The Languages Thread

[Carbomb]

26 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

I love the fact that to this day when speaking Welsh, Iwan Roberts still sounds like he never spent a day living outside of Harlech.

Figured I'd ask this here, but what are the most distinctive dialects and accents in Welsh? And what would be considered "standard" Welsh (like RP in English, or Tours French)?

[garynysmon]

8 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Figured I'd ask this here, but what are the most distinctive dialects and accents in Welsh? And what would be considered "standard" Welsh (like RP in English, or Tours French)?

There are four main dialects really. You have that of Gwynedd and Anglesey (who tend to use 'a' rather than 'e' in many words), that of the north east and the coastal region (which can sound a bit more scouse over recent generations), west Wales (which is probably the most pleasurable to the ear) and Wenhwyseg around Gwent and much of the south.

The Welsh spoken in Gwynedd and Anglesey has grown over recent decades to be seen as the closest thing to 'standard,' but to the detriment of other areas really. I think its because of people like Anglesey-born John Morris-Jones, who did a lot to standardise Welsh orthography.

But as a result you'll often hear people in Carmarthenshire, for instance, say their Welsh "isn't good enough" but its just another dialect like Geordie or Scouse and is no lesser than mine. Its total bollocks really. 

 

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, garynysmon said:

There are four main dialects really. You have that of Gwynedd and Anglesey (who tend to use 'a' rather than 'e' in many words), that of the north east and the coastal region (which can sound a bit more scouse over recent generations), west Wales (which is probably the most pleasurable to the ear) and Wenhwyseg around Gwent and much of the south.

The Welsh spoken in Gwynedd and Anglesey has grown over recent decades to be seen as the closest thing to 'standard,' but to the detriment of other areas really. I think its because of people like Anglesey-born John Morris-Jones, who did a lot to standardise Welsh orthography.

But as a result you'll often hear people in Carmarthenshire, for instance, say their Welsh "isn't good enough" but its just another dialect like Geordie or Scouse and is no lesser than mine. Its total bollocks really. 

 

Thanks, man - always love reading stuff like this. OK - if I get back to learning Welsh, will make sure to learn western Welsh.

Is there a tendency towards the Anglesey and Gwynedd dialects in media, like S4C, in the way RP was considered "BBC English"? Or do you get a broad smattering?

(When I started learning Arabic, it was mainly because there were so many Arabs from different countries working there. The first thing I learned is never to tell an Arab that you're learning Arabic, because they will always tell you to learn their dialect - Egyptian is apparently the most universally understood, because of the popularity of Egyptian TV and film, Gulf Arabic is considered classical, Jordanian is considered the most "pure", etc. Eventually, I got chatting to two ladies at work, one Iraqi and one Algerian, and they both said Lebanese was the sexiest, so I started learning that.)

[garynysmon]

7 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Thanks, man - always love reading stuff like this. OK - if I get back to learning Welsh, will make sure to learn western Welsh.

Is there a tendency towards the Anglesey and Gwynedd dialects in media, like S4C, in the way RP was considered "BBC English"? Or do you get a broad smattering?

Erm, probably yes but more because the language is more widely spoken there, rather than a conscious effort to use the accent, if that makes sense?

[Carbomb]

3 hours ago, garynysmon said:

Erm, probably yes but more because the language is more widely spoken there, rather than a conscious effort to use the accent, if that makes sense?

Cool! Thanks for that.

[SuperBacon]

No idea where else to put this, but I've just had THE most Bristolian guy drop off a printer at work, bidding us all farewell with "Tatty Byes".

Lovely.

[hallicks]

On 1/2/2019 at 8:51 AM, HarmonicGenerator said:

Does anyone know if there are useful ways to start learning BSL online, or do you need to attend a course?

Did you find anything? I can only find in person classes or online tutoring at £20/hr.

[HarmonicGenerator]

56 minutes ago, hallicks said:

Did you find anything? I can only find in person classes or online tutoring at £20/hr.

I did not, sorry!

[Jazzy G]

There's this one that's currently offering a course charged at "pay what you can during these difficult times" https://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn-online-british-sign-language-course/

For some reason, probably because I was listening to the Red Dwarf audio books on Audible, I've started doing the Esperanto course on Duolingo. It's surprisingly easy. There's a structure to it, no masculine/feminine forms. If you've done one of the Romantic languages before it's an easy one to pick up. 

EDIT: There are obviously words for he, she, him, her, his, hers etc, but there's only one "the". 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by jazzygeofferz

[Carbomb]

As to BSL, there are a fair few free apps online. I can't speak as to how effective they are, though.

@jazzygeofferz - only thing I can say is the infamous RD sentence: "Bonvolu alsendi la pordiston, lausajne estas rano en mia bideo". @Ronnie speaks Esperanto.

[gmoney]

8 hours ago, Carbomb said:

As to BSL, there are a fair few free apps online. I can't speak as to how effective they are, though.

Sign surely?

[Carbomb]

Just now, gmoney said:

Sign surely?

[Sphinx]

I think that's a gag that works better spoken...

[Carbomb]

4 hours ago, Sphinx said:

I think that's a gag that works better spoken...

Unlike most of my gags, which work better not being made at all

[Chili]

Got on a course to learn French at a university in Clemont Ferrand in September. Do I know any French? Not really. Am I worried about not getting it and falling behind and failing. Yes, absolutely.

Any advice from anyone who has learned French or the best ways to properly start. I've downloaded Busuu and doing lessons daily through that before I start in September. Trying to think about the best way to make notes. I think I'm just over worrying as per.

Edited July 8, 2025 by Chili