weekly-cymry

[weekly-cymry]

I'm publishing my first poetry chapbook, Poems for Justice!

I've been writing poetry in the English langauge since I was in high school. As of late, I have begun writing my first Welsh langauge poetry as well. This bilingual chapbook is the result!

Available in my online shop for £2.50 (link in bio)

There are four poems in this small chapbook, which is published on white paper (eight pages, two Welsh poems and two English poems)

Every sale helps me to live and create - thank you to anyone who buys my art, poems and academic work!

Dw i'n cyhoeddi fy nghydymaith barddoniaeth gyntaf, Cerddi Cyfiawnder!

Dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu barddoniaeth yn yr iaith Saesneg ers ysgol uwchradd. Yn ddiweddar, dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu fy marddoniaeth gyntaf yn yr iaith Gymraeg hefyd. Y cydymaith dwyieithog hwn yw'r canlyniad!

Ar gael yn fy siop ar-lein am £2.50 (dolen yn fy mhio)

Mae pedair cerdd yn y cydymaith bach hwn, a gyhoeddir ar bapur gwyn (wyth tudalen, dwy gerdd Cymraeg a dwy gerdd Saesneg)

Mae pob gwerthiant yn fy helpu i fyw a chreu - diolch i unrhyw un sy'n prynu fy nghelf, cerddi a gwaith academaidd!

[weekly-cymry]

Bore da! Are you still studying Welsh? I’ve just started learning, and wanted to know if you had any tips.

Bore da, helo, oh my gosh, I’d meant to answer this and then I totally forgot, and then Tumblr changed how it shows notifications for asks and then it’s been 20 billion years since I actually clicked the ‘Inbox’ icon (which I only did now).

Yeah, I am still learning Welsh! It’s been a bit slower temporarily, (for another couple of weeks I’ve been focusing on French because I’m going to Montreal to see a band… then it’s pretty much back to Welsh full time!)

I don’t know how far you’ve already got with your Welsh since then, but I do have a few tips! I’d recommend using something like Say Something In Welsh, who have this technique of learning that focuses on speaking and listening, and forming sentences on your own, and it really helps the sentence structures sit in your head and makes speaking feel a lot more natural (since Welsh has the verb-subject-object sentence structure).

Really mostly that, and things like, don’t be afraid to keep practising words out loud, forming sentences on your own, etc. Keep a good dictionary handy, if you’re thinking of a simple sentence in Welsh and there’s a word or two missing, look them up and often, you’ll find that it shows up again and again, and in your head that will give you more chances to keep remembering and using the word, if that makes sense! Listen to things like podcasts, radio, TV etc., if you can find stuff with Welsh subtitles, that’s often quite helpful! There are certain programmes out there written with learners in mind, and some kids’ programming on things like Cyw that are really good things to use for practise! Personally, I even picked up a lot of vocabulary from hanging around Welsh Twitter during the football World Cup, because it was a really big deal, and it got bundled into the general fabric of Welsh pop culture (tbh has been since around 2016)!

Some resources you might find useful, if you’re looking for resources:

Dictionaries - there are two main ones online, GPC, from the University of Wales, and Geiriaduron from Uni of Bangor - I use their app version, Ap Geiriaduron.

Some other actual dictionaries that are really good (totally not ill-gotten gains) - The Collins English-Welsh dictionary, especially Gareth King's Modern Welsh dictionary, which is really good.

Say Something In Welsh - really good for getting used to speaking. All of this of course is in colloquial Welsh, though they have the course tailored to pick up the North Walian or South Walian dialects. You can access the old version of the course for free, it has 25 lessons which are pretty good for getting you off the ground! The main difference between the new and the old course is the order in which some of the stuff is taught, and the old courses uses auxiliary verbs for some commonly used verbs, and things like forming past tenses (gwnaeth [subject] [verb] …) like the English “did [verb]” instead of its own form [verbed]. So e.g. a difference you might see between the two might be saying “I can’t do [something]” as “dw i ddim yn gallu [gwneud rhywbeth]” vs the new course preferring “alla i ddim [gwneud rhywbeth]” and similar for past tenses.

BBC Wales has some really good resources too.

The BBC kids' network, Cyw (literally meaning 'chick', how cute!) has a 5 minute story podcast for kids called Stori Tic Toc, with each episode read by a different narrator, often who speaks with a different dialect. These might be kinda hard initially, so don't be disheartened!

Pigion is also good - it is a weekly podcast release by the BBC that takes clippings from the week's news in Welsh that may be simple enough for a learner to follow along. Again, might initially be hard. The notes in the podcast description are quite useful!

S4C - I can't recall now, but I think S4C Clic has some programmes available to view outside the UK? In the UK -> iPlayer. S4C's DysguCymraeg channel on YouTube is also quite good! On that note, here's a silly little programme that Elis James (Welsh broadcaster, comedian, and at this point, Welsh national treasure just about) and Isy Suttie (comedian and musician, incidentally a Welsh learner IRL too by virtue of being Elis's partner) developed some years ago for Dysgu Cymraeg: Y Wers Gymraeg.

Now I'm just throwing stuff out here, but I recall there someone posted clips from Pobol Y Cwm on YouTube with subtitles (found it. Hope you enjoy these two's trysts over uh... 500 clips).

Also audiobooks

For other listening, I guess, Welsh music has really helped me? Ask me for recommendations if you like!

Cannot recommend the Catchphrase Cymraeg website enough! They have a lot of proper learning resources, grammar with proper explanation and everything. The page is archived now, but everything is still available. If you're starting out, the Original Catchphrase series might be the most comfortable, but there are others as you advance!

(Still from Catchphrase) The only grammar pdf you'll need.

From the Learn Welsh website - they have the textbooks used in most Dysgu Cymraeg courses on the site. The entry level course, Mynediad, has its textbook's northern and southern versions available online. They also have an audio file Dropbox available reading out some of the vocabulary, and the Welsh Duolingo course is also based on this syllabus.

BBC Bitesize Welsh - now, this is a 2nd language course review, but it's also for GCSE students so it's nice to have but you might not find too much use for it initially at least 😅

Wiktionary for Welsh is super helpful. Just look up a word there, it has pronunciation, often usage and examples, and conjugations if you need them, especially for past and future forms in colloquial Welsh. Here's one for example.

Some more reading, from the somewhat dubiously named Clwb Malu Cachu

I've also got a masterpost of resources I once copied off the Welsh duolingo forum, it's sitting somewhere on my sideblog... found it.

Sorry I missed this post for an eternity, but I hope this helps!

[weekly-cymry]

Dyma Wythnos/ This Week:

Yn Gymraeg: Betty Campbell! Y brifathrawes yng Nghymru! Helpodd hi i wneud Mis Hanes Pobl Dduon yn Y DU, ac addysgodd hi blant am hanes du.

In English: Betty Campbell! The first black headteacher in wales! She helped create Black History Month in the UK, and taught children about black history.

[weekly-cymry]

Dyma Wythnos/ This Week:

Yn Gymraeg: Edward James Kenway dod o Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag! Môr-leidr Cymreig yn y Caribî

In English: Edward James Kenway from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag! A Welsh pirate in the Caribbean

[weekly-cymry]

I have made some Welsh LGBTQ+ Prints!

P'nawn da! Today is the day I'm finally launching my Welsh LGBTQ+ prints for sale (find them here). Like with my dissertation, they're pay as you feel (min. £2 plus postage) and I can post them to the UK, US, EU and Canada! Designs include the 2017 Gilbert Baker flag with the stripe meanings in Welsh and English, the map of Wales featuring my pride redesigns of the historic county flags of Wales, lesbian redesign of the Cardiff flag and a brand new design featuring 12 pride flags with the names of each in Welsh and English. I have 5 of each print in stock!

If you're new here or didn't know, unfortunately I experienced several major life changes this year which have really affected my finances (hospitalisation, long term relationship ended, emergency house move, job loss due to employer discrimination and a family member diagnosed with a terminal illness. For more details see this post). In order to help support myself I'm offering these prints for sale while I search for a new part time job. At the time of writing, I only have enough money in savings to cover 2 more months of rent and bills (not including food), so anything you can spare will help me afford food and keep doing what I love. I also have a patreon if you want to support me there.

I have also got my 47-page undergraduate dissertation on the development of Welsh-language terminology between 1972 and 2022 available here as pay as you feel (even £1!). Any support is hugely, hugely appreciated.

[weekly-cymry]

you may have noticed that the official welsh word of the week isn't a weekly thing. why? because I'm stupid <3

[weekly-cymry]

Dyma Wythnos/ This week:

Yn Gymraeg: Rhiannon dod o'r Mabinogi! Mae hi'n fy mherson hoff dod o'r straeon :)

In English: Rhiannon from the Mabinogi! She's my favourite character from the stories :)

[weekly-cymry]

Croeso! Welcome!

Feel free to submit any character, person, or even abstract concept that is Welsh!

Vocab:

Cymru - Wales

Cymraeg - Welsh (The language)

Cymreig - Welsh (Anything that comes from Wales)

Cymro - Welshman

Cymraes - Welshwoman

Cymry - Welsh people

I'll try to make as many posts as bilingual as possible but unfortunately I am still learning the language >.< Please forgive any mistakes I may make along the way!