Learning Welsh (and Other Languages)

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Courtenay
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Courtenay »

Deej wrote: There is definitely an 'arrogant' form of English nationalism (feeling of superiority over their neighbours) which does exist that is fuelling support for Scottish and Welsh independence. There does need to be changes and not just economic ones, but also the social and cultural attitude of the Westminster government towards the Scottish/Welsh/Irish neighbours if Scotland votes to remain in the union.
I don't believe these forums are the place for a political debate, but the only "arrogant" nationalism and sense of superiority I've seen in almost three years in the UK has been entirely from the Scots and the Welsh! :? It really saddens me that this wonderful nation could be broken up just because some believe that nurturing old historical grudges and fostering divisiveness is more important than being able to all live together and respect each other. :(

As someone I know put it recently when asked if he, being Scottish, was a supporter of independence: "I'm 75% Scottish. But I'm 175% British!"
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Deej »

Courtenay wrote:
I don't believe these forums are the place for a political debate, but the only "arrogant" nationalism and sense of superiority I've seen in almost three years in the UK has been entirely from the Scots and the Welsh! :?

It really saddens me that this wonderful nation could be broken up just because some believe that nurturing old historical grudges and fostering divisiveness is more important than being able to all live together and respect each other. :(
Like the author of the article in question, I am not saying I'm for or against independence, simply stating that the writer makes some valid points, some of which I agree with. Equally so, there are many legitimate reasons why we should all remain together.
I believe English is a vital language and should be taught as the main language in British schools but there is no reason why Welsh can't be offered as a complementary subject in the same way as French, German, Spanish, Latin and numerous other languages.
There was no intention to have a political debate when I posted the article and I agree this forum isn't the place for such discussion. It was more that I felt the article blended nicely with the topic of the thread.
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Courtenay
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Courtenay »

Sorry about that outburst, Deej and everyone else. I neither completely agree nor disagree with the author of the article, by the way. I'd love to see Welsh (and/or other Celtic languages) taught more widely in British schools outside Wales! But as I said, I can also understand why a school would argue that its teaching budget would be better spent on the more widely spoken international languages.

One benefit of teaching any of the Celtic British languages in schools would be that it would also foster a more widespread appreciation of Celtic culture and history among young people all over the UK too, which is surely a good thing for everyone! :D

Nos da for now :wink:
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Deej »

Courtenay, no need to apologise. It's absolutely fine and I do sometimes get a little carried away myself! :lol:

I agree with everything you say in that post.

Nos da :wink: :)
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Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by John Pickup »

Split from another topic.

There was a cheer leader at a football match in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch recently. He was set upon and attacked by his fellow supporters. Apparently all he said was "Give us an L"
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Re: Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by Courtenay »

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Mind you, the town's real name is simply Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll - the rest was added in the 1860s as a publicity stunt so that their new railway station could have the longest name sign board in the UK! :P
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Re: Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by John Pickup »

The things you learn on this forum. I would never have known that otherwise.
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Re: Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by Courtenay »

Here we are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And the official website: http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn ... istory.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:mrgreen:
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Re: Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by Lucky Star »

I have passed through it by train and always smile at the signboard. What on earth must foreign tourists make of it. :lol:
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Re: Secret Seven Fan Club Website

Post by Courtenay »

I've been having fun learning to pronounce it (or trying to) with the help of Wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 012%29.ogg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interestingly, that pronunciation is quite different from the one on Llanfair PG's official site: http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn ... andad4.wav" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Different Welsh accents/dialects? Maybe someone with a better knowledge of Welsh than mine can enlighten us on this? (Maybe this conversation should be moved to the "Learning Welsh" thread?? :D )

The "ll" sound is a bit of a mouthful for those (like me) who aren't used to it, but then, our own "th" gives most non-native speakers of English a hard time as well! :lol:
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

The Wikipedia pronunciation sounds correct to me.
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Courtenay »

It's also a lot easier to imitate! :lol:
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by walter raleigh »

Whenever I see "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch" I'm reminded of "The Book Of Brownies" as I remember watching an episode of 'Blue Peter' many moons ago and the presenters learnt how to say it by breaking it up into 3 segments and learning one each just like Hop Skip & Jump did.
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Stephen »

I never met her, but apparently my great-grandmother spent the last few years of her life, and passed away in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch.

I once memorized how to say it to impress pupils and teachers from school - but it was pretty much phoenetically from the spelling, so in other words it sounded nothing like it was supposed to! (No Wikipedia or town websites in those days, kids). Funnily enough, one of the few people who I've heard pronounce it more or less correctly was Northern Irish comedian Frank Carson who did it for the sake of a joke. As in a policeman stopping someone for speeding, asking for their name and address, finding out they come from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch, and then saying "Well I'll let you off this time..." :lol:
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Re: Learning Welsh

Post by Courtenay »

With all due respect, I think I can see a few misspelled instances of the name in some posts here. It's got four Ls together, not three - or rather, two LLs, since I think they count that as a single letter in Welsh - between the "drobw-" and the "-antysilio": Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch :D
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