Learning Welsh (and Other Languages)

[Anita Bensoussane]

There's definitely something about Celtic people envisioning ladybirds as cows, for some reason I can't fathom either...

It's probably to do with the black spots!

[IceMaiden]

North Welsh is proper Welsh, IceMaiden!

Indeed to gootness it is!!

And then in Cornish, a butterfly is "tycki Duw" ("God's gem") and a ladybird is "bughik Duw" ("God's little cow"). There's definitely something about Celtic people envisioning ladybirds as cows, for some reason I can't fathom either...

(I don't have any Welsh ancestry myself, so will stay right out of the North / South war. )

It always strikes me how similar Welsh and Cornish are, Duw is God in Welsh too.

Here's one of my favourites , a 'tŷ bach', 'tŷ' is house and 'bach' means little. However if you ask in welsh where the 'tŷ bach' is, it's not a small house you'll be sent to, but the toilet!

[Rob Houghton]

Here's one of my favourites , a 'tŷ bach', 'tŷ' is house and 'bach' means little. However if you ask in welsh where the 'tŷ bach' is, it's not a small house you'll be sent to, but the toilet!

I suppose its like 'the smallest room' as some people call it!

[Boatbuilder]

Most probably that's the case Rob.

I just put the two Welsh words into Google Translate as pairs transposed and as separate words on different lines and this was the end result:



I then put the English words in and asked for the Welsh translation and got this:



I then put the middle result in Welsh from above in and it came back as the same word in English which of course means 'worked hard'.



I suppose you would have to be careful in Conwy if you wish to visit here and have to ask the way in Welsh.

[Rob Houghton]

've visited the 'smallest house'.

Also the Ugly House - (ty Hyll)!

[number 6]

Are you referring to the Ugly House at Betws-y-Coed, Rob? I like it. I think it's a nice house. Not at all ugly!
I've been to the smallest house, too. I could easily live there!

I can vaguely remember how to pronounce toilet in Welsh, John. It sounds like Toy-led. And gents toilets sounds like Toy-led Dern-neon (Toiled Dynion) or something like that! Local dialects can slightly change the sounding. I used the phrases quite often when I stayed in North Wales.

[Rob Houghton]

Are you referring to the Ugly House at Betws-y-Coed, Rob? I like it. I think it's a nice house. Not at all ugly!

Yes that's the one! I agree its a very attractive looking house

[joanne_chan]

I recall visiting it a few times. An interesting little property.

[Courtenay]

It doesn't look ugly to me either! I wonder how it got its name — I can't find any information about that.

[pete9012S]

I recall visiting it a few times. An interesting little property.

Yes, it's not too far from me - It's history is quite interesting!

Tŷ Unnos translates as "house in one night".
The Welsh tradition is based on a belief that if you could erect a property between sunset and sunrise, with four walls and smoke coming from a fire through the chimney, you took freehold of the land.
Legend has it you could stand on each corner and claim ownership of the land as far as you could throw an axe in each direction
The Snowdonia Society's offices are believed to be a tŷ unnos, called Tŷ Hyll, The Ugly House.
The story goes that the Ugly House was built in one night by two outlawed brothers in the 15th Century - although it is more likely to be a 19th Century cottage for the tourist trail.

Source: The Snowdonia Society

[Rob Houghton]

Thanks for posting that info, Pete! Yes - I remember reading that in a guidebook a few years ago and being fascinated by the story of a house being built in one night. I used the idea in a book I wrote 'Dark Hall' - about a manor house that only appears in the moonlight - and a cottage built illegally on the manor's land, by a witch, whose husband supposedly built it in one night, as with the ugly house.

[pete9012S]

Is Dark Hall available for purchase Rob, it sounds good!

My Dad learnt Welsh using a linguaphone course in the 1970's - when we popped over the border and he started speaking Welsh they didn't like it and told him to stick to English!

I like the Welsh, mostly because they protect their language and culture and I don't find them too nosy when we interact with them on holiday etc.

One of my favourite books is Wild Wales by George Borrow.

The author makes much of his self-taught ability to speak the Welsh language and how surprised the native Welsh people he meets and talks to are by both his linguistic abilities and his travels, education and personality, and also by his idiosyncratic pronunciation of their language.

[Rob Houghton]

Is Dark Hall available for purchase Rob, it sounds good!

Sadly not, Pete. I don't have a digital copy of it, and it needs a lot of rewriting, I think! However, one never knows...!

[Daisy]

I was wondering that too, Pete. It does sound good.

[IceMaiden]

Are you referring to the Ugly House at Betws-y-Coed, Rob? I like it. I think it's a nice house. Not at all ugly!
I've been to the smallest house, too. I could easily live there!

I can vaguely remember how to pronounce toilet in Welsh, John. It sounds like Toy-led. And gents toilets sounds like Toy-led Dern-neon (Toiled Dynion) or something like that! Local dialects can slightly change the sounding. I used the phrases quite often when I stayed in North Wales.

Yes that's right. Going to the 'tŷ bach' is what you say when you're with company or something. I always think it sounds quaint and polite and it's a pity there's not an English equivalent. I tend to use 'the bathroom' as that seems to be the best term for polite company .