A month ago I looked at the Duolingo list of languages and was quite surprised to see Welsh (and not yet Greek). I thought, how many people want to learn Welsh? I suppose people living in Wales, especially those in schools, teaching Welsh, learning Welsh, in a bilingual school, which has bilingual notices, or government offices producing leaflets in the Welsh language.
However, this month I too a train to Wales, seeing Welsh on the train, Welsh signs on stations, leaflet in both languages. Immediately my interested in learning Welsh became intense, as strong as my desire to find a toilet (what's Welsh for toilet) and drinking water (what's Welsh for drinking water), not to mention changing onto the right train (what's Welsh for train?).
I picked up two Welsh language leaflets, one on the station and another on the Severn Crossing.
Duo lingo Welsh
As soon as I got a wifi connection (how do you say Wifi in Welsh) in my hotel (what's Welsh for hotel?) I logged onto Duolingo and signed up for Welsh. I have just done my first short lesson in Welsh. (I also discovered that the Duolingo website has rotating flashcards which you can use to test yourself. They pop up one at a time. That's a bit less daunting than the Review after each lesson.
It starts by asking you to match the words for morning and night with pictures.
Night - n o s same initial letter
morning bore (I think of the English word starting with b, breakfast, or Break of Day. Is breakfast the most boring meal of the day?)
afternoon - p r y n h a w n - initial p as in P.M. (Latin for post meridian, after the middle of the day) last letter is n in both afternoon and prynhawn
Duo lingo Review
But the advantage of the review is that if you read the review of often 6 to 12 card all on the screen together, you can revise all the answers by reading to the end as they ask you to translate one way and then the other.
Mini Dictionary of Welsh
Regarding Welsh words here are some of my findings, with a little help from DuoLingo and a lot of hard work translating one word at a time on Google translate I shall fill in this list today:
English-Welsh
and - a
bus
brickwork - bricwaith
chocolate
coffee
drinking water
entrance
exit
ferry
gents (toilet)
ladies (toilet)
minutes - mind
no smoking
not
now
port
power - p w e r
sandwich
station
tea
the
to
toilet
train - trên
what time?
where
where (is)
who
wifi
work - g w a i t h
Place names
Cardiff - Caerdydd
England
Fishguard
London - Llundain
Newport - Casnewydd
Scotland
Swansea
Ireland
Wales - Cymru
Welsh - English
a - and
am
ar - be
Caerdydd - Cardiff
Cymru - Wales
er
i
in -
Llundain - London
m i n u d - minutes (spaces because auto correct prefers minus to m i n u d)
t w n n e l - tunnel
y
yn - in
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
However, this month I too a train to Wales, seeing Welsh on the train, Welsh signs on stations, leaflet in both languages. Immediately my interested in learning Welsh became intense, as strong as my desire to find a toilet (what's Welsh for toilet) and drinking water (what's Welsh for drinking water), not to mention changing onto the right train (what's Welsh for train?).
I picked up two Welsh language leaflets, one on the station and another on the Severn Crossing.
Duo lingo Welsh
As soon as I got a wifi connection (how do you say Wifi in Welsh) in my hotel (what's Welsh for hotel?) I logged onto Duolingo and signed up for Welsh. I have just done my first short lesson in Welsh. (I also discovered that the Duolingo website has rotating flashcards which you can use to test yourself. They pop up one at a time. That's a bit less daunting than the Review after each lesson.
It starts by asking you to match the words for morning and night with pictures.
Night - n o s same initial letter
morning bore (I think of the English word starting with b, breakfast, or Break of Day. Is breakfast the most boring meal of the day?)
afternoon - p r y n h a w n - initial p as in P.M. (Latin for post meridian, after the middle of the day) last letter is n in both afternoon and prynhawn
Duo lingo Review
But the advantage of the review is that if you read the review of often 6 to 12 card all on the screen together, you can revise all the answers by reading to the end as they ask you to translate one way and then the other.
Mini Dictionary of Welsh
Regarding Welsh words here are some of my findings, with a little help from DuoLingo and a lot of hard work translating one word at a time on Google translate I shall fill in this list today:
English-Welsh
and - a
bus
brickwork - bricwaith
chocolate
coffee
drinking water
entrance
exit
ferry
gents (toilet)
ladies (toilet)
minutes - mind
no smoking
not
now
port
power - p w e r
sandwich
station
tea
the
to
toilet
train - trên
what time?
where
where (is)
who
wifi
work - g w a i t h
Place names
Cardiff - Caerdydd
England
Fishguard
London - Llundain
Newport - Casnewydd
Scotland
Swansea
Ireland
Wales - Cymru
Welsh - English
a - and
am
ar - be
Caerdydd - Cardiff
Cymru - Wales
er
i
in -
Llundain - London
m i n u d - minutes (spaces because auto correct prefers minus to m i n u d)
t w n n e l - tunnel
y
yn - in
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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