is the Welsh language hard to learn?

5 Comments

1. carnation-soul says:

   September 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm

   To put it plainly, it is not the easiest language around. It has an unusual writing system with some annoying irregularities (albeit one that is far more logical than English’s mishmash) and a vocabulary and grammar that, on the whole, are incredibly foreign to the Anglophone student: the dreaded consonant mutations, where his cat (ei gath), her cat (ei chath) and their cat (eu cath) all have different starting consonants, is a major part of the learning process.

   Nonetheless, it is not ridiculously complicated and is less difficult than many languages. If you can get used to a nearly entirely foreign vocabulary, the verb system isn’t so difficult. All versions of the language, other than the literary standard which is barely ever spoken, make heavy use of periphrastic verbs: i.e. where ‘I sing’ and ‘you sing’ are ‘dw i’n canu’ and ‘rwyt ti’n canu’, basically the conjugated verb ‘bod’ (to be) followed by ‘n and the infinitive verb, so when you learn bod, it is very easy to write thousands of phrases in the present, and there are periphrastic verbs for other tenses too.

   In any rate, Welsh is really rewarding, and, in my opinion, one of the most stunning languages to communicate in.

   Dymuniadau da!

   C.s.
2. Timothy says:

   September 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm

   In the realm of comparative linguistics, which I am in, I would say Welsh is not a beginner’s language. The grammar is complicated, beyond most I’ve seen, and the phonology is very, very strange. The sounds of a Welsh word can change based on the word before it. It’s like the other Celtic langauges in complexity as well. It also has the lispy devoiced <l> sound which is interesting, but sounds funny.
3. Bellabelle says:

   September 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm

   It depends what other languages you speak. If you know a closely related language, then it is easier to learn than a language that is completely different. Just remember: at some point, ALL languages are difficult to learn. I mean that even if the words look simple and easy to pronounce at first, you can’t just learn it in a week. You need to work hard, and as you look deeper, you will find it just as complicated as any other.
4. Sanaka-Chan says:

   September 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm

   Yup
5. Wayne says:

   September 28, 2009 at 11:33 pm

   Nope. There is much exagerration of Welsh’s difficulty. It is also not, as mentioned above, ‘very similar’ to Gaelic. In fact German and French are closer to each other, although in different branches of the Indo-European family of languages, than Irish is to Welsh. Nor do that many now speak it in South America.

   Its verbal system is fairly like that of English, and some linguists believe that English developed its system under the influence of Welsh which it has lived alongside for centuries. The vocabulary is not as foreign as all that.