Spoken Welsh vs Traditional Welsh

I have seen differences in spoken Welsh and Traditional Welsh.Some words and phrases in Spoken Welsh have been shortened from the Traditional Welsh.Now I still use the Traditional Welsh in speech no problem being understood.That is the Welsh that I learned many years ago and is implanted in me.Sometimnes I have difficulty understanding the short forms of Welsh.
.Does anyone else still use the Traditional Welsh or is being banished into Written Welsh only?
Roeddwn i (o’n i)
wedi bod( di bod)
fy mod i (bo fi)
Doeddwn i ddim (O’n i ddim)
Be interesting to hear what some of the SSIW members think.

1 Like

The forms such as “roeddwn i” are what was taught years ago as “standard Welsh” in classes for adult Welsh learners. As a result, when one tried out one’s Welsh on a native speaker, they said things like, “Oh, you speak such good Welsh,” which was a kind of code for, “I’m terrified of speaking to you because you’ll think my Welsh is sloppy and you might ask me about grammar and mutations!”

Of course the native speaker’s Welsh was not “sloppy” or “bad Welsh” it was exactly how people speak. In English we use contractions and if you transcribed things phonetically, in my dialect you’d have things like “Ah’ve bin” instead of “I have been” or “Dyuh know” instead of “Do you know.”

If you’re happy speaking in a more formal register and native speakers are also happy with talking to you, then there’s no need to change, but becoming familiar with the shortened forms will help in understanding others.

7 Likes

That is such an interesting topic… if you learnt Welsh a long time ago I think the patterns must be in your memory brain… my husband grew up in Wales and learnt Welsh up to 4… but then moved and never spoke it again… and is now relearning…. But he sounds Welsh and instinctively knows what it sounds and feels like… even if it’s from a long time ago as he’s 60…I’m English and I’m currently on level 2… I chat every week to my husband’s native Welsh speaking aunt who is 70 who lives in Ammanford… she is very encouraging and tells me that some of the SSW southern course phrases are ‘northern Welsh… ‘ ‘we wouldn’t say that’ … introduces me to a load of colloquial phrases I’ve never heard of., but… we can now have conversations…. And she can understand what I’m trying to mangle…with my English accent😂.

So I’ve come to the conclusion the Welsh language is a very flexible and organic language where there is a common thread that everyone can understand and relate to… and Welsh people are much more relaxed about how it should be said and like a lot of variety in how it is said or written :joy:

4 Likes