I travelled to Wales to the annual Writers' Holiday, which was held in summer, then in spring. The last one was in February 2019 just before the lockdown and unfortunately the scheduled even for 2021 had to be cancelled for 2021.
I started translating road signs when I drove to Wales, then signs on stations when I took the train. ost signs were bilingual, which helped. Amongst the writers at the Writers' Holiday I usually found that in a group of four or five at the table at meal times somebody knew Welsh or at least a few words which they wanted to share. I also started learning Welsh on Duolingo.
My latest find came from hunting for badges which show which languages you speak. Even better is one which shows which language you want to learn.
"Our 'Learning Welsh' badges will encourage people to speak Welsh to you! Pin on with pride. 'Dysgu Cymraeg' means learning Welsh (language) Red with clear white font. Steel Pin back Good readble size - measures approx 38mm (1.5 inch) in diameter."
Their website has a handy page of Welsh. You can also pick up some Welsh from the articles for sale.
The sentence construction and phrase construction is noun-adjective, the opposite of English, but the same as French. To remember the French construction I say moulin rouge, which is red windmill. To remember the Welsh, I shall remember b a b i newydd which is new baby. Change the y to i, and watch that the spellchecker does not helpfully change it back to the English word.
English - Welsh
baby - babi
happy - hapus
happy Easter - Pasg Hapus
home - cartref
love - cariad
Mother - Mam
new - newydd
new home - cartref newydd
new baby - babi newydd
Wales - Cymru
you - ti
Welsh - English
babi - baby
babi newydd - new baby
cariad - love
cartref - home
caru ti - I love you
Cymru - Wales
diolch - thank you
hapus - happy
lechid da - good health
Mam - Mother
Newydd - new
Pasg - Easter
Pasg hapus - happy Easter
ti - you
Wyn in names such as Gwen, is from gwyn meaning white, fair or blessed.
Want to know more?
They sell a Welsh learners' dictionary.
Wikipedia directed me to a website on Welsh names which told me that the name trevor is probably derived from the Welsh tref for village and mawr, which becomes or in more than one name listed, meaning large.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language
Welsh first name, surnames and place names:
Aboout the Author
Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer, has visited Wales many times.
Angela Lansbury is teacher of English. (Advanced English and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, an aspiring polyglot.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters speaker training clubs, and speaking contest judge.
Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore.
She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:
Please share links to your favourite posts.
