Shwmae guys, I may be moving very soon to Aberystwyth due to my job and was wondering which dialect I should learn? I’ve been learning the southern dialect so far (finished Level 1) but should I switch to the northern counterpart as I hear the northern dialect is a bit more common. I am aware that Ceredigion has it’s own dialect but that’s something I think I can pick up later after having built the foundation.
Also on the forum anyone living in Aberystwyth? If so, could you please shed some more light on your experience of living there, if there are enough opportunities to practice Welsh eg.
The southern version will be fine for Aberystwyth - with the university in town it’s a bit of a melting pot for all dialects, so stick with what you’re comfortable with.
I’m tagging @Nicky Roberts for you - he’s the perfect one to shed some light on living in Aberystwyth.
Aberystwyth being in Ceredigion is still a very strong Welsh speaking area.
Aberystwyth Town Centre can be a bit shy about its Welsh speaking skills, which is only natural as 10,000 students appear in the town every September and as such a lot of the shops tend to switch to an “English First” method of service.
Most shops in the town centre can and do speak Welsh and pretty much all locals do as well.
All of the independent coffee shops speak Welsh, and even the chain stores have a number of Welsh speakers.
In terms of dialect. The southern dialect will do you fine. In Aber we are only 18 miles from the county of Gwynedd so you will hear a fair bit of the Gogledd accent around. The university, the council, the hospital and the National Library attract a lot of employees from outside of the town so expect to hear a lot of different accents around the place.
You will hear the language on the streets, in pubs,cafes and everywhere - so it is definitely a good place to continue your learning.
Perhaps you would be also interested in our “Cloncedigion” SSIW group (see the Events forum)
Hello Nicky, thanks for the information! I initially thought it might be a bad move moving to a place so far and isolated from every other place I know but I think it might be a good change even if it’s temporary (if nothing else, at least I can improve my Welsh which is a huge plus).
