I think lots of non-deaf people imagine BSL to be something like Makaton or sign-supported-English, without realizing that it’s effectively a completely different language with its own unique grammar and structures, as well as the signs themselves. My understanding is that other sign-languages are structurally similar (but not the same), as well as having different signs. AFAIK ASL was developed under the influence of French Catholic educators and has more in common with French sign-language than with BSL; since BSL isn’t signed English, I would imagine that deaf Cymry use the same BSL as other deaf people from these islands.
I took ASL a number of years ago and you are correct, none of the hand languages for the deaf are direct translations of the local language but are actually separate languages, though some signs apparently are similar in different traditions. I have a niece who is an ASL interpreter (and licensed to work in courtrooms, etc.) She has mentioned in the past that even ASL has different “dialects” - regional differences that can make it difficult for people to understand at big national gatherings (conventions and the like).
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Thanks, All. Yes I had seen the stuff about different (nationality) sign languages. I also saw this video on the net showing signing of a hymn sang bilingually. It’s difficult top see, but it looks as if the same sign language is being used, perhaps ASL? Great Welsh accents in Cymraeg & English by the way. It looks like this took place in Cleveland, OH.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sign+language+welsh&view=detail&mid=5F726740B9827D72ED2C5F726740B9827D72ED2C&FORM=VIRE
Huh. That’s actually at a NAFOW - North American Festival of Wales. I recognize a lot of the people when they’re panning at the beginning!
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Ok so I thought I got the hang of the past tense but sometimes get mixed up between the o’n i’n and nes i ways of saying it. In the challenges we are taught o’n i’n meddwl for “I thought”…what would nes i meddwl be; would one even say it like that? I was of the understanding that the o’n i’n meddwl was “I was thinking”…or are they essentially the same?
Diolch!
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Some verbs naturally describe states rather than actions - in English we can have “I think that’s a great idea” where “I am thinking that’s a great idea” just sounds a bit off - maybe stereotypical Indian English. We can say “I am thinking”, but probably in different contexts, with a slightly different meaning. Other verbs, for actions, have to be in the -ing form if you want them to be in the present: “I run to the shop” only works as habit, or as a certain style of anecdote-telling - if you want it to be now it has to be “I am running.”
So ‘stative’ verbs are different in the present in English, but not in Welsh: dw i’n meddwl and dw i’n rhedeg work just the same. But in the past they’re different in Welsh: o’n i’n meddwl when you’d say wnes i redeg for English ‘I thought’, ‘I ran’.
The one thing that helps is that I’m sure @garethrking says somewhere that the list of verbs that get treated as statives in English and Welsh overlaps pretty well, so for English speakers it should be reasonably straightforward to develop a ‘feel’ for what sounds right.
However, I’m not sure if you can sometimes say wnes i feddwl in slightly different contexts with slightly different meaning, so on that I’d bow to those with more knowledge!
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I have sometimes wondered that. e.g. for things like “I thought for a moment that you had gone, but then I realised you were still upstairs…”. Or similar.
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I was thinking about things like “when X happened I suddenly/immediately remembered/thought of Y” - like the Royal Mail adverts “I saw this and thought of you.” Although in that case I think you’d probably just go straight for the verb-noun anyway - Mi wnes i weld hynna a meddwl amdanat ti, perhaps?
What are the Welsh words that would be used for vacant and occupied on a toilet door? I’m having a party on Fridaiy and need to put up a bilingual sign on the door as there is no lock!
I’ll refrain from stabbing a guess, in case it all goes horribly wrong.
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Agor and ar gau, as i’n when shops are open and closed?
Can’t say I’ve ever noticed any in Welsh in real life (the locks mostly seem to show green/red these days), but I’d probably opt for these:
vacant - gwag
occupied - prysur (or maybe even ‘llawn’!)
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You could take a different approach and instruct your guests that while seated on the Throne of Power, or standing at the Aiming Point of Destiny, that they should chwibanu (whistle), or if they prefer to canu (no translation needed, I’m sure. 
).
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Can anyone explain why, (in Challenge 15), that when several sentences have begun with Dwedest ti, a few sentences later it changes to ‘i ti dddweud’ as in ‘On y meddwl i ti ddweud…’
I think I may have missed something somewhere.
Thanks
Hopefully, I have understood your question.
This is the trick -
In Welsh, when talking about something that happened in the past, we introduce the past tense and then switch to the present, because the thing that happened was present at the time. So,
“On i’n meddwl i ti ddweud”, literally means “I was thinking that you are saying”.
I think that’s right. The way that I check myself is to miss out the “that” in English -
So: I was thinking: “You are saying”.
We’re just giving you exposure to some of the different structures you’ll meet along the way… 
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Thanks both. Yes, you did understand and that makes sense. I also forget that of course there are more than one way of saying things, and the more I learn and the bettet I get, the more choice I’ll have. That’s a good feeling. 
Did anyone see BBC Celebrity Mastermind last night? Just happened to be flicking channels but caught this when winner Sean Fletcher spoke about how he learnt Welsh after marrying a Cymraes and then spoke only Welsh to his children… just got a bit excited at the positive mention of the Welsh language, an adult learner etc!! (but I did feel for him, as there was no such thing as SSIW back then )
You can see it here on iplayer starting at about 19:45 minutes.
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I’m taking a little time to understand all the bits of sentences I had never really figured out! 
So in Level 1, Challenge 25 South, around min 25:30, there is:
My mother doesn’t like to talk much on Sunday morning
that I believe should be quite right as
Dyw fy/'yn mam i ddim yn hoffi siarad llawer [?] fore dydd Sul
but isn’t there something else between llawer and fore? Ar? Yr? Yn?
Or maybe it’s just an impression because of the way words are pronounced in this sequence? 
Yes it sounds like ar for your English on
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