Course in learning Welsh

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Oh Very Exciting! If i were more disciplined when I were younger or had more free time now I'd love to learn some other languages. I keep threatening to learn Hebrew. I’d like for my kids to know it and they aren’t likely to learn if neither my husband or I ever speak it.

The distinction between England and Wales came about when the Angles and Saxons invaded and occupied England from the northern German region. The original Celtic inhabitants of Britain were forced into Wales and Scotland by the Germanic invasion and occupation. Welsh is a Celtic language and very different from English.Good luck, StrapingYoungLad!

In reply to: How did Wales come under English rule? In reply to: "Wales has not been politically independent since 1282, when it was conquered by King Edward I of England." - Maybe there is some truth to it then? The story doesnt end in 1282. One very important thing to remember is that Wales IS NOT under English rule anymore. It is ruled by a joint British parliament, featuring, Scots, Englishmen, and Welshmen.King Edward conquered Wales. This is bad. If the story ended here I would advocate Welsh independance. The English enacted many laws that made life very bad for the Welsh, trying to undermine our culture. All bad stuff.All this bad stuff was undone however by one Henry Tudor. Henry was a Welshman, and infinately proud to be so. His family however, having married into the lancaster dynasty of ENgland, had a legitimate claim on the English throne. This was a time calle dthe wars of roses, a long period of time when the legitimate ruler of England (and with it Wales) wa sin dispute. Henry, being seen in Wales as their savior, was able to have a joint army of Welshmen, and also many Englishmen who believed he was rightful king. He then ended the war and became king. Thats a Welshman on the throne of England, a Welshman ruling Englishmen...odd the English never complain about this. Well he removed all the laws that had been made to damage Wales, he then changed the name of the kingdom to "England AND Wales", giving them equal status, with Welshmen now having seats at Parliament. The Welsh rejoiced! Our savior had come...not only had he liberated Wales, made its people free to prosper with advancement oppertunities equal to any Englishmen, but he had put us into an equal union with the English, to the benefit of all. We called him Y Mab Darogan, the son of destiny, a figure prophecised centuries before as comming to set free the people of Wales and take the lost lands, England, all of this he did and Wales became one of the great strongholds of royal support (as can be seen in out latter royalist stance in the civil war). He was hailed as the successor to the Anceint Kings of Britain who ruled a (nearly completely) united Britain after the Romans left. Now Britain was back on the road to be united again. We were so pleased there would never be another nationalist revolt, we had exactly what we wanted. And the greatness doesnt end there, the (Welsh) Tudor dynasty would go on to give us give us soem of our most famous (and infamous) monarchs, including Henry VIII who brought us the protestant faith, and Elizabeth I who started the colonial Empire and sunk the Spanish Armada.http://photobucket.com/albums/v636/blackraj/?action=view¤t=FlagofWales-England.bmpThis is Henry's banner. It shows a united Wales and England.So you see you cant rely on just one slither of historical knowledge on a particular subject, you need to know the whole story.

In reply to: The original Celtic inhabitants of Britain were forced into Wales and Scotland by the Germanic invasion and occupation. That does apply to the Welsh (though in recent years its come to be accepted that larger numbers of ancient Britons chose to remain in Saxon ruled areas than originally believed, and the English are infact more ethnically Celt than Germanic, despite the cultural assimilation), but not the Scottish.Southern Scotland was settled by the Saxons, jus as England was, which is why the two peoples all speak the same language (not as a result of any forced assimilation by the English latter on). Northern Scotland was settled by Gaelics from Ireland, which is why there are some Gael speakers in Scotland, but because Southern Scotland was the dominant half, English (or Scots as they called it, but it was indeed the same language with only regional variations) became the dominant language before English involvement.There were people in Scotland called the Picts, who were much like the Welsh and spoke a Celtic language. The Saxons and Gaels who formed the Scottish nation however did to them just what the Saxons did the ancient Britons in England.

In reply to: You just confused the hell out of me lol No worries. Ever want to be confused, just read British politics

Are you jewish then?Having a second lanmguage would be really cool, I dont think it would be easy to get your kids to learn it though. I think its one of those things you need to take up volentarily. School tried to teach me French and I REFUSED!Ever get the oppertunity you should deffinately learn it

Thank you for that clarification and correction, that is very interesting. I wondered what happened to the Picts. I know that early Scottish documents are written in Old Welsh - I presume that was the Pictish language?

I dont know if Old Welsh would be a correct term or not. I do know that the Picts spoke a Brythonic language. Brythonic is the Welsh word for Britain and in this context means the languages of the different peoples of Celtic Britain (and Brittany), who all spoke very similar languages. I would expect the difference between what the Picts spoke and what the Welsh of the day spoke would be like the difference between Norwegian and Swedish, but I'm not sure.

I can speak a little Japanese. My first language was French Creole and some Portugese because of certain family I really had no choice but to adapt. I had a German class in elementary but I forgot all about it and only know a few words. Welsh is a cool language though.

I tried learning japanese when I was...about your age, when I too had a love of all things Japanese. I did pretty good I like to think. Sadly I was a kid who lacked motivation and couldnt get myself to keep it up. Still got all these books and a cd for it though. How do the different Creole languages vary?

Now I'm wondering, do the Welshmen have a different accent in English than the Britishmen?? A friend told me that it's nearly impossible to understand someone from Wales, because their accent sounds so different.Anyway, it's a good decision to explore your language... You can discover interesting stories about your roots from the etymology of many words and you'll learn about the habits of your ancestors . When I was learning Ancient Greek, I had the same sense...

Well I don't really know how the Creole language varies actually lol. I don't even know how that works. All I know is the major languages for my mom's side was French Creole and Portugese. I don't know what she calls it. Patwa... lol she has a cousin named Pouchon if that says much. I know that a Creole is a mixed person of French and/or Spanish descent. History class lol.

That's cool. I've got a lot of respect for people who know their national history. Too few people know about ours here in New Zealand. Leads to a lot of racial bullshit.

In reply to: Now I'm wondering, do the Welshmen have a different accent in English than the Britishmen?? Allow to explain one thing if i may. Ther Welsh are Britishmen, just like the English and Scots are. All three of these people are British, aswell as being either English, Welsh or Scots. Just a little niggle, I'm not having a go, most people have difficulty understand it cos Britain is a confusing place...But I am both Welsh AND British, while the English both English AND British. In reply to: A friend told me that it's nearly impossible to understand someone from Wales, because their accent sounds so different. Well it depends which part of Wales It might be a small place but like all places there are regional variations in the accent. The South is generally considered to be more understandable, to the rural north. I guess it would be even harder for someone like you whose learnt English as a second langauge with English and American accents in mind. In reply to: Anyway, it's a good decision to explore your language... You can discover interesting stories about your roots from the etymology of many words and you'll learn about the habits of your ancestors . When I was learning Ancient Greek, I had the same sense... Yeah! Thats going to be so great. How did leanring ancient Greek go? Are you fluent?

Yeah man thats true. The problem is, whats easier to say?..."England fucked over Wales"or...my long, informed post above.People find it easier to accept simple messages without looking at the bigger picture and getting all the facts. Its the same everywhere.

Yeah! Thats going to be so great. How did leanring ancient Greek go? Are you fluent?Well, I learnt ancient Greek in school [as every other student]. But the main thing is that I can only read documents in Ancient Greek and translate it (I was doing this very often in school). I can't speak ancient Greek, since I've never praticed it this way :|

Is word for modern Greek in your own language Hellan ? Or is it Dhimotiki? If not what is Dhimotiki and why was/is it looked down on?And what is Katharevousa?Could you clarify these terms for me please.

Ok.. WOW!!!!!! I wouldn't even imagine that you'd find these information. Anyway, I will make them clear to you.In Greek, we use Hellas, hellenic instead of Greece, greek. So, hellan maybe comes from [Hellinika] which means Greek here."Dhimotiki" means public and "Katharevousa" means purified. So, modern Greek is "Dhymotiki" and "Katharevousa" is between ancient Greek and modern. It was used only for official and formal puproses. Katharevousa is now obsolete and we never use it...If you'd like more information, plz look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharevousa.

Ah cheers. I read the terms in this book I am reading, but it was very vague about them. Thankyou very much.

The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, although they all have their own parliment they are all interlinked with England.There are differences in accents between the 4 countries as well as different accents for different areas of the UK. For example, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle are in the north of England and are pretty close but their accents can be very difficult to understand for southerners where they all speak more or less the same.This is what the above looks like in Welsh (Cymreg?)'r 'n Gyd Brenhiniaeth consists chan Lloegr , Cymru , Alban, Yr a 'n Ogleddol Iwerddon , serch hwy pawb ca 'n hwy addef parliment ]n pawb interlinked ag Lloegr. Mae gwahaniaethau i mewn acenion cyd-rhwng 'r 4 beuoedd cystal fel 'n amgen acenion achos 'n amgen gwynebau chan 'r UK. Er enghraifft , Manceinion , Lerpwl Leeds Birmingham a Castellnewydd ydy i mewn 'r gogledd chan Lloegr a ydy 'n bert caea namyn 'n hwy acenion all bod iawn 'n afrwydd at ddeall achos ddeheuwyr ble hwy pawb areithia hychwaneg ai 'n llai yr un.That was done on a basic translator so there may be gramatical issues but you get the idea, weird language