You know you are learning Welsh when


(From smartphone , sorry about the night time picture quality)

Anyway - You know you are learning Welsh when …
you think “Can I help you with that, mate?”

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When you go to sleep forgetting the Welsh for … and waking up with the right answer without even thinking about it.

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Just over a year ago I mentioned that I was amused to find a cafe (open) called “CAU”. I went back to the town last week and … “CAU” wedi cau. It is being redeveloped as a trendy wine bar. Sad for the proprietors, but how could it stay open with a name like that?
Sue

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This happens more often you think, if reading this thread and others like it.

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You know you are learning Welsh when…

…you have reached week 7, and you are now singing ""Gad hi fynd ! gad hi fynd ! “” ( no, I can’t do the rest of the lyrics in Welsh - eto ! )

To be fair, having that song in my head is an improvement on Baby Shark …

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You know you are learning Welsh when you are highly amused by pictures like this! :heart_eyes:FB_IMG_1551896869596

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Or this…

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This one I don’t get, but mostly because I’m not sure of the translation. Google translate say “museum.” Or if I do have the proper translation, I lack the cultural relevance. Gee, I sound a bit like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. That’s sad. HA!

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Oh, I see what you mean.
Well, you are right, it is a ‘museum’ but mam-gu at the front is, as I’m sure you know, the south Wales word for Grandmother.
The humour may possibly be lost in America but in the UK some people (not all) do refer to old people as being museum pieces. Where I come from in west London, we used to say Nan is ready for the scrap yard too! (Or the knackers yard)
Unacceptable these days of course but It still makes me smile. Perhaps it’s because I am a grandmother many times over.

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Diolch, AnnMoore. Now I get it. I can be dense sometimes. HA!

You know you’re learning Welsh when you’re watching the standup comedy special You Magnificent Beast with Greg Davies and ,at the end of the show, he speaks Welsh to honor his dead Father, and you get the joke before the audience does. Disclaimer - material NOT family appropriate but outrageously funny! Available on Netflix in the United States.

Sorry for the longish lead-up to the actual Welsh bit, but it’s necessary. I live in the United States so not familiar with British stand-up comedians. My Wife and I have been on a kick of watching quality programming from Wales and England. It’s surprisingly easier to find quality programming from there than sort through the voluminous garbage produced here. We needed a good laugh as it’s been a rough week. We had never seen/heard of Greg Davies before. From his last name, I knew he had Welsh ancestry. My Wife saw the cover of him standing naked from the waist up in a field of wheat and thought that was a good omen. And from her perspective, it was the funniest stand-up performance she has ever seen. I’ve not seen her laugh so loud and long before and I laughed a lot, too. But really enjoyed the Welsh bit at the very end. Greg Davies states his Dad was fluent and also loved to pull pranks/jokes on people to amuse himself. On one of their last road-trips to Wales together, Greg’s father had one request that Greg learn a bit of Welsh from a Traditional Welsh Folk song before he dies. To quote from the show,

And I tried to learn it. In three hours, I learned two lines, because Welsh as a language is insane. But I learned those two lines, and he was thrilled that I’d done it. I could see it in his eyes, and I’ve never forgotten them.

He begins to sing those two lines, and I started laughing immediately…not because I know Welsh Folk songs…but because I know enough Welsh to understand what he was saying before the audience did. Here is the first of two lines “The monkey is in the tree, playing with potatoes…” The second line is not SSiW compliant…mae’n ddrwg gen i.

Aside from the humor, Greg Davies really did honor his Father and his sense of humor, which seemed very Welsh to me. Quoted from the show.

So I have finished that song since my dad’s died, using as many of the beautiful animals in God’s glorious Kingdom as I could. I’ve tried to match the tone. I’ve had it converted into Welsh for you. And I think, arguably, I’ve gone further than anyone would ever go, in that I’ve hired a male voice choir to sing it for me. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Phoenix Choir of Wales. A tribute to my father. And if your father’s gone, let it be a tribute to him, too. Please, enjoy.

It was uproariously funny and very touching. That’s my, "you know you’re learning Welsh, when…’ moment.

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…you see this (Italian) shop name and think it’s in Welsh. :laughing:

negozio%20codi

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Thats really cool.

We have a few local companies that have a Welsh word as a name, but I suspect for some, that’s as far as it goes. They sometimes get diluted back to an English pronunciation. Wales gets them back by doing the opposite to non-Welsh names, like Primark (Preemarrc) and Wotton Roadstone (Wooton) @PhilgJones :wink:

Incidentally, Welsh government type (English language) acronyms like SWTRA always sound better as a Welsh word :slight_smile:

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adeedas

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One of the Clients my company represents is Brazilian and the contact there is named Allan…apparently Brazilians like to add another ‘L’ to Alan. In Northern Welsh, ‘allan’ means ‘out,’ as in ‘Dw i eisau allan’ I want to go out. Whenever I see his name or hear someone say his name, I’m thinking ‘Out’ instead of ‘Alan.’ :rofl:

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When your stepdaughter writes a Spanish “Word of the Day” on the kitchen board and you keep pronouncing the LL as if it were Welsh.

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Not sure if it’s true but years ago I was told that the South American Spanish pronunciation of LL was quite close to the Welsh. Possibly a Patagonian influence? Or maybe just coincidence

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You know you are learning Welsh when the landlord says “Oes…?” and you wait for the rest of the question. Then you realise that he is asking, in the local accent, if the customer wants ice in his drink.
Sue

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I have suggested to an Argentinian friend that he may have some Welsh ancestry, because his name is “Guillermo” and he pronounces the “ll” as in Welsh . . . I must admit, most of the people he works with have trouble pronouncing it, but I don’t!

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… when you read in your slimmers guide: Pastes 1 syn and take it as meaning Pasties.

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