You know you are learning Welsh when

So true!

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When on the menu on a blackboard you read (in your mind) ā€œone battered codā€ and someone has to tell you that itā€™s actually ā€œunbattered codā€ :laughing:

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ā€¦you start straining to decipher what the announcement over the shop loudspeaker was (because you swore you hear a ā€œllā€) when it dawns on you that it was English and the speaker had a slight lisp. Me. Yesterday. In Australia.
Yep; really.

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When you come across new words while reading aloud in a job interview and pronounce the ā€œllā€ words the way you would yn Gymraeg! Luckily the two interviewers are learning welsh and said they do it as well!

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Oh yes. People now know Saiorseā€¦but try Caomh or (MicheĆ”l Meehawl) and people are all :confused:

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Me too. I use it at work frequently. I also coined ā€˜perhapsolutelyā€™ myself for when you donā€™t want to commit yourself but may not necessarily want the other party to understand that right awayā€¦ :hushed::wink::laughing:

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When SSiW appears in your dreams.

To be fair, my dreams are often vivid, linked to stuff going on in my life, and a little mad.

I fall asleep on the sofa, and wake, having dreamt that I was in a supermarket. I am pootling around with my trolley, picking up stuff, and I glance at a a jar of coffee. As I do, Iestyn bellows across the tannoy "She moyns coffi ! " and then an echoey Cat voice says ā€œShe moyns coffi !ā€

And as a good 6 month course person, I say it as well.

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ā€¦it takes you three goes to read the name ā€˜Cynthiaā€™ in English.

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My grand daughter has recently started school (in England) and has just started reading English. It made me realise just how difficult even the simplest English words are, compared to Welsh. I tried to explain how to pronounce ā€œareā€, but to be fair there isnā€™t really any logic behind it.

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You are right. I had not noticed how illogical that one is.

Compare: ā€œClareā€, ā€œdareā€, or ā€œfarā€, ā€œcarā€, ā€œcareā€.

ā€œareā€ might as well be pronounced ā€œ'Arryā€ (as in Cockney ā€œHarryā€).

(Then there is ā€œAriadneā€, but I suppose that doesnā€™t count as itā€™s ā€œforeignā€. :slight_smile: ).

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Thatā€™s what makes English so hard for people to learn as a second language. No logic at all. You just have to learn what each word sounds like instead of sounding them out. And thatā€™s why I like Welsh so much! Sure there are places where the ā€˜rulesā€™ donā€™t quite apply, but for the most part, you can figure out how a word should sound by looking at it!

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ā€¦and thus the value of lessons on the alphabet for beginners.
a e i o u w y
All have two sounds, watch for dipthongs (two together) and the circumflex which indicates long sound. Ta-da! Most everything coveredā€¦

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I might have posted this link before becauseā€¦well it seems so funny and trueā€¦but in case someone hasnā€™t seen it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Yeah, thereā€™s a bit of difference in pronunciation of the same diphthong as you travel to the next motorway junction, and even at the same junction between Welsh speakers and English speakers. Perhaps just a South Wales thing, but its all good fun, really.

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As I had not. I am going to grab that and share it.
If anyone wasnā€™t familiar with Shakspeare :no_mouth: that would have been toof

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Naw oi beeg taw differā€¦bā€™aint lahk that allus!

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@Sionned
I left out digraphs:
Ch dd ff ng ll ph rh th
Rh and ng seem to be my banesā€¦

You know youā€™re learning Welsh when ā€¦ you read this as pronounced ā€œbannessā€ and wonder ā€œwhat the heck is a banness?!ā€ for far too long.

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< cockney >
Strike a light guv, a baā€™nness is a female occupant of one of the orders of the Pearly Queen aristocracy, innit?
< /cockney >

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ā€¦you start mentally translating what you want to say to your husband into Welsh, even though he doesnā€™t speak a word

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