Hi How about a badge ‘dw i’n dysgu cymraeg. Dach chi’n helpu’ch fy?’ So people speak welsh in shops and so on to you.
How about making in fun – playing with language.
The thing that ssiw falls short for me is I want a grammar reference in North Wales. For someone who knows grammar well it would really help me.
BBC Welsh grammar guide. It’s a pdf and free
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I can also recommend Y Cyfeiriadur by Tony Ellis, available online from Lulu books (a physical book, not an ebook).
It is absolutely NOT a book to learn from, but it’s a brilliant resource for those moments when your memory lets you down and you aren’t quite sure of something, e.g. a particular verb tense and just want to check that you’ve remembered it correctly. It has a clear index, which makes it really easy to look things up. It’s for North Wales Welsh.
For learning about grammar, most people recommend Gareth King’s books.
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My father used to use butcher’s back-slang. But eventually, we all became fluent in this…
Do you mean a reference to the grammar of north Walian Welsh? I don’t think there are that many differences. But Gareth King’s
“Basic Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook” and
“Intermediate Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook” (n.b. a new edition of this is expected before the end of this year, so may be worth waiting for this).
are good. He does mention the northern/southern variations, without over-emphasising them.
And if you want to go full-on, there is: “Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar”.
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It’s OK and fairly clear – I did notice a small mistake in something I was looking up a while ago, but I’ve just skimmed through the whole thing and for the life of me can’t see what it was. It also has a slight character-set conversion problem in that (for me at least, but on more than one computer and using different operating systems) it displays ŵ as ð (e.g. sðn, siðr) and ŷ as þ (e.g. tþ).
I’ve got a vague idea about getting more learners, sadly, I haven’t fleshed out any of the ‘how’ yet, but:
I’ve found that Welsh (at least here in Canada), is not seen as a language of utility, that is, it’s not seen as a language anyone would want to do business in or create media in. You only learn if you have some sort of personal interest or cultural attachment.
So, I’ve been thinking: If Welsh could be framed as a language that you want to do business in, or create media in, because there’s interest and demand for Welsh-language services and business, (even if not in your area, but in the context of the Global Village), maybe that could be an incentive to get more people learning?
I know it’s only the beginnings of an idea, but I’m hoping it’s still helpful.
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I dont know the markup to quote, and Im too lazy to learn, so:
“My fear with this would be that the di-Gymraeg, born and bred in Wales may find it difficult to swallow if a Welsh language event were to become very commercial.”
This is true, but you imagined skipping a step. The commercial appropriation would not be of the language. It would be of being Welsh in general - a persona. Of that, a few true-meaning culturally identifying people could find a pathway to the language.
Of the population of people learning Irish in the States, many started off as general Celtofiles. Not necessarily of Celtic genetic descent. The desire to delve into Celtic culture is very strong here. And Irish, rather than other Celts get the bulk of the language bennefits. Possibly because everybody knows an Irish cultural stereotype, right? Talk like a leperchan, drink whiskey, pick clovers, and … I can’t go on… it’s too denigrating. But it has a weird effect of instilling pride, even if it’s also debasing.
I’m not suggesting the wholesale marketing of perjorative Welsh stereotypes, but one single tradtion that people can love and grab ahold of. Like wedding spoons - something that may not exist in actualy practice. Or whatever - my knowledge is very weak, so I won’t risk saying something silly, like hill walking.
By fostering a general love of culture, the specific may grow as a sub-population. So I’m sorry if I sounded like I was suggesting a language immersion beer garden full of dolts. I guess the question I’m posing is twofold. Do Welsh speakers want to speak the language with non-natives? I think all languages should have that as a goal in the long run. And what does Wales have that no one else does? In the UK, that might be something as unlikely as surfing around Bristol and Cardiff which I’m told is a thing. Finding the persona, sell the persona, cull the interested from the beer garden, promote the language. Which may sound a bit like growing a tree of oranges to find a lemon, but I’ve seen it work in practice.
And it’s also the antithesis of another idea I support, fostering language at home.
I think fostering Eisteddfodau might be the way to go. That seems to keep the spirit of Welsh going in Patagonia, not that it’s really comparable with North America. And it wouldn’t need to be exclusively in Welsh. North America is a mixing pot of cultures and languages. But it should feature Welsh of course.
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I was thinking that Prof. Jerry Hunter, if willing, having won , I think it was the Prose Medal, would be quite a good ambassador back to US for the Eisteddfod and all things Welsh! He learned Welsh like all of us, when adult and his fluency puts most, if not all, of us to shame!
I wonder if there is a gap in language provision also for welsh learners. S4c is useless for the vast majority of welsh learners/beginners so what about a learners channel- S4D (d=dysgwyr) or at the very least a radio station.
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Problem- finance! UK not happy financing S4C never mind S4Cd ! Doubt if the Senedd has the money. Adverts don’t raise all that much.
I stuck an SSiW card on the wall in my local Chinese take away about a month ago. I went again a fortnight later and it had disappeared so I stuck 3 on the wall. I went again last night and they had disappeared so I stuck 3 more on the wall.
I have an idea.
Do we have an SSiW poster? If so, can I have a copy sent to me via email please? I can print a few out to create a card holder to leave lots in lots of places.
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We used to have some quite colourful ones at one stage. I’ll see what I can find when I have a chance.
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Erm, Welsh? 
Eisteddfodau?
Cornwall & Australia (at least) have eisteddfods as well. (The Cornish one being called “esedhvos”.)
OK and Yr Alban has more than one Mod, but Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru 
is surely bigger, stronger… are the others not like the local and Urdd Eisteddfodau which are stepping stones to the National?
Mmm when I typed a little dragon flag appeared as a option, so I clicked on it. When saved to the Forum it seems to turn into two enigmatic banners!
ha! I played around with that, but could not get a dragon flag to appear.
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It was the word Cymru that shows a ddraig on my ipad, but not when I tell it to reply to forum!
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