Political Correctness Lives: British authorities threatened Iain Turnbull, 63, with a fine (equivalent of ,530) in August because he refused to complete the mandatory census earlier this year. Turnbull, from Wales, was protesting that the government, intending to be progressively “inclusive,” made available census questionnaires and instructions in such languages as Urdu, Punjabi and Tagalog — but not Welsh (one of Britain’s native languages, spoken by a half-million citizens

I had a dream last night, I don't remember much of it but I do remember distinctly that the words "Cwn Annwn" were written on a white piece of paper and I was like, 'hold on thats Welsh-ish spelling'. What does this mean? I'm trying to learn Welsh, as I'd love to come to Wales someday so all I know is how to pronounce the letters and words and the basics like "good morning" bore da. This phrase has never crossed my path in my studies.

Hello,

I'm an American who is absolutely enthralled by Welsh language and culture. However, here in the states, there are VERY limited resources on language learning materials. I understand that the best way to learn this language is to travel to Wales, but even if I took that approach, I can't even find anything on home-stays, or even Welsh language programs abroad.

Does anybody know of any useful resources for learning this language? It could be anything that is available in the States (Books, software, CDs, etc?), or across the pond in Wales (study abroad programs).

Thanks in advance~

Ok, so i'm hoping to move to Wales in January, my boyfriend is starting Uni there in 2 days, and I can't move there till January. He's going to be doing something with his life, so I want to too. I think the best thing to do is a welsh language course, or something that helps you learn welsh fluently (or at least almost) anyone know how I can start this?

I'm applying to Bangor University in Wales and all of the e-mails I get are in Welsh and have to be put into google translate and translated into english.

I have been trying to move to Europe for years and one country that looks promising is Wales. I know that an employer has to show that they can't find an EU member to do the work so they hire in areas where there is a shortage of workers.

What areas should I be looking at for my skill set?

I have over 10 years in construction including stonework, woodwork, landscaping, as well as more modern technology like solar and wind power.

I am a trained arborist with 4 years in the field.

I have 12+ years driving a verity of heavy machinery including front end loaders, backhoes, forklifts as well as trucks and moving vans all in very cramped areas.

6+ years in childcare and teaching gymnastics with certification.

I don't need to be rich I just need enough to live off on. An employer that has a hard time keeping workers would be just fine. I am also looking into the possibility of being an au pair so I can learn to speak welsh better and make some connections.

Hey guys.

Me and my family, (me, my father, my father's 5 brothers and sisters, and their daughters and sons) are making a website.

We want to all know the password, and then when our family does something different, we can just upload a blog with pictures.
We all live in different parts of the world, so it will be a good way to keep in touch!

We are the Evans family. We were thinking of something like, www.TheEvansClan.com or something, but names like that are already taken. Something like TheEvansTribe or something.
We want something unique.
So basically we want a cool domain name
Thanks alot everyone!! x

Ps: We are from Wales, so we do all speak Welsh.

PANCAKES.

I'm British, I was born and raised in Wales (but I have an english accent) I now live in USA and I go to middle school, every girl in school thinks that my British accent is sexy, and they love it when I speak Welsh.
Why do American girls love British accents?
Next year I'm going to High School, so I'm scared what will happen there?

(I don't want a relationship, so how do I tell these girls to back off?)
By the way, I'm not actually english and I don'n have a cockney accent and say ''ello guvna'' I don't think anybody's said that in Britain for like 200 years.
Problem is I've been out with loads of the girls already and they're not my type, the only girl that I want doesn't really notice me!! But every other girl does! God must hate me sooo much!!! Lol

Wales is a country in it's own right, not just part of the UK, and we even have our own language here, how cool is that......well yahoo don't seem to think so, they keep deleting me whenever I ask if anyone here can speak welsh, so I'm using this question as a test to see if they delete me again.

Im not sure what i want to learn
1.) German
2.) Greek
3.) Italian
4.) Irish Gaelic
5.) Cymraeg (Welsh)

I really am intrested in Irish and Welsh but not sure.
I plan on moving to Europe for awhile after college and tracing my roots back thier in Wales and Ireland so both are kinda what i want to learn but i also love Italian and Greek & German >.< sohard to choose.

I know a lot of foreigners cause I live in a diverse part of Chicago, and since I'm a minority with them, I try to understand and get along with them. I was born here, so I speak both Spanish and English fluently. I know a lot of foreigners who hate English speakers(in a more general term, the White Americans) because they constantly make fun of their accent.

This is my question, why don't people realize this is the same treatment in other countries? When my English friend moved to Wales for a while, she got picked on by some because she didn't speak Welsh. And when she tried to, she was ridiculed by her accent being "bad." I'm sure it's this way when people move to other countries. I've heard of bad experiences in travelings where the natives say something like "oh always trying to speak English, what a controlling ignorant American"

So don't pretend like other countries aren't jackasses too, and expect you to speak their language in their country.
And I agree with the whole "speak our language better" thing. It's not slavery anymore, people CHOOSE to come to America. If you wanna live here, learn the language. There's a lot of misconception in Mexico that coming to America means more job opportunities and a better life. Not really, life is hard everywhere. So learn the language and quit speaking broken English unless you plan on never conversing with another English speaker, which is unlikely since that's our dominant language. (I may sound a little harsh, especially because my grandma is this way, but it's true)

I would learn another country's if I were moving there, and whenever I was teased, I'd treat it as inspiration to do better so that someday I won't be teased. In fact I learned Spanish first because as a baby I lived in Mexico most of the time so that was most beneficial, and when I started going to kindergarten in the US to learn English, I was picked on a lot because I had an accent. And that's a good thing, because it's hard to get far in America with a silly accent I couldn't control and my mispronounced words, and now I speak English just fine.

I think people choose to ignore this fact because of all the American hate in general. >:

I want to learn Welsh, but people barley use it in Wales anyways. Would it be a waste of my time to learn Welsh?

My parents are both English, I was born in Indonesia, and I live in Wales.

I have never lived in and have hardly ever been to England, I've only ever lived in Wales except from when I was a baby for a month in Indonesia.

I went to primary school in Welsh, I can speak Welsh and I've lived here all my life and I live in quite a 'Welsh' area.

I don't see how it makes sense to call myself English.. I've never lived there and I certainly wasn't born there.

But then again, I'm not Welsh either as my parents aren't Welsh and I wasn't born here either. I feel more Welsh than English though.

And I don't count myself as Indonesian at all! haha

What would you say?

It's a competition, I have to design a new logo [old one is a kid crying with broken arm + patched up teddy = very depressing -.-] and come up with a name + slogan

The charity/trust is called The Trust for Sick Children in Wales BUT it's basically a trust that collects money to let parents stay in a building next to the hospital completely free of charge so they don't have to travel if they have a terminally ill child in hospital.

The logo I've done is two parents, mum crouching, dad standing, beckoning a child and the kid is just out of reach, holding out his hand trying to reach back. It's all in silhouettes but the kid is wearing a blue hospital gown and a bandanna [the ones that some kids wear after Chemotherapy, it'll either have a welsh flag on it or just rainbow colours] Also, I'm contemplating putting a sort of roof-shaped "flick" over the parents or something as in a shelter but that might look as though the kid isn't allowed under shelter :L? ....anyway it's not totally finished but that's not overly important (:

What I'm having trouble with at the moment is the name + slogan. Right now the name is The Trust for Sick Children in Wales, and the slogan is "Make this your charity, please" <-with "please" written in a child's handwriting.
I'm completely stuck for ideas :S

I've been thinking about something like "Love heals best" or "Cadw'r Cariad/Keeping the love" as a slogan [Cadw'r cariad is the welsh translation] but you don't want to give the parents too much hope and the second doesn't make much sense... :S so I don't like that, or something like "_name of trust_ -because love has no boundaries" as in the love of the parents won't stop them from being with the kid? But I don't like that either =/
I wouldn't be asking unless I was desperate but I don't feel bad asking because the competition is to re-vamp the trust's image and to modernise it, re-naming it and getting a new slogan is optional, but requested if you get what I mean...
it's in for this Friday anyway so I really really need ideas :S
Thanks in advance x

P.S. IF you happen to speak Welsh, I'm making it bilingual but if you have any ideas in welsh, it would be cool if not, no worries, the chances of a Welsh speaking person coming across this is insane :L x

Heres something,Im welsh,live in Wales and speak Welsh(and English).How come you americans think we are part of England or something.We are not.Also,Wales is in Europe,not America.And,3 million plus Americans are of Welsh decent,Abraham Lincoln was Welsh,so was Jack Daniels and over half the men who singed the bill of independendence.Tom James is Welsh,and many more.
Welsh:
Pam rydych chi americanwyr mor twp yn erbyn ni yr Cynraeg.Rydych yn fodus iawn maer america yn annibynniol heb yr cymraeg byddech yn rhan or daernas unedig!
Cymru am byth

PS...RUGBY ROCKS,THE WELSH NATIONAL SPORT!!!!

Heres something,Im welsh,live in Wales and speak Welsh(and English).How come you americans think we are part of England or something.We are not.Also,Wales is in Europe,not America.And,3 million plus Americans are of Welsh decent,Abraham Lincoln was Welsh,so was Jack Daniels and over half the men who singed the bill of independendence.Tom James is Welsh,and many more.
Welsh:
Pam rydych chi americanwyr mor twp yn erbyn ni yr Cynraeg.Rydych yn fodus iawn maer america yn annibynniol heb yr cymraeg byddech yn rhan or daernas unedig!
Cymru am byth

PS...RUGBY ROCKS,THE WELSH NATIONAL SPORT!!!!

Heres something,Im welsh,live in Wales and speak Welsh(and English).How come you americans think we are part of England or something.We are not.Also,Wales is in Europe,not America.And,3 million plus Americans are of Welsh decent,Abraham Lincoln was Welsh,so was Jack Daniels and over half the men who singed the bill of independendence.Tom James is Welsh,and many more.
Welsh:
Pam rydych chi americanwyr mor twp yn erbyn ni yr Cynraeg.Rydych yn fodus iawn maer america yn annibynniol heb yr cymraeg byddech yn rhan or daernas unedig!
Cymru am byth

PS...RUGBY ROCKS,THE WELSH NATIONAL SPORT!!!!

She always goes around insisting that she's Welsh at every turn. I don't really follow what she's doing yet I've heard her bring up being Welsh at least 4 times! She's half Irish half Welsh or she claims anyway, but Zeta is Greek so why doesn't she acknowledge that - I think I read Zeta comes from her grandfather. Her features are too full to be just Irish and Welsh - she looks spanish or maybe even half black to me. How many white people have the name Jones? What do you think, why is she always talking about being Welsh if she doesn't have something to hide? Especially when she was doing Zorro and ppl thought she was Hispanic, she got really haughty about it.
Wow, Stylish, you sound defensive there... Are you a racist?
So there are no black people in Wales, lol?! Sounds like you need to expand your horizon a little bit.

Heres something,Im welsh,live in Wales and speak Welsh(and English).How come you americans think we are part of England or something.We are not.Also,Wales is in Europe,not America.And,3 million plus Americans are of Welsh decent,Abraham Lincoln was Welsh,so was Jack Daniels and over half the men who singed the bill of independendence.Tom James is Welsh,and many more.
Welsh:
Pam rydych chi americanwyr mor twp yn erbyn ni yr Cynraeg.Rydych yn fodus iawn maer america yn annibynniol heb yr cymraeg byddech yn rhan or daernas unedig!
Cymru am byth

PS...RUGBY ROCKS,THE WELSH NATIONAL SPORT!!!!

I can't learn it right now, because my hands are full with German and Japanese. But I have half-Celtic ancestry (English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish), so would eventually one day like to add a Celtic language to the list of ones I know.

I know that Welsh is the healthiest in terms of survival (Wales still has a strong linguistic identity unlike Scotland and Ireland - and growing), but how easy is it compared to the others?

Are Scottish Gaelic and Irish essentially just novelty languages today? Are are they still used in significant numbers elsewhere.

Thanks for reading and for the upcoming answers.

A ventriloquist visiting Wales walks into a small village and sees a local sitting in his porch patting his dog.

He figures he'll have a little fun, so he says to the Welsh man "Can I talk to your dog?"

Villager: "The dog doesn't talk, you stupid git."

Ventriloquist: "Hello dog, how's it going mate?"

Dog: "Doing all right.

Villager: (look of extreme shock)

Ventriloquist: "Is this villager your owner?" (pointing at the villager)

Dog: "Yep"

Ventriloquist: "How does he treat you?"

Dog: "Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food and takes me to the lake once a week to play."

Villager: (look of utter disbelief)

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your horse?"

Villager: "Uh, the horse doesn't talk either.... I think."

Ventriloquist: "Hey horse, how's it going?"

Horse: "Cool"

Villager: (absolutely dumbfounded)

Ventriloquist: "Is this your owner?" (pointing at the villager)

Horse: "Yep"

Ventriloquist: "How does he treat you?"

Horse: "Pretty good, thanks for asking.

He rides me regularly, brushes me down often and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements."

Villager: (total look of amazement)

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your sheep?

Villager: (in a panic) "The sheep's a f@&%ing liar!

Hi,if you do not come forom the uk and have been to wales before,please tell us of your experieces and views of the land,people,food,sport or whatever you remember of it.I am from Wales and speak Welsh and would like to know what the rest of the world thinks of us.
Cheers
sorry,I ment experiences in the first part of my question,spelling mistake sorry!
cheers

Is the Welsh so very difficult to learn? How different is the language from Irish Gaelic? How is the syntax and grammar different, if it is so?

Are there programs to learn Welsh in uni? Where in Canada or America can a person learn English. If I have to go to Wales, where is the best place to learn Welsh?
I've read Pat Ford's translation. I enjoyed it very much.

However, I'm wondering how has the comparing of it been for any of you scholars or "fans" of Welsh or Arthurian lore?

Whoopi Goldberg asked this on some talk show and I completely agreed with her.

My distant ancestors came from Wales, but you don't call me Welsh American do you?
Jimmy - if that's true, then why on earth would black people be okay with being called that?

Other than standard English, Gaelic (in Ireland) and Welsh (in Wales), what Celtic languages still survive ion the UK and Ireland? What is the most ancient language in Scotland that is still spoken? Is there a ancient language other than English spoken in England? Thanks

New research by "Visit Wales" researched what visitors thought of Wales?

The research found people enjoyed the Welsh countryside, mountains and beaches. They also liked seeing Castles.

They said Cardiff without the Millenium Stadium was just another city, which I agree with. It's only on matchdays that you truly see Cardiff as a capitol city.

However the part of the research I found really offensive was where it said whilst visitors from most countries (especially Ireland, France and Scotland) enjoyed hearing the Welsh language being spoken, the English hated it.

Does this show English racism?

Why do the English make fun of Wales & the Welsh in particular?

Im speaking in films and on the tele. If "wales" is mentioned the actors say "oh is it as bad as that?" or "oh no, not wales". Or Welsh being used in the derogatory.

I hear it used about every other area like Ireland & the Irish and every other place, but why the direct special distaste for the Welsh & Wales?
So what I'm getting from the responses so far is that the Welsh are the least exposed to English domination throughout history? At least lingually and probably culturally? So that distinction has earned them exaggerated negative attributes according to the English?

So what is some typical negative stereotypes of the Welsh?
I mean what *are* ....
I'll give the best answer to "Cymro bach" although I think jealousy is not the term you're looking for, its more like "Resentment" for all the reasons you described.

I love it but is it worth learning?
I live in Wales, and Welsh is a language not a country, Retard.

i am trying desperately to find a decent welsh translation website with no luck.

i live in wales and so what i am trying to find out is a few english to welsh translations to enable me to create a kennel club breeder name for my german shepherds
some words i have come up with are

hair/hairy bear which i found hair was blew and bear was arth but didn't know if you could put them together as blewarth or not? i dont really understand the way the words are put together as i know sometimes they are reversed!

also was wondering what words like longcoat or redcoat or huggybear or any other words common for german shepherds would look

any help or suggestions for a name would be greatfully apreciated ive been pulling my hair out fo ra few days now with no luck and have brain mush now Lol

thanks in advance
shell

I have no problem at all with Welsh folks. A couple of seriously good mates are Welsh. But it is my suspicion that some Welsh people just maybe overdo it? Have you encountered anything like the below, does it embarrass you, or would you defend it?:

1. A mate in London had two Welsh girls to stay for a weekend. He'd met them on holiday. They were quite fit and quite good fun. But they were totally obsessed with Wales. It was almost impossible to stop them from talking about Wales and Welshness. I don't mean their everyday lives in Wales...I mean Welsh history, Welsh culture, Welsh everything...like mini-lectures or lessons for the English, over and over again. Both had lived in Cardiff all of their lives. Every now and then they broke off to talk in what seemed like very broken Welsh with each other...it didn't sound fluent and sounded as if they were struggling...and, hilariously, one of them claimed to have forgotten how to say 'Wednesday' (in English). She was rolling her eyes, giggling, slapping the table and claiming she had forgotten it and could only say the Welsh word. They were transparently not Welsh speakers and it was embarrassing as this seemed highly faked. They were quite nice girls...but they were unable to go for more than about 10 minutes without doing or saying something that absically meant 'I am Welsh'. This is would be very...weird... behaviour for the English if we were off our patch. Is it more normal in Wales?

2. My neighbours went skiing with their son's Welsh in-laws to get to know them a bit better and be mately and familyish. At the ski resort, if the Welsh wife ever overheard that someone else was Welsh, she'd scream about it...shout over to her husband pointing that she'd just heard some fellow Welsh people...and sometimes rush up to the overheard people, introduce herself and invite them to have dinner later or a drink or something, simply because they were Welsh. They often looked a bit intruded on and nervous of her, apparently, although some were delighted. Again...if you were English and did this to other English people, you'd be treated with some wariness and caution.

Views? Do you think Welsh people do/say some rather over-blown things when among non-Welsh people to make a point? Or do you think it's all fair enough?
PS Please don't say it is natural and to be expected It really isn't. I'm keen to find out if the Welsh are embarrassed about this sort of thing, or whether it can be considered fair enough for a small nation to so manically hype itself up when not at home.

I was wondering is there were people who only speak welsh, I mean you have the dual language signs in wales and stuff. Plust you have welsh websites. So, are there welsh-speakers that don't know english. I know the majority probably do though.

Because I live in Wales, I have to do a Welsh GCSE. I am not Welsh so I can't speak the language and I'm entered for the 'foundation' test. This means that the highest grade I can get is a C. My friends tell me not to worry and when appling to Oxford ( I really want to get there) they will mostly look at my A level grades and will understand that as I'm not Welsh I could not be entered for the 'Higher' paper where you can get up to A*. Am I friends right?

Yes, I'm aware that they are extremely rare. I suppose you could dig up the odd one or two in the remotest areas of Wales... But what about Patagonia? I guess they all speak Spanish there as well as Welsh.
In the 19th century a small group of Welsh people migrated to Patagonia because they were afraid that the Welsh language was dying and that they could save it if they moved far out of reach of the English.
Diolch i Graham a Chymro Bach!

Interesting contributions, thanks. Patagonia is on my list of places I have to go someday; I'd actually love it if someone refused to communicate with me in any language but Welsh (well, maybe when my grip on the language is a bit firmer)!
And it's good to hear that people can survive fine without having to speak English fluently.
I believe, Graham, that young people's interest in Welsh is slowly increasing. Although you still get people at my school who whinge about the compulsory Welsh GCSE. "What's the point?" they ask.
I'm dying to learn it, as are many of my friends here in the most anglicised part of Wales. And I'm the same age as you, Cymro.

if you were took away from your language like mine is welsh and my nan and grandad used to speak it to each other even thought i struggled with it because of the english other half of the family but they spoke it when i stayed at there's and no a fair bit but do not speak it to friends but when i was at the dentist there was this old couple speaking welsh to one another and i could kind of understand it will it still be with me since i listened and kind of speak it.
every one in the dentist looked kind of clueless i live in wales but in apart where welsh is not spoken so much but some of it was coming back to me
i don't write english very well because of my welsh language buy the way

This is a continuation of my previous question. If you answered that one, thank you. If not, that's fine too.

I'm writing a novel set in Wales and would like to use Welsh names. I have some names for each gender, but I'd like to narrow it down a bit. Please list all and any that you like. If you like none of them, that's okay. But please be open-minded, since this is for a story. Thank you.

Males:
Bledri (BLED-ree)
Emlyn (EM-lin)
Emrys (EM-ris)
Galahad (GAL-eh-had)
Gawain (GAH-wine)
Gethin (GETH-in)
Gildas (GIL-das)
Hywel (HOW-el)
Lewis (LOO-is)
Maelrys (MILE-ris)
Rhodri (HROD-ree)
Selwyn (SEL-win)
Vaughan (VAWN)

Females:
Awena (ah-WEN-a)
Cerys (KER-is)
Delwen (DEL-wen)
Eleri (eh-LEH-ree)
Enfys (EN-vis)
Enid (EHN-id)
Fflur (FLEER)
Gwenda (GWEN-da)
Gwenhwyfar (gwen-WEE-var)
Mair (MIRE)
Tegan (TEG-an)