For Elswyth and me and anyone who might care to join us
Ah, prynhawn da. Dw i ddim yn meddwl bydda i’n medru dweud beth dw i eisau yn dda iawn, achos dw i ddim yn medru siarad Cymraeg, ond bydda i’n trio’n galed.
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I do apologize for all the missing mutations and eventual mistakes and/or unnatural collocations, I promise I’ll improve) I also apologize for talking to you, Elswyth, using the “ti” form, your beautiful way of writing inspires a more respectful form of addressing you, but alas, I’m not as familiar with “chi” as with “ti”. I suppose we can always switch to it later on?
Prynhawn da! Dwi ddim yn meddwl dwi’n gallu siarad Cymraeg yn dda, ond dwi’n moyn trio. Mae’n rhaid i fi dechrau, beth bynnag!
Ti wedi gofyn am “Mabinogi”. Dw i’n hoffi stori Pwyll achos dwi’n hoffi Rhiannon yn fawr. A ti? Pwy rhan o’r lyfr wyt ti’n hoffi? Wyt ti wedy gweld darluniau Alan Lee? Dw i’n meddwl maen nhw’n hyfryd yn fawr.
Wyt ti’n hoffi llyfrau eraill am chwedlau? Wnes i dechrau hoffi mytholeg yn yr ysgol. Wnes i darllen llawer o lyfraw am chwedlau Gwyddelig bryd ‘ny. Ac wnes i dysgu “hanes a damcaniaeth diwilliannau” (history and theory of cultures) yn y brifisgol, ac wnes i darllen chwedlau o LLychlyn, Ffrainc a Rwsia ‘na. Ond dwi’n hoffi chwedlaw o Prydain odiaeth. Dwi’n darllen llyfr diddorol iawn am chwedlau Cymraeg nawr, a bydda i’n darllen llyfr am Cernyw nesa.
Bydda i’n hapus i wybod rhywbeth am ti, os gwellwch yn dda)
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Ti’n gwneud yn dda digon. (You’re doing well enough.) Ti’n gallu siarad Cymraeg; dim llawer, efallai, ond ti’n ei siarad hi ;). (You can speak Welsh; not lots, maybe, but you speak it 
)
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That is quite all right - I only know how to use ti as well. Moreover, I know far less Welsh than yourself overall, therefore apologise if I all I write is repetitive, strewn with mistakes and answering the wrong question entirely.
Wnes i licio Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed hefyd, achos dw i’n licio darllen am Annwn, a wnes i feddwl Manawyddan Fab Llyr [was most interesting - I know not how to structure that]. Dw i wedi gweld darluniau* Alan Lee, ond does gen i ddim y llyfr [with them in]. Wnes i ddechrau* licio dysgu am mytholeg achos wnes i ddarllen The Lord of the Rings a The Silmarillion pryd wnes i ifanc - dw i’n serchu’r Noldor. Dw i’n gwybod ti’n dysgu Cymraeg a Kernowek; wyt ti’n dysgu iath arall hefyd? Dw i ddim yn medru ysgriffenu (?) yn y Gymraeg yn dda iawn - mae’n ddrwg gen i!
'Tis frustrating having to write worse than a four year old might. Hopefully you shall forgive me until I’ve learnt better, yet this nonsense is all I can manage at present! I must say the books you mentioned sound quite splendid, and likewise did those you spoke of earlier. Forgive me if you have already said, yet might I ask the name of the one wherein there’s a fellow named Gwidion?
*I shall have to suppose that means drawings or illustrations, though I could be wrong.
*This must mean ‘began’, yet I’m not sure how to use the word; it likely doesn’t even soften as I’ve made it do.
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Oh please do not apologize, talking to you is such a pleasure! And I don’t know more Cymraeg than you do, my geiriadur does (I mentally thank Gareth King for this dictionary every day, I spend most of my time with it). And I make mistakes even in English, unfortunately, as it’s not my mother-tongue. Mae’n ddrug da fi, Rwsiaid ydw i!
The book about Gwidion is “A school in Carmarthen” by Anna Korosteleva. It is a delightful book about a school of magic in Wales, full of gentle humour and very interesting things about Celtic and Scandinavian mythology. But it is in Russian, I’m afraid. I could look for a translation into English (if it exists), if you wish? The other book I mentioned are “British goblins: Welsh folklore” (it’s available online and I strongly recommend it, if you’re interested in folklore – it has lots of stories of elves, pixies and such…).
Oh, ti wedi darllen Silmarillion, ‘te? Dw i’n caru y llyfr ‘ma! (yn arbennig Noldor a Feanor). Dw i’n gwybod iaith Tolkien yn debig i Gymraeg… Wnes i foyn dysgu Quenya pryd wnes i ifanc. Dwi’n cofio caneuon yn Quenya yn dal. 
Beth llyfrau eraill wyt ti’n hoffi?
Dwi’n deall ti’n dysgu tafodiaith ogleddod (northern dialect)? Dwi’n dysgu deheuol (southern). Does dim problem, gobeithio? Dwi’n gallu deall beth ti’n ysgrifenu… *
Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg a Kernowek nawr. Ond dw i’n gallu siarad Rwsiaid, Eiddaleg a Saesneg, a dw i’n gwybod Ffrangeg (dw i ddim yn gallu ei siarad i yn dda, ond dw i’n gallu cyfieithu (I don’t know how to say make written translations) A ti? Wyt ti’n gallu iaith arall? Dw i’n gwybod ti’n dod o Lloegr, wyt ti’n byw yna?
*I can’t help but quote “The school in Carmarthen” once again here. “Gwidion was from the North and Llewellis from the South, and at first they understood so little of each other’s accents that they were forced to speak Latin” (sorry for my sloppy translation) I hope it doesn’t happen to us.
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Ah, wnes i brynu llyfr [by] Gareth King heddiw, ond dw i ddim wedi darllen o dim byd [yet]. Dw i’n meddwl ti’n siarad Saesneg yn dda iawn (exceedingly well, and if I can ever speak another language so competently bydda i’n hapus iawn).
My word, that does sound rather wonderful, yet I would not wish to put you to any great trouble having to look for a translation on my sorry behalf! I shall certainly seek out the other, as I am indeed dreadfully fond of that sort of thing.
Yndw, dw i’n dysgu [the northern dialect]. My forebears were from Gwynedd. Pam wyt ti eisiau dysgu [the southern]? I must say, that did amuse me about having to resort to speaking Latin; hopefully we shan’t have that much bother.
Do, dw i wedi darllen Y Silmarillion! Dw i’n hapus ti’n licio fo hefyd. Dw i ddim wedi dysgu Quenya neu Sindarin, ond dw i’n gwybod [a few words]. [About songs] Dw i’n licio ‘Namárië’ ac ‘A Elbereth Gilthoniel’/ ‘Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris’.
A dw i’n licio darllen llyfrau am hanes ac yn y Hen Saesneg (wyt t’in dweud 'caniadau yn y Hen Saesneg? Dw i ddim yn gwybod, ond dw i’n licio 'The Battle of Brunanburh, The Wanderer, The Fight and Finnsburh, Beowulf and so on).
Yndw, dw i’n Seisnig* a dw i’n byw yn West Sussex. Wyt ti’n licio… your homeland?
Dw i ddim yn medru siarad iath arall; wnes i ddim dysgu mewn(?) ysgol. Dw i’n mynd i drio dysgu Kernowek a Gaelg (mae’n ddrwg gen i - dw i ddim yn gwybod sut i ddeud o yn y Gymraeg). Dw i eisiau dysgu… Irish and Faroese, yet Irish orthography - though most lovely - is somewhat threatening.
The amount of languages you know is mightily impressive. Do I recall rightly that you are a teacher of languages?
*I have guessed that’s the way to say ‘English’ when speaking of the folk rather than the language, yet could be wrong.
(I apologise for taking so long to answer, might I add. I’ve had to be elsewhere and away from this wretched computer of mine for much of the time.)
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Diolch yn fawr, dw i’n hapus my English is not bothering you too much. I love English, I read and practice it every day, and I even wrote some stories (stylized ghost stories) in it, but I always feel very self-conscious while talking to native speakers.
Beth ew enw llyfr Gareth King? (What is the name of the book by Gareth King that you have?) Mae “Colloquial Welsh” a “Modern Welsh dictionary” gyda fi. Dw i’n cysgu, bwyta a yfed gyda y geiriadur ‘ma. 
Dw i ddim yn gwybod pam dw i wedi dechrau dysgu tafodiaith deheuol (this means southern dialect, hopefully). Mae Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) yn Ne Cymru. (South Wales). A dw i’n caru Caerfyrddin, dw I’n moyn mynd yno a gweld y dre ‘ma… Ond dw i’n athrawes. (teacher. so I don’t even hope to get a UK visa. we’ll love each other on the distance, me and Carmarthen ) Wyt ti’n gwybod llawer am dy deulu o Gwynedd? (your family from Gwynedd)
Dw i’n hoffi “Namarie” (can Galadriel o “Lord of the Rings”, iawn? “Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen”), mae’n hyfryd. Dw i’n hoffi “Ondolinde”, hefyd. Mae hi’n can yn Quenya. Mae cantores Rwsiaid wedi ysgrifenu y can ‘ma.
Dwi’n hoffi “Beowulf” yn fawr, a dw i’n hoffi Hen Saesneg, ond alla i ddim yn darllen llyfrau yn Hen Saesneg yn dda. Dw i’n hoffi “Nibelungenlied” a “Tristan et Yseult” a storiau am Brenin Arthur, hefyd. Wyt ti’n hoffi y llyfrau ‘ma? Dw i’n caru Shakespeare, hefyd (I don’t know how to say “among later literature”)
Dw i’n caru Belarws iawn. Ond mae teulu nhad (ma father’s family) yn Greek a wnes i fyw yn Abhazia pryd wnes i ifanc, a wedyn wnes I fyw yn Eiddaleg. (I lived in Abhazia when I was a child and then in Italy. And I can say my heart is divided between lots of countries: Belarus, Russia, Abhazia and Italy…)
Wyt ti’n hoffi West Sussex? Dw i’n meddwl mae Lloegr yn hyfryd…
Is Gaelg Scottish Gaelic? You’re so very brave, then… Dw I wedi trio dysgu Gwyddeleg ( Irish), ond mae hi’n anodd iawn! I still have an Irish textbook and it makes me cry… And Faroese, is it a live language? Please forgive my ignorance… Are you interested in Manx or Breton as well? (Brezhoneg)
I am a teacher, yes, though my degree is not in teaching. I teach English, Italian and Russian as a foreign language. Lle wyt ti’n gweithio? (Where do you work, if I’m not mistaken)
Diolch yn fawr I y sgwrs ‘ma, dwi’n hapus iawn ymarfer Cymraeg a siarad a ti! Paid a phoeni, if you don’t answer quickly, I’m on holiday now so I’m mainly free to talk, but I can understand that other people can be engaged elsewhere!
This is the book I mentioned, which I hope you will enjoy. https://archive.org/details/britishgoblinswe00sikerich
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Maybe someday when you have time you could translate some of your stories into Welsh for us to read
Diolch yn fawr, I really want to read this book.
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I hope so, but it’ll be in a very distant future, I’ve been studying Cymraeg for two months only.
I’m very glad there are people interested in this kind of books I’m planning to read after I finish this book another one about Welsh and Manx folklore and if you wish I can leave the link to it here too. Celtic folklore is truly amazing.
Yes, please. I love Celtic folklore
Oh, that’s wonderful I hope you’ll enjoy them.
“Celtic folklore, Welsh and Manx”
Folk-lore of west and mid-Wales
I wanted to be a folklore researcher, when I was at school. And I’m still fascinated by it.
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Diolch yn fawr.
Mae gen i lyfr [called - a enwyd?] ‘Basic Welsh Grammar’. Hopefully it shall knock some sense into me.
The only people I know much about at all are those from very, very long ago - the line from Gwriad down through to Llewelyn Fawr, for example. For those of a less noble a lineage, it can be somewhat hard to find writings many about them!
Bydda i’n trio darllen am Belarws, achos dw i ddim yn gwybod dim byd amdani/o (which is likely rather rude, and hopefully you shall forgive me).
Yndw, dw i’n licio’r freoedd* yn Sussex (the South Downs), ond dw i’n ffafrio(?) y gorllewin - Dartmoor ac yn y blaen*. I’d like to move elsewhere, as there are too many people in south-east England and I’d dearly like to live somewhere with much more unspoilt countryside and a lot more rain.
'Tis Manx (in Manx, achos dw i ddim yn gwybod yr enw yn y Gymraeg). Dw i ddim yn meddwl bydda i’n medru dysgu Gàidhlig/ Scottish Gaelic, neu Gwyddeleg! Brezohoneg - dw i ddim wedi meddwl amdani llawer. Wyt ti eisiau dysgu Brezhoneg?
Aye, I think some folk still speak Faroese (I might guess around fifty thousand, though could easily be awfully mistaken).
Ah, beth wnest ti gwneud [at] prifysgol? Dw i ddim yn gweithio achos bydda i’n mynd i* prifysgol… in September. Dw i ddim yn medru gwneud rhywbeth beth dw i eisiau, ond felly mae yn de.
(I am doing some ‘volunteering’ business now, however, hence why I am elsewhere a lot!)
Is a smashing book indeed, and I too would recommend the thing to @rickyfreeman. I most liked the Welsh accounts of everyone’s dealings with the Little People. I thank you most kindly for the link to the other you left for me, and I shall surely wander over to it ere long.
Mae’n ddrwg gen i, if I have answered dreadfully. I am rather tired, thus do not think my mind is working especially well this evening!
*I think bre/ pl. breoedd is a word for hills/ 'highlands (although they’re certainly not very high in Sussex, it must be said), and a feminine noun. Sorry if I am mistaken, however.
*I have seen so many ways to say ‘and so forth’ I’m unsure which to use.
*I have only ever seen mynd i’r (prif)ysgol written elsewhere, yet would that not mean going to ‘the’ school? I know not.
I’m used to ‘bryn’ for hill (that does not mean i am right).
Uchldir for highland. Iseldir for lowland, ffermdir for farmland.
I seem to remember this is a feature of Welsh where at times it needs the (yr)
like ‘siarad yr cymraeg’ speak the welsh.
Sorry if it feels like i’m poking my nose in here but as a fellow learner i’m finding the thread interesting.
Cheers J.P.
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Ah, I thank you sir. Worry not, might I add, for I am most grateful to be corrected and taught better when I’m in need of it.
P.S. Do forgive me for saying ‘writings many’ instead of ‘many writings’. 'Tis to that sort of thing I meant to refer when I spoke of being appallingly tired.
… And so too for forgetting to soften gwneud after wnest ti. I am a dreadful fool.
Oh, so you’re of a very interesting and noble lineage! You must feel really proud of it…Are you trying to research it? (though I suppose it must be quite hard to research things so far away in the history) I don’t know as much about the true history of Cymru as I want to, I apologize, I’ve always been more concentrated on researching the folklore and the small habits and customs of people’s everyday life. But I’m going to improve! I’ve given a link in another topic to a book I’m reading in Cymraeg now – “Storiau o hanes Cymru”. It has parallel Symraeg-Saesneg texts, and is quite interesting
Mae Belarws yn hyfryd a mae’n hanes ddiddorol gyda hi. But it has always been part of some other country (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then Rec Pospolita, then Russian Empire) so I’m never surprised that people don’t know much about it But my hometown, Vitebsk, is a bit famous in the art world – the painter Mark Chagall was born here.
Mae’n ddrug da fi, dwi ddim yn gwybod beth yw oed ti ac wnes i feddwl ti’n gweithio yn barod. Beth wyt ti’n mynd I ddysgu yn brifysgol? Wyt ti’n mynd I ddysgu yn West Sussex neu lle arall? Wnes i ddysgu “hanes a damcaniaeth diwilliannau” (history and theory of cultures). Bues i (I was) hapus iawn mewn brifysgol – wnes I ddysgu hanes cerddoriaeth, hanes celfyddyd, llenidiaeth… (history of music, history of art, literature) Wyt ti’n hoffi celfyddyd? Your profile picture reminds me very stongly of the Pre-raphaelite art.
Dwi’n hoffi Iwerddon yn dda a o i’n moyn dysgu Gwyddeleg, ond mae hi’n amhosib! Mae gwerslyfr gyda fi, ond dwi’n ei ofni e (I’m afraid of it) Ond dwi’n gwybod ac dwi’n gallu canu caniau yn Wyddeled ac Gaeleg yr Alban. Dwi’n hoffi canu
I’m still interested in Irish, because I’m interested in all Celtic languages and everything that concerns history of the British isles, but the language certainly looks quite scary! When, as Aran promised, the courses in Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic are ready I will hang out here every day just to admire the people who are trying to learn these languages! Brezhoneg, on the other side, looks lovely and familiar and very similar to Cymraeg, and I would very much like to learn some of it later, if only for the fact that the population of the people who can speak it is getting older, and the younger people are not so eager to learn it, so it’s endangered now…
It seems to be a very interesting language, though it’s Germanic and not Celtic. To my uneducated eye it’s similar to German in lexis…
Mae’n ddrwg da fi, mae’n ysgrifen yn ofnadwy heno. Dwi wedi blino, dwi’n meddwl.
Oh, and I’m glad we share opinion about “Folklore: Welsh and Manx” book. Do you like Scandinavian folklore too, or just the British one? I must admit I have a soft spot for Scandinavian tales as well…
As for the missing soft mutation - please do not worry, I myself make so many mistakes that it’s appalling, but I’m sure that our practising will do us good:) It’s a bit frustrating not to be able to express all the complicated things that I would be able to say in Englsih, but it will eventually happen, I’m sure of it.
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Please, feel free to correct (as you’re clearly more experienced in Welsh) or even join our conversation, if you wish:)
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