Welsh, Words, "Would Like" What to say in Welsh, Why Visit Wales and Ireland

View of Fishguard Bay, Wales. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Wedding at Fishguard Bay Hotel.

Problem
How do you say I would like in Welsh? This is a problem when translating from English into any other language.

Answer
I am learning Welsh from Duo Lingo. Their simple English-Welsh lessons often give alternative answers but they gave the Welsh which I translated as I would like which was not allowed. I wondered whether the Welsh had only one phrase, in which case my alternative should have been allowed. However, according to somebody who replied in the forum, the Welsh English goes like this.

• Hoffwn i... - I would like...
• Dw i eisiau... - I want...

If you want to hear how it is pronounced, go to www.Duolingo.

Story
Children of today speak simply and more directly.
For example:
How are you? to an elderly person requires the answer
Very well, thank you.
A young person says
Fine.
That sounds terribly rude to an older person.

Why Learn Welsh Words?
Why would anybody want, or need, or like, to speak or understand Welsh?
If you drive or take the train across Wales, you will see many signs in Welsh. Why not take a few free language lessons?

Why Go To Wales?
Writers' Holiday
Many of my friends are going to the Writers Holiday in Fishguard, Wales, this week. You can book for a week or be a day visitor.

History and Films
Fishguard is also the setting for many movies or films from the past such as Moby Dick and Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

You can read about the making of the films in the bar of the Fishguard Bay Hotel which is above the port where you catch the ferry to Ireland.

Ireland And Wales
Some people go through Wales because they need to in order to get the ferry to Ireland. You might do so deliberately in order to Enjoy and two destination trip to both Wales and Ireland.

Tourist Information
www.visitWales.com
www.wales.com
www.gofishguard.co.uk/
http://www.writersholiday.net
http://www.directferries.co.uk/fishguard_rosslare_ferry.
http://www.directferries.co.uk/ferries_from_wales_to_ireland. (Choosing which ferry route.)
http://www.irishtourist.com/wexford/towns/rosslare/
www.duolingo.com (Welsh, Gaelic, English for speakers of other languages, other languages)
I have several other posts on Wales and learning Welsh. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Translation Services - what rude words are we saying?

Four problems arise in translation.
1 You translate your words and your new friends/acquaintances/shopkeepers don't understand you.
2 They understand and reply - but you don't understand the answer.
3 They understand and laugh and you wonder what you said wrongly.
4 They mutter to each other or make hostile remarks and you wonder what they are saying about you.

I dutifully learned to say goodbye and thank you in Korean and happily waved goodbye as I left restaurants and hotels. My efforts were not greeted by polite, appreciative thanks, but by hilarity. The smiled incredulously and equaled with laughter into their handkerchiefs, tears of laughter streaming down their faces as I left.

When I returned to Singapore I found out why. I asked a Japanese lady friend if she knew any Korean. She knew a little. I asked if she could explain why my attempts to say goodbye and thank you were greeted with hysterical laughter.

She smiled knowingly. Ah so. Japanese, and, Korean sta-ca-to.  Eng -rish - ve-ry sing-song.

Ah - like the time a man from Cardiff tried to chat me up on the phone in a Welsh accent. When he said I was ve-ry pre-tea, instead of being pleased at the compliment, I could not stop laughing. I now know I could give a humorous speech in Korean or Japan and my accent alone would get them grinning.

So, what do I think of a live translation service as an alternative to the computer generated ones? As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier.

Any problems? What about people who deliberately send rude translations, or insult you for your efforts?

If somebody says something to you, or about you, and it's rude, you might want to know what they are saying. The trick in translation is you translate from your language into another, then use another source to translate back.

I once tried to do French, Spanish and German translations for a beauty product including a nail file. In French the automatic translators came up with the kind of nail you hit with a hammer (chou - the translation hadn't a clue), followed by portmanteau, clearly a file for carrying papers.

You might well want to allow the enquirer to ask for a translation of something rude. The large dictionaries manage to translate lots of words and phrases. They say ... pejorative or .... (vulgar).
I might legitimately ask - somebody is talking about me - saying .... what does this mean?

Instead of blocking, the site could just add some neutral explanation (eg 'The speaker/taxi driver/seller/passer by is insulting you using an exaggerated compliment, terms referring to acts/body parts/the speaker thinks you are stupid/naive' .... ' 

"A non-confrontational reply would be: 
(I understand (language. 
No need to be rude. 
/Please don't make personal remarks. 
Thanks, I'll take another taxi. 
I don't expect personal remarks from the staff of ... ) 

You might want to know if your romantic interest who just swore undying love is telling his friends unromantic things about you. Or if the shopkeeper or hotel staff are not happy to oblige.

My former neighbour in Singapore was a young man studying to be a doctor who did National Service. He was taught all the terms for male and female body parts, both the technical terms and the 'street names' in assorted languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese, Malay, Tamil and more.

A male doctor in a clinic with pregnant women might want to know how to translate rude words for body parts or sexual activity into polite terms. The male patient at a clinic faced with a lady doctor might want to know the polite words to describe where he has the problem. As a translator, I might need another translator to help me translate new words in my own language. It could be quite educational!

More details of the site:
https://www.techinasia.com/linqapp-live-launch-real-time-human-translation/

Angela Lansbury B A, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.