Language Learner's Badge for Welsh / Pin - Dysgu Cymraeg / Learning Welsh -

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.

Badge / Pin - Dysgu Cymraeg / Learning Welsh: 

"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://welshgiftshop.com/collections/welsh-language-gifts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language

Welsh first name, surnames and place names:

https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/welsh/2

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:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Seen In Singapore: Cute Toy At Bus Stop - I want one - how to find it

Singapore Flag.

Cute Toy At Bus Stop. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Waiting for a bus might not be your number one fun activity. However, this toy provided me with a permanent smile whilst I waited. 

I was at the Tampines Interchange. I wonder if I could copy the image and do a search on the internet to find a match and learn what the toy is and where you can buy it. 

I should have asked the woman where she bought it. But my bus came along.

I know you can search for products or try to identify plants and animals.

I found camfind.

https://www.komando.com/apps/338508/search-for-a-product-online-simply-by-taking-a-picture-of-it

Your Name And My Name or Nickname In Chinese (Mandarin): Ann, Happy and Lucky

Problem
How do I get my name translated into Chinese? Years ago I paid to have my name written in Chinese in calligraphy at a tourist spot. I was upset when I had it done again and found a totally different drawing.

Answer
However, a friend told me that since the name could be written many ways, both of the artists' works were equally valid.

Angela has no direct translation. I asked somebody to give me a translation of Angel. I didn't like the sound and it was not memorable.

In Singapore in Orchard Road, the equivalent of London's Oxford Street, the main department store complex is called Ngee Ann city, after the founder-owner. I thought of combining my name with An.

I asked a Grab taxi driver to translate my name. I asked him for a translation of Lucky Ann.

It comes out like this:
Pronunciation (sound)
Sing Onn Ann. (That is easy to remember. Sing on or oon, Ann.)
The spelling is:
XIN YUN AN.

Lucky is a value judgement.

Happy is more of an accurate description.

Happy Ann becomes
Kai Sing An (pronunciation) and the spelling is
KAI XIN AN.

I could be Kai Sing An from Singapore. In a foreign language you have a chance to pick a new name or nickname, and market yourself with any name which brings you luck or makes you happy.

The Ngee Ann City Shopping Mall, located along shopping street Orchard Road, Singapore. (2MP version)
Date	December 2006
Source	Own work
Author	Img by Calvin Teo
Permission (Reusing this file)	CC-BY-SA-2.5, GFDL

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Happy Holidays and Happy Travelling - Tips

Better to travel in hope than to arrive? (To quote or misquote R L Stevenson.) Better to travel hopefully, arrive happily and stay happy. But travellers have lots of mishaps.

My Tokyo Train Setback and Success
I remember I could not get a seat on the last overnight train back from Hiroshima to Tokyo to meet a boyfriend. I sat disconsolately, looking at my list of youth hostels and hotels, contemplating the price of youth hostel and hotel. Then the ticket seller beckoned me over and offered me a couchette - whilst much pricer than a seat, it was a fifth the price of a hotel, or taxi, plus youth hostel plus taxi back. Much better than sitting in a seat all night.

UK Train Problem Solved
Once I was reading on the UK train and missed my stop, ending up at a deserted station with no train back. Devastation. Panic. I phoned my son. Luckily he was already in his car driving home and agreed to divert to collect me.

Then a taxi stopped to ask if I needed a taxi. The local company probably always drove to the station after the last trains in both directions, to see whether anybody incoming was tired and wanted a lift home nearby, or outgoing, needed a longer ride to another area.

So I had two solutions to my problem. Both drivers would have got me home, and probably reassured me that I wasn't the first person to have got stuck at a station.

Staying Happy
How do people stay happy? Today I read the key. This system reinforces what I had read earlier, about thinking positive, count your blessings, and gratitude, start as you mean to go on, but brings it into focus, with and makes it easy to manage.

Focus On Solutions
When you have a problem to solve, it helps to focus on the problem, rather than being 'in denial'. If you have missed the last bus home, you don't want to sit in a deserted ally, a target for who knows what. You are better off looking for alternative transport, or a safe place for the night.

But one way to find help not to focus on the problem but to focus on finding help. (Thinking positively as you run through positive solutions: wouldn't it be nice if I could - find a police station; find a list of hotels; find a hotel/restaurant/bar/pub/disco/coffee shop that's open late; find a phone box ... walk back towards the city; find a list showing the next train.)

Re-Telling Troubles With a Happy Spin
Imagine telling others this story later. "I didn't panic. I kept calm. I looked for / called for / phoned ...."

I am a survivor. What have I survived? Car crashes. (Two.) Being knocked down by a car. (Once.)
 Passport lost/stolen (once).

Helpful Positive Phrases
You tell yourself and tell others what you did:
Bounced back.
Help/ed along life's highway.
Support/ed.
Survivor/survived.

Useful Strategies - New Local Friends
Make friends with the local police. Make friends with the hotel receptionist. Make friends with other hotel guests. Then when you have a problem, you are not approaching as first impression is you have a problem, but as first impression you are a friend, second impression you are a friend who needs help.

Make friends with your neighbours. Make friends with your colleagues.

Make friends with fellow travellers. (Especially with those likely to be helpful, or knowledgeable, and unlikely to cause you trouble.)

Note exits of transport and public places when you arrive and you have light to see. Stay near exits or plan your route to exits.

Have backup plans for problems. Divide your valuables.

Appeals For Help
Phrases to potential helpers:
Could you help me?
You may know the answer.
Thank you so much.

If somebody can't help, ask them who could help.

Here's a book about being happy, reviewed in the Daily Mail online.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3116340/Have-finally-unlocked-secret-happiness-Scientists-reveal-four-simple-steps-banish-blues.html

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, English teacher and speech trainer, public speaker.
If you want to read more by me, look at my other blogs and follow me on this one, like me on Facebook. If you want to see me talking about English restaurant etiquette worldwide, go to YouTube and type in Angela Lansbury Author (the actress of the same name comes up first so you need to add author or poet). You can also see me speak about grammar and spelling, and performing comic poetry.

If you would like a speaker at a workshop or event, link to me on LinkedIn or through Toastmasters International.