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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4972 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 1 of 27 07 September 2011 at 2:55pm | IP Logged |
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Hello!
I'm Alexander, I'm 24 years old and I'm going to start learning Catalan and Welsh. I already speak English (native), and Spanish and German (both Advanced) and now it is time to turn towards the minority languages that have been in my life (Welsh) or come into it recently (Catalan). I'm not a beginner here, but I'm going to begin from the start, because there are so many basic things I am missing that I think only a thorough method which goes from A to B to C will do. I hope to make discernable progress in both within the next year, and be fluent in two to three years. Welsh - I had years of Welsh lessons in school, I have lived in Wales almost all my life and I call myself Welsh. And yet I do not speak more than the most basic conversational Welsh! This has to stop! So I will begin with 'Colloquial Welsh' and a few audio things they have in the Cardiff Central Library and go from there. I've bought a Roald Dahl book in Welsh and I hope to begin to decipher it within the next year =) I like Welsh, I like how it sounds and I like what it means to me. And the best thing of all is after having learned Spanish and German I know understand what learning a language is like, and how it is possible =) So that's good! Catalan - I did a three month Catalan course at university, which at the end of it led me to a state where I could understand and read the language pretty well. However, I did not carry on with the language and thus I'm left with only basic conversational Catalan, although I can still read it pretty well. With family who speak Catalan as a first language it is important to me to understand, speak and read this language excellently - so here goes. Again I will be using a Colloquial book, along with a 'Teach Yourself Catalan' book I bought while at university (I also have all my Catalan course notes too). I'll put in a few sessions a week into both languages, as well as trying to read them, speak them and watch things in them as often as possible (which for me is quite easy given my current situation). I'll post my progress here and if anyone has any questions or encouragements please post or PM me! Adéu/Hwyl! Alexander. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4972 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 2 of 27 07 September 2011 at 9:51pm | IP Logged |
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Well today I did 30 minutes of Catalan from the Teach Yourself book, which went very
well. As I said in my first post, I have a good basic knowledge of Catalan and can read it well, I just need to learn to speak it! So a good start, which I need to continue with as frequently as possible. I'm thinking lots of small sessions, as frequently as possible, say 3 or 4 times a week, should do the trick and then I'll re-assess after Christmas. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5047 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 3 of 27 07 September 2011 at 10:03pm | IP Logged |
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I wonder how Welsh is taught in Wales.How much time is spent, what is the method? Why
don't people know Welsh after school? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4972 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 27 08 September 2011 at 9:06am | IP Logged |
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Hey, thanks for the reply.
In Wales you are split into either education through Welsh or education through English, which is normally decided on what language you speak at home, although there is some flexibility. Coming from a home where English was spoken I was put through education in English and had Welsh taught as a second language. However, Welsh was not taught well at Primary School, which has now changed, and so my education in the Welsh language came from 11-16 in secondary school. I had around 3 hours a week and made good progress, but I didn't choose it as a GCSE subject (14-16), and so had only two hours a week of Welsh in those last two years. As I spoke English at home and at that point had no interest in languages I took little notice of my learning. I understand a lot more than I speak but you are right in asking why don't people know Welsh after school. But the point is, even people who do French or German don't speak those languages either - there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the curriculum approaches languages here. I believe that immersion is the best option, and that even English-speaking natives should go through classes taught in Welsh only, for example, sport could easily be done through Welsh without losing anything. I'm not proposing total immersion, like Catalan in Catalonia, but a kind of semi-immersion which does not alienate the English speaking majority. I feel bad that I don't speak Welsh in Wales, which is why I'm going to learn it. If you have any more questions please ask! p.s. no-one in my family speaks Welsh 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4972 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 5 of 27 08 September 2011 at 8:01pm | IP Logged |
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Did another 30 minutes today, all going smoothly, although I do wonder how my Spanish
will affect my Catalan and vice versa... I guess we'll see! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5047 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 6 of 27 11 September 2011 at 3:58pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you for the answer. Do you study modern spoken Welsh or standart Welsh, which is
obsolete? In general, what is the relationship between all Welshs? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5973 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 7 of 27 11 September 2011 at 4:49pm | IP Logged |
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I shall be following your log with interest. I'm still debating with myself whether to bite the bullet and start studying Welsh properly once my postgrad is out of the way. I grew up in England so had no experience of Welsh until I moved here. My husband is Welsh but was one of the last cohorts of students to go through the school system here before they made Welsh language education compulsory so knows practically nothing.
Interestingly I think the one thing that puts me off learning Welsh in Wales is the political side of things. I am comfortable learning a foreign language because I am happy to accept that I will always be a foreigner. But to be a non-native speaker of a language that is native to my home country leaves me feeling a bit uncomfortable. I am sure however that as Welsh education in English schools improves and the cohorts going through Welsh schools increase, Welsh will become more important in Wales. What do you think of the Welsh materials on offer in Central Library? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4972 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 8 of 27 11 September 2011 at 10:35pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the post.
It's an odd thing that you can go through an education in Wales and come out not speaking the language - it's rather sad to be honest, especially when you think of the immersion policies in similar European regions, such as Catalonia, where every class is taught through Catalan. The political question - it's an odd one isn't it? Sometimes I feel that however much Welsh I learn I will always feel like I'm not Welsh enough to some, but I feel that underestimates the goodwill you will get from most of the population. Welsh is only political for a minority, and we must remember that it's political with a good cause - i.e. it was systematically wiped out... But I'm learning because I've lived here all my life, because the language interests me a lot and because wherever I end up I know I will always think of Wales as my true home. If devolution could achieve anything, it could achieve a reasonable rate of Welsh- speaking people from English-speaking homes, we'll have to see! (although it's been a decade now and where's the progress??) I've only been able to take a quick look at the Welsh materials in Central Library (I'm busy putting the finishing touches to my Masters thesis), but I'm going to take a proper look this week - and I'll report back. What's your postgraduate? Mine is European Studies - which sounds a bit vacuous but I specialize in Spanish History which makes it more narrow. At the moment I just want a Welsh dictionary and a beginners course =) Hwyl. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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