| + Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
Anyone tried learning Welsh at an older age?
I've signed up for a 30 week foundation course, Monday night session at Chapter Arts and an online session every week.
Be good to hear some success stories.
The app ( on the iphone ) Duolingo works very well, you can do 5 - 10 mins a day ( more if you want of course )
My oldest daughter has learnt Spanish ( though she is doing this as a GCSE in school, though the teacher said she could sit her GCSE now in yr 9 as she has picked it up so well, i didnt have the heart to tell him it was the app ) and French in the last 3 years with it, now moving onto Polish
its a free app , Duolingo
I am learning Spanish now, Duolingo is fine if you want to know the basic words. Doesn't really explain any grammatical rules or conjugations etc.Originally Posted by blue matt
From a sentimental point of view I would love to learn Welsh but this Genie (who has dabbled in a number of languages at night school over the years) thinks that a major impediment is that it is impossible to find a Welsh speaker who doesn't speak English: it's much easier to learn a language by visiting a country in which it's possible to find environments where one's rudimentary grasp of a language is the only means of communication. Expecting a bilingual Welshman to very patiently wait for one's mangled utterances in Welsh seems more akin to asking a great favour.
A similar frustration occurred in my German night school class a few years ago. One of the (mature) students was half way through a complicated sentence when he got stuck - and substituted the subordinate clause with the words "F*** it!", which we all understood.
That's a very good point.
All very well, but where will you find someone to talk to.
A lot of people in shops/restaurants now where little "Cymraeg" pin badges to show that they speak Welsh so if you want to practice it in a more social setting its not hard to find someone who can speak Welsh
I learned the language at school but I found just watching half an hour of S4C per evening really helped me when I was struggling with the language, reading Welsh books can help too although I would wary of the dialect used
My daughter and granddaughter both speak Welsh, so finding someone to speak at me won't be hard.
I think I hear Welsh being spoken more now than ever around Cardiff, if you factor in Wales away trips I'm sure I'll have a bit of fun trying it out.
I'm more concerned with how hard it is to learn, also signed up for a Prince" course in the next few weeks, I've got a headache already!
Patagonia?All very well, but where will you find someone to talk to.
Typical responseAll very well, but where will you find someone to talk to.
Just my opinion. I can't stand the bloody language.
I work away a lot, the north Walians are pig ignorant with it and have a massive chip on their shoulder.
West Walians are not far behind. I'd love to see how they speak when they go on hols to Greece or Spain, see if they get treated the same.
Pig ignorant c unts
What the hell are you on about?
put the cider down and roll a joint son
Typical response
WhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosH
I work in North Wales regularly and have never encountered this problem.
Also when on holiday in Kos last year, when a couple of the Greek staff realised I was Welsh, they greeted me everyday in Welsh. Recently in Detroit when speaking to a police officer, when he knew I was Welsh he asked if I spoke Welsh and asked me to say something in Welsh.
It seems to me that the biggest "chip on shoulders" are carried by monoglot English speakers who feel they have the right to be spoken to in English wherever they go.
I was pretty good at Spanish and French in school, but a year in Spain about 30 years ago really helped, where I was not many people spoke English so you had to speak Spanish.
I've always found Welsh hard though, I did O level, did a "cwrs wlpan" and joined the Urdd when I was in sixth form, then did another Cwrs Wlpan a few years ago. My problem was that I never had chance to practice speaking it, and if you do get to talk welsh in Cardiff, it's not like the other person you're talking to can't speak English, so it's too easy to give up and revert to English.
Not helped by the fact that even first language Welsh speakers's conversations seem to be half Welsh/Half English.
I could probably still conduct a simple conversation but it's a struggle.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote