance to catch up with those returning to do Level 2.
I think there were around 16 who enrolled for the first year, and there may well be one or two more who turn up on the first night. It's always interesting for me to hear other peoples reasons for wanting to learn Welsh, and this year there seemed to be quite a few with direct Welsh family connections, as well as others who spend a lot of time in Wales for one reason or another.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to finding out more over the coming weeks...

dysgu tra cysgu..... learn while sleeping....

As a learner I've tried many techniques over the years to try and improve my Welsh, one of which was to set our clock radio to Radio Cymru (perhaps more suited to couples learning together!). At saith o'r gloch yn y bore there is no music (good news for many..) and the gentle sounds of 'Post Cyntaf' are sure to wake you up as well as anything. To be honest the fact that the clock radio has still been tuned to Radio Cymru on those occasions when it has, has sort of been accidental, propably a result of me failing to tune it back to Radio 4 after listening to a football match the previous evening. Jill doesn't quite see the need for such dedication! However the effect of a torrent of Welsh disturbing my sleep from time to time did I believe help in some way. In recent years (and this is going to sound equally sad..) I've taken to downloading podlediadau Cymraeg (Welsh podcasts) and occasionally listening to them on my i-pod before going to sleep, which inevitably ends up with me waking up in the middle of the night amongst a tangle of wires.

I don't have any evidence to back up claims that this actually helps, but any familiarisation with the language has got to be helpful, and to do it on the edges of sleep can sort of take the pressure off any expectation that you should be understanding more than you are...

So: dysgu tra cysgu, so long as it's not in the class...

Penblwydd arbennig a special anniversary

on this day, September 16th, in the year 1400 one of Wales' most famous sons was proclaimed Prince of Wales. Owain Glyndŵr, whos name derives from the village of his birth near Llangollen: Glyndyfrdwy, remains a fascinating figure. As the last Welsh born Prince of Wales, Owain remains an important figure symbolically, but he was a man with far reaching visions for his country such as universities in North and South Wales, and an independant church. Interestingly, the borders he was trying to negotiate for Wales included Cheshire, and other border counties, meaning the Wirral could well have ended up as part of modern Wales!

Huw Edwards tells us more:

Paid Edrych i Lawr

Cerys Matthews will create history next month by releasing two albumns similtaneously, One called 'Paid Edrych i Lawr', and one called.... I'm sure you guessed.... yes, 'Don't Look Down'. As you will have realised by now these two records are Welsh and English versions of the same collection of songs, some of which appeared in Welsh only on last years EP release 'Awyren=Aeroplane'. So hopefully before long Radio Cymru will be playing plenty of new Cerys Matthews tracks.... can't be a bad thing!

Release date is Hydref 5ed, though I've pre ordered a Welsh copy (wrth cwrs). You can preview the songs (but only in English) on the same site.

Google translate....

Google have recently added Welsh to their 'translate' tool which is quite something given that only around 50 or so of the worlds languages are there. Cymraeg appears to be the first of the Celtic languages made available.

As I'm sure everyone's aware, translation tools are a mixed blessing and are responsible for many of the disasterous and unintelligable translations that appear on the internet, as well as on 'occasional' signs in Wales. One fine example was of an establishment near Ruthin that translated Brasserie as 'Y Bronglwm', which as you can guess is the Welsh for bra!

However if you're not sure of something it's a useful tool, and obviously translating from Welsh to English you'll spot any results that makes no sense. English to Welsh though is a bit more risky for the learner...

Learn to pronounce LlanfairPG with a catchy ditty....mmm...

This video will drive you mad, but some people say it's helped them learn how to pronounce the name of the famous Welsh village, mae'n ddrwg iawn iawn gen i...

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllarghhhhhh......

noson cofrestru - enrolment evening

S'mae! I hope you're all having a good summer!! After two seperate holidays in different parts of 'Gogledd Cymru', the British seaside holiday has lost its shine somewhat, though we did have one fine afternoon on the beuatiful 'Traeth Tywyn' nr. Tudweiliog, an old favourite of Jills family, and succeeded in 'encouraging' Miriam (12) and 'Layla' (ci) to the top of 'Yr Wyddfa' and 'Cadair Idris', both 'yn yr heulwen'.

This years enrolement evening takes place on Wed 23rd of September at Wirral Grammar School for Girls (advert in last weeks globe). Classes start the following week. Year 1 is on Wednesdays, and year 2 on Tuesdays. If you can't make the enrolement evening you can always call the Language College office to put your name down. I look forward to seeing you there...

Hwyl, Neil