Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Thanks Siaron and Sionned. I think one of those options should work, and the clarification on gendered endings is helpful. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Crwydrwr is perfectly fine for ‘rambler’.
It’s used by The Rambling Association.

A vagabond is Crwydryn …

Also ‘Cardotyn’ etc were more negatively associated words I heard for tramp :disappointed:

Of course it can be easy for any of us to read a negative connotation, when there may be none in a different culture or language.

I was reading a history book on the English language claiming that words relating to tramp became very negatively associated in England after the Tudors and Elizabeth 1 made being a homeless vagrant punishable by death. (Although it probably harks back to more feudal times) …

Community shaming is the fast path to a negative connotation!
What a lovely set of people Hey :weary::joy::joy:

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Is there a Welsh word for “prehabilitation”? Prehabilitation means “enhancing a patient’s functional capacity before surgery/acute medical treatment”. Rehabilitation is adferiad, adfer is to recover/restore.
So the English language has merged “pre-“ and re to create a new word. Can Welsh do this? I don’t feel “cyn” would work. Would paratoad work?

I would think so, it’s a living language, so why not! Not sure how getting a term ‘authorised’ works though!

rhag- is a prefix for pre- (as in ‘fore-’), and cymhwyso is another possible word (in addition to adfer) for to habilitate, so maybe rhag-adfer / rhagadferiad / rhag-gymhwyso… ?

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I think I like the sound of rhagadferiad the best, it has a nice rhythm. I’ll check with the group Iaith too to see what they suggest. Thanks Siaron!

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So you were spot on with rhag! The grwp Iaith came through with “rhagsefydlu” according to the Welsh Gov:

https://gov.wales/bydtermcymru/search?search_api_fulltext=prehabilitation&subject=All&btctablanguage=en&fbclid=IwAR3TuU3VLPMp0qFTCtOSrOhQDj1zzSvg7C7z6H46_ecHzIKq38NVU9-Cix4

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So here I am happily chugging along through Level 1 with the end (of the level) in sight feeling like i’m starting to get a slender grip on things. Have a break and listen to some music - up comes “Adra” gan Gwyneth Glyn, and she starts off with a curved ball for me lol:

" ‘There is a town in North Ontario’ meddai Neil Young yn ei gan".
Whoa! meddai? Not dwedodd? So my question is what is the difference? is it a North/ South thing?

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Not N/S more to do with the written word (stories, songs etc). You will recognise meddai (medd + ending) from mewddwl. So it can be “think”, “mean” or (when written) “say/said” :smiley:

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As I recall, meddai is generally used for “reported speech” - as you might see in a book or a newspaper article, etc, when they are writing about (or quoting) what someone has said (or is saying, in a novel for example).

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Thanks @brynle for that clarification. That is certainly one of the tricky points of translation – dictionaries don’t always give a clear sense of the connotations of a word within the culture, so one is left wondering whether the connotations of the two languages match up.

Question on conditional future tenses: What is the distinction between “byddwn i” and “baswn i”? SSiW (Gogledd) seems to use the former (at least in Level 2), while Duolingo seems to favor the latter. Are they interchangeable, or is each used in slightly different situations?

Yup, there are two sets! They mean exactly the same and it’s just personal/regional preference which you use.

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Perfect! One less nuance to try and keep in mind. :sweat_smile: Thanks!

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Byddwn (south/mid) / Baswn (north) but can mix.

You will hear pronounced in fluid speech

Bydden i (instead of Byddwn i - definitely in Ceredigion anyway lol)

All northern ones can be shortened in speech… you can remove the ‘ba’
Baswn i goes to swn i
Baset ti - set ti
Basen nhw - sen nhw
Basen ni - sen ni
Basech chi - sech chi (though basech chi is more respectful)

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In Level 2, Challenge 2 (North) at 25:06 min., Aran says “I’m going to ask them” and then, in Cymraeg, “Dw i’n mynd i ofyn iddyn nhw”. Why is iddyn used here and not wrth, as we’ve heard with “wrthaf fi” and “wrthot ti” up until this challenge?

It’s because certain verbs pair with certain prepositions, and while the verb dweud pairs with wrth, the verb gofyn pairs with i (and iddyn is the ‘nhw’ form of i).

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Thank you for the clarification, Siaron. It makes sense but begs the question why gofyn was used with wrth in level 1. In English, there can be regional differences with prepositions, e.g. wait for versus wait on - could this also have something to do with it?

Yes, there is colloquial flexibility. Although pairing with particular prepositions is the grammatically correct way to do it, it doesn’t mean you won’t hear people using gofyn wrth or dweud i - it doesn’t really change the meaning.
Also, while it should be gofyn i (someone), gofyn wrth is grammatically correct when it has a spatial meaning e.g. gofynnwch wrth y ddesg am fwy o wybodaeth (ask at the desk for more information) whereas “ask the receptionist” would be gofynnwch i’r dderbynnydd

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Thank you, Siaron - very helpful.

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I think this is my all time favourite english saying @siaronjames; ‘colloquial flexibility,’
I LOVE IT!!

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