The status of the Welsh language?
After reading answers from other questions,it is obious to me that most people dont know a thing about the Welsh language.I speak it fluently,diolch yn fawr,but most people think of it as a dying language that no-one cares about.Or,even more annoying,mix it up with a toatally different language gaelic.Welsh is from Wales and Gaelic is from Scotland,to simplify it for Americans reading this.More than 20% of us welsh speak it and many more have(50%)a basic understanding of it.iT is used and very alive,so proudly Spoken by many a countrymens tounge,including mine.So,if think otherwise,have a view or something to say....ANSWER NOW!!!!!
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Tagged with: scotland • wales • Welsh Language
Filed under: Welsh Language
good on you, I think more needs to be done to promote and revive the Welsh language
do Welsh kids study it from primary school level?, maybe if they don’t they should. It’s been proven that the easiest time by far to learn a language is as an infant/young kid.
I don’t speak Welsh, being one of those uncultured oiks from Bristol :p
However, it is now a compulsory subject up to GCSE in Welsh schools, so that has been reviving it to a point.
I appreciate your annoyance at people who make broad statements that Welsh and Irish/Scottish Gaelic are the same language. I’ve even seen some brainless statements saying that Gaelic is the name for all the Celtic languages spoken today. Welsh is probably the strongest and most widely spoken of all the Celtic languages (without even counting the Welsh-speaking community of Patagonia in Argentina).
However, you’re too emphatic when you say they are totally different languages – they’re both celtic languages and show huge similarities which are not found in other languages.
Firstly isn’t the structure similar? In celtic languages, sentences begin with the verb, then the nominative and then the object – totally different from other European languages. Other peculiarities are that nouns are inflexive (change their internal spelling depending on the grammatical context) and can also change their starting letter, again depending on the dative/genitive case, or whether it’s feminine/masculine etc. In fact, the changes to consonants are the same as in Gaelic – for example C to G as ib Cymraeg-Gymraeg.
Secondly, many Welsh words beginning with P are the same as in Gaelic, but use C instead – for instance the Welsh "pen" for head is the same as "ceann" in Gaelic. That’s why Gaelic languages are called "C-celtic" while Welsh is "P-celtic".
Lastly, many words are common to Welsh and Irish, although some have acquired different shades of meaning over time. A "house" is "ty" in Welsh and "tigh" or "teach" (tí in the genitive) in Irish. A "yard" is "llat" in Welsh and "slat" in Irish. "Dyn" in Welsh means "man" while "duine" in Irish means "person". "caer" in Welsh placenames has a similar origin and original meaning to "cathair" in Irish. I’m sure we could go on, and I apologise for any inaccuracies in my Welsh, but I hope you get the point.