Welsh as she is spoke

Wales is only along just to the left of England.  We don’t need a passport to get here.  And I’ve visited quite often.  But until this time, never been so aware of the Welsh language.  It’s not just that all signage comes first in Welsh, then English.  But people – ordinary, everyday sort of people speak it – all the time.  I hadn’t really realised that this is a living language, a day-to-day reality for many many people, and not one simply preserved by well-meaning traditionalists and academics, in the way that Occitan seems to be encouraged in parts of France and elsewhere. I wish I could understand more than ‘dim parcio’ (‘no parking’).

Hir fyw y gwahaniaeth. (‘Vive la difference!’ to you.  And you can’t say that in English, either)

 

Even Waitrose supermarket says it in Welsh before English.
Even Waitrose supermarket says it in Welsh before English.

 

Of course this isn’t written on my smartphone.  I tried.  I’m allowed to comment on other WP bloggers’ posts by being logged into my account, but if I try to post myself, it continues to say I can’t be verified.  Oh grrr.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

12 thoughts on “Welsh as she is spoke”

  1. Confession. I love language and languages … but I hate Welsh! Tried to learn it when I lived in a Welsh speaking area of Wales but my mouth didn’t seem to be the right shape to make the words 🙂 , even when my brain could make any sense of the letter order. So I never really got further than (very) small talk – and certainly not far enough to know what the locals were saying when they switched from English to Welsh every time I appeared 😦

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    1. Kalba – you’re about to lose your linguists stripes. First Korean, now Welsh are rejected by you. And excuse typo please. This computer is being very odd and won’t let me move the cursor back.

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  4. Welsh looks fascinating–all those consonants and Ys in strange places. I feel almost as much at sea when I go to Quebec and everyone is speaking French! I can read it but I can’t converse at all.

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  5. I love it that there are many people in our British Isles that speak a language other than English. I like to see the Welsh/English signs when we are in Wales but when we are driving we naturally look at the top of the road signs, find Welsh and then try to read the English bit before we speed past! Fortunately, a lot of the words on road signs are easy to understand.

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