Category: Language

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi

By Simon

Neithiwr canodd y Côr Meibion Cymraeg Brighton mewn cyngerdd yn Lindfield ger Haywards Heath i ddathlu Dydd Gŵyl Dewi. Roedd tua 150 o bobl yn y cynulleidfa, yn gynnwys cryn dipyn o Gymry, a gwerthfawrogon nhw ein canu a’r gerddoriaeth a ganodd un o’r telynoresau arferol yn fawr. Codon dros mil o bunnau ar gyfer hosbis leol hefyd.

Lá Naomh David

Aréir sheinn an Cór Breatnach Brighton i gceolchoirm i Lindfield in aice le Haywards Heath, Lá Naomh David a cheiliúradh. Bhí 150 de de lucht féachana ann, lena n-áirítear cuid mhaith Breatnaigh, agus bhain siad an-sult as ár amhránaíocht agus ceol na cláirseiche a sheinn aon de ár cláirseachaí féiltiúil. Bhailigh muid níos mó na míle punt ar mhaithe le hospice áitiúla.

St. David’s Day

The Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir gave a concert last night at Lindfield near Haywards Heath to celebrate St. David’s Day. The audience of 150 or so, which included quite a few Welsh people, seemed to really appreciate our singing, and also the harp playing of one of our regular harpists. We also raised over £1000 for a local hospice.

Name the language

By Simon

Here’s a text in a mystery language. Any ideas which language it is?

Fy vor or er i Chimeri.
Halaght vara nam dit.
La Konungdum din cumma.
La vill din vera guerde
i vrildin sin da er i chimeri.
Gav vus dagh u dagloght brau.
Forgive sindorwara sin vi forgiva gem ao sinda gainst wus.
Lia wus ikè o vera tempa, but delivra wus fro adlu idlu.
For do i ir Kongungdum, u puri, u glori, Amen

Accents of English

By Simon

A website I found today compares how people from many different regions and countries pronounce English words. It also gives the pronunciation of equivalent words in related languages, and in older forms of English and other Germanic languages. The pronunciations are all given in the IPA, and there are recordings of many of the modern words as well.

Shaetlan (Shetlandic)

By Simon

I found an interesting article about Shetlandic (Shaetlan) today entitled Shaetlan is Daed – Lang live Dialect or Shetlandic is dead – Long live Dialect.. It’s available both in Shetlandic and English. It raises some interesting points about the current status of Shetlandic, about relationship between languages and dialects, and the difference between linguistics definitions and popular perceptions of dialects.

Shetlandic is a Germanic language/dialect spoken in Shetland, a group of islands to the northeast of Scotland and to the south of the Faroe Islands. It’s a variety of Scots with Norn influence. Norn was a language derived from Old Norse spoken on Shetland, Orkney and in parts of northern Scotland until the 19th century.

Here are a few extracts:

… when I was young we spoke Shaetlan – we needed the word ‘dialect’ only if we were speaking English, when we would usually call it ‘The Shetland Dialect.’ When we were speaking Shaetlan, the distinction between dialect and language didn’t arise – it was an artefact of translation, a distinction which appeared only when you were looking at Shetlandic from an English-language viewpoint. The word ‘dialect’ implies that one language is a left-over scrap of another language. It’s a purely relative term, which becomes relevant only when you are looking at a language from an external viewpoint.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed that an increasing number of people use the word ‘dialect’ to describe the Shetland tongue even when they’re speaking (or writing) Shetlandic.

He goes on to argue that creating a standard spelling system for Shetlandic would be a positive move and would help it to survive. He dismisses claims that such as system would kill off the forms of Shetlandic spoken in different islands; instead people would continue to pronounce words in their own way while writing them in a standard way. Moreover writers would not be forced to give up their idiosyncratic and creative spellings as they claim.

Further information, articles and texts about and/or in Shetlandic are available here.

ECpod

By Simon

Ecpod is a language learning site I found the other day that’s designed to teach you conversational English and Mandarin Chinese. It contains videos made by members, some of which feature everyday activities such as cooking, shopping or playing; others focus on particularly aspects of English or Chinese. There are also funny videos, cartoons, and a variety of others. The videos are vetted by language tutors commissioned by the site, who sometimes also add transcriptions.

It’s free, but you have to join to site to submit your own videos.

This sounds like a good idea. Do you know of similar sites for other languages?

Word of the day – snasail

By Simon

Today’s word, snasail, is Scottish Gaelic for accurate, alright, brave, decent, elegant, lopped, neat or ornamented. When I stumbled upon it in my Gaelic dictionary, I thought at first that it said ‘snailsail’, which conjured up an image of sailing snail.

A related words include:
snasmhor – neat, smart or elegant
snas-bhriathrach – eloquent, oratorical, rhetorical (briathrach = eloquent, loquacious, talkative)
snas-chainnt – philology, rhetoric (cainnt = language, speech)
snasachadh – analysis, carving, elegance, make-up, ornamenting, polishing

The root of these words is snas, which means aspect, colour, decency, elegance, gloss, perfectness, polish.

Time

By Simon

Finding time to study languages isn’t always easy what with all the other things you have to do. You can probably find moments during the day when you could study a bit, each of which might be only short. This doesn’t matter as long as you manage to accumulate a sufficient number of moments.

Some people advise you to fill every spare moment with language-related activity. This is all very well if you’re the kind of diligent person who carries around textbooks, dictionaries, flashcards and other language learning paraphernalia which you can whip out whenever the opportunity arises. If, like me, you don’t always have such things to hand, you can practice your language(s) by thinking of the words for the things you see around you, trying to describe the appearance and actions of any people and or animals you encounter, or just talking to yourself.

While I do try to use my spare moments to practise my languages, quite often I spend them just daydreaming or letting my mind wander instead. Sometimes my daydreams are in other languages though.

Last week Geoff B over on Confessions of a Language Addict wrote a good post about planning your studies – he suggests that when planning language study, it’s better to find times that fit into your routine and make them part of your routine, rather than thinking something like ‘I’ll study for an hour every evening’, then failing to do so.

He goes on to comment:

“Too often when we formulate our language learning plans, we are making them not for ourselves but for our idealized version of a dedicated language learner. Then we beat ourselves up for not being motivated enough to stick to it. In laying out your language learning plans, think about how you live your life and how you do things. Try to lay out some routines you can actually see yourself sticking to.”

Gwyliau

By Simon

Yn ddiweddar, dw i wedi bod yn meddwl am le i fynd ar fy ngwyliau eleni. Dw i wedi penderfynnu gwneud cwrs Cymraeg yn Nant Gwrtheyrn ym Mis Mai. Yna ym Mis Gorffenaf, a i ar yr Ysgol Haf Iaith a Diwylliant yn Oideas Gael yn Glencolmcille yn Iwerddon. Ar ôl hynny, bydda i’n mynd i Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (Ysgubor Mawr Ostag), y coleg Gaeleg ar Ynys Skye, i wneud cwrs caneuon Gaeleg. Mae dwy wythnos o wyliau eraill ‘da fi, ond dw i ddim wedi penderfynnu lle i fynd eto.

Laethanta saoire

Le déanaí tá mé ag smaoineamh cá bhfuil mé ag dul ar mó laethanta saoire i mbliana. Chinn mé ar Breatnais a fhoghlaim i Nant Gwrtheyrn sa Bhreatain Bheag i mí na Bealtaine. Ansin i mí Iúil rachaidh mé go Oideas Gael i nGleann Cholm Cille an Scoil Shamhraidh i dTeanga & Cultúr a dhéanamh. I ndiaidh sin déanfaidh mé cúrsa amhránaíocht as Gaeilge na hAlban i gColáiste Sabhal Mòr Ostaig san Oileán Sciathanach. Tá dhá seachtaine saoire eile agam, ach na chinn mé cá bhfuil mé ag dul go fóill.

Holidays

Recently I’ve been thinking about where to go on holiday this year. I’ve decided to do a Welsh language course at Nant Gwrtheyrn in Wales in May. Then in July I’ll be off to Ireland for the Irish Language and Culture Summer School at Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille. After that, I’ll go to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, to do a course in Gaelic Song. I have two more weeks of holiday left but haven’t decided where to go yet.

The mither tongue

By Simon

Moves are afoot in the Scottish Parliament to introduce lessons in Scots in Scotland’s schools, according to an article I found the other day.

The Minister for Schools and Skills, Maureen Watt, thinks that the language of Scots should be used in classrooms. This proposal is part of a new curriculum being published this week which will aim to ensure that “schoolchildren are exposed to Scotland’s literature and the languages of Scotland”. Presumably that would include Scottish Gaelic as well as Scots.

Quite a few of the comments on the article are written in Scots and most are supportive of the idea. There are also those who question whether Scots is a language, an old debate that will probably never be settled conclusively either way.

Another article discusses the role of Scots in schools and gives practical tips for teaching it, and this page is a transcription of a talk, partly in Scots, about Scots in schools. A recording of the talk is also available.