Problem
Look at a map of Wales or take a train towards Wales or through Wales and you will see Welsh words on the train, the stations, the shops, and hear people speaking Welsh.
How do you recognize and remember Welsh words? They look different.
Answer
Look closely and you will see similarities. Or make up sentences to link Welsh and English words. English has such a large vocabulary, borrowed from languages all over the world, that you should be able to remember some links.
Welsh - English
adre - home or homewards (I think of he wants to go to his home address)
gwin - wine looks like g - win (memory aid sentence: Go and get me wine - the letter w in Welsh sounds a bit like oo) Say the English memory aid in a mock Welsh accent.
lemonĂªd - lemonade (you make the hat or circumflex on the e by holding the E key and tapping 3 key)
mae'r - there is
oren - orange (looks like a short form of orange)
reis - rice
wit ti eisiau - would you like / do you want (sounds like would you, eh? see - I! See it and love it. Ti for you is like French tu and old English thee as in the song 'I vow to thee my country'. Have you got your eye on it? I listen to it again and the s is more of a Sh sound, so I remember: Don't be shy.)
ydy - does (he)
English - Welsh
does (he) - ydy (pronounced iddy)
do you want / would you like - wit ti eisiau
home - adre
lemonade - lemonĂªd (think of sitting in a sunhat drinking lemonade; the first part of the word is the same, the hat is on the second e to turn it intothe sound' ay')
orange - oren (drop the letter a but keep the letter e)
rice - reis (Interestingly, the Welsh is written with an s, the English with c for s like Russian); think of the redundant e like the silent e used twice in the name George which changes the hard G sound into a J sound)
wine - gwin
Tips
duolingo.com (free on line learning website for many languages from English and from several languages to learn English)
google translate
http://mymemory.translated.net/en/Welsh/English/mae%27r
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. You will find several more posts on learning Welsh and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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