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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5776 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 1 of 11 27 March 2010 at 7:11pm | IP Logged |
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Has anybody here had much success learning Welsh from scratch? What kind of resources have you used? Is there anything you would recommend/not recommend?
BBC Catchphrase looks like quite an extensive resource but if I do decide to learn Welsh, I wouldn't mind a decent textbook, dictionary and grammar (if these exist). I live in Wales so already have easy access to Welsh TV and radio, plus a great deal of bilingual information, although most of this is government-related. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 91jerome Triglot Newbie Belgium Joined 5170 days ago 4 posts - 7 votes Speaks: French*, English, Welsh | Message 2 of 11 31 March 2010 at 3:59pm | IP Logged |
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I've learnt Welsh from scratch. I recommend that you use the BBC site. It will take you from a beginner's level up to quite an advanced level. It's a really great resource. Welsh is such an amazing language, it's got such a wonderful phonology!
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 11 31 March 2010 at 6:48pm | IP Logged |
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I'm currently doing a beginner's course with the OU. I'm not 100% from scratch, cos I'm piggie-backing it on my knowledge of Scottish Gaelic.
I've found the free course from www.saysomethinginwelsh.com a useful addition to my studies BUT... Don't use it on its own. The grammar is poorly explained, and the pronunciation obscures grammatically important information -- they're trying to speak colloquially rather than in "school Welsh", which is good except that we're supposed to induce the grammar from the patterns and examples presented but the information needed just isn't there. I would not get any grammar books until you've decided on what course you're going to follow -- there's a great variability in terms of verb forms, not only in terms of N vs S Wales, but in terms of formal vs colloquial, so you'll need to get a grammar book that matches the exercise book you're using or your teacher's preference (if doing a class). 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5776 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 4 of 11 31 March 2010 at 7:13pm | IP Logged |
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How are you finding the OU course? Would you recommend it?
To be honest, I'm not sure about what courses exist beyond the material available on the BBC website so I may well go for this by default. I will want to concentrate on S Wales as that's where I live. I think ideally I would want a comprehensive grammar book that gives clear explanations of the differences which I could use as a reference as and when I need it - but perhaps I am asking a little too much? I looked into the possibility of joining a class here but any classes which seem to follow a reasonable pace meet several times a week, which I would be unable to commit to. For a one night a week option I think I'd be looking at a decade until fluency! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 11 31 March 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not putting a lot of time into it, to be honest, and I'm kind of blagging my way through at the mo.... I got a bit turned off by the start of the course because I could see that they weren't quite explaining everything.
The OU course is a slightly modified version of the Joint Welsh Education Board course, so it's nothing particularly special -- pretty much the same thing as a lot of night classes will be doing (apart from Wlpan classes, which I believe follow a different syllabus). The OU course is slightly more expensive than the distance courses from the University of Wales Lampeter, so they're another option. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pohaku Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5445 days ago 192 posts - 367 votes Speaks: English*, Persian Studies: Arabic (classical), French, German, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 6 of 11 31 March 2010 at 11:49pm | IP Logged |
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I spend my time with Persian, Arabic, and other languages far from Wales. My goals mostly revolve around reading classical literature in those languages. I recently became aware of the major amount of literature in Old and Middle Irish and in Middle Welsh. I've been browsing this site, for example http://www.dafyddapgwilym.net/index_eng.php I cannot answer the original question in this thread, but did want to say how intriguing the entire Celtic literary heritage now appears to me.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sunny Groupie United States Joined 6042 days ago 98 posts - 128 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Welsh, French | Message 7 of 11 01 April 2010 at 3:37am | IP Logged |
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Catchphrase is actually only one program of many that the BBC offers. Here are other links: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/learnwelsh/grammar/ Exploring these lead me to many interesting places...
Gareth King has what is considered a very good grammar. There are some much older first readers and grammars available on google books as well. Good luck. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jon1991 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5159 days ago 98 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 8 of 11 01 April 2010 at 10:33pm | IP Logged |
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Yh Welsh looks a truly fascinating language that is also mad and odd. Although I have only had a brief look at Welsh and rarely hear it spoken as I live in London, from my little experience of Welsh I find the spelling and pronounciation truly unique. If I lived in Wales, I would definitely learn it!
Go for it mate! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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