Category: Travel

Oideas Gael

By Simon

Amárach tá mé ag dul chuig an scoil shamhraidh in Oideas Gael i nGleann Cholm Cile. Seo an tríú uair atá mé ansin ar an scoil shamraidh, agus an cúigiú uair atá i nGleann Cholm Cille. Beidh mé ansin ar feadh seachtaine, agus tá mé súil go mór leis.

Yfory dw i’n mynd i’r ysgol haf mewn Gwyddeleg a diwylliant yn Oideas Gael yn Glencolmcille. Dyma y trydedd tro imi bod yna am yr ysgol haf, ac y pumed tro imi bod yn Glencolmcille. Bydda i’n yna am wythnos, ac dw i’n edrych ymlaen yn fawr ato.

Tomorrow I’m off to Ireland for the summer school in language and culture at Oideas Gael in Donegal. This is the third time I’ve been to the summer school, and my fifth visit to Glencolmcille. I’ll be there for a week and am really looking forward to it.

Anturiau yn Ynys Manaw

By Simon

Mi gyrrhaeddais yn ôl ym Mangor prynhawn ddoe, ac yna gyda’r nos es i i barti yn nhŷ fy nhiwtor. Mi fwynheais fy hunan yn fawr yn Ynys Manaw, mi gwrddais efo llawer o bobl sy’n siarad Manaweg, mi siaradais llawer o Fanaweg, ac mi weles cryn dipyn o’r ynys. Mi gasglais llawer o wybodaeth ar gyfer fy nhraethawd hir. Gobeithio bydda i’n ôl yna cyn bo hir.

Fiontair san Oileán Mhanann

Tháinig mé ar ais go Bangor tráthnóna inné, agus i ndiaidh sin chuaigh mé chun coisir san teach mo theagascóir. Bhain mé an-sult as mo chuairt san oileán, bhuail mé le go leor daoine atá Manainnis acu, labhair mé a lán Manainnis, agus chonaic mé mórán áiteanna ar an oileán. Bhailigh mé a lán eolas ar mo thráchtas chomh maith. Tá súil agam go mbeidh mé ar ais ansin roimh i bhfad.

Contoyrtysyn ayns Mannin

Haink mee er-ash dys Bangor fastyr jea, as ny yei shen hie’m dys possan ‘syn thie my ynseyder. Va taitnys vooar aym ayns Mannin, haink mee ny whail lesh ram Gaelgeyryn, loayr mee ram Gaelg, as honnick mee chooid vooar jeh’n ellan. Ren mee co-phadjer ram fys son yn traghtys aym. Ta treisht orrym dy vee’m er-ash ayns shen roish feer foddey.

Adventures in the Isle of Man

I arrived back in Bangor yesterday afternoon, and went to a party at my tutor’s place in the evening. I really enjoyed my visit to the the Isle of Man, I met a lot of Manx speakers, spoke a lot of Manx, and saw quite a bit of the island. I also collected plenty of information for my dissertation. I hope to be back there before long.

Manx language

By Simon

I’m on the Isle of Man at the moment doing some research for my dissertation on the revival of the Manx (Gaelic) language. I’m staying in Douglas (Doolish), the island’s capital, and plan to explore other parts of the island – it’s partly a holiday for me as well as a way to collect data.

One of the things I’m investigating is the use of Manx in public. On the ferry from Liverpool they used the Manx for good morning, moghrey mie, a few times in announcements, though that was the only Manx I heard yesterday. I also found some leaflets with collections of useful Manx phrases at the ferry terminal, including some with translations in French, German and Spanish.

When exploring Douglas today I noticed quite a few English/Manx bilingual street signs, and that most government departments, and some shops and other businesses have English and Manx names. So the public visibility of the language is quite high, but you only hear it spoken at certain times and in certain places, which is similar to the situation with Irish in Dublin. For example, today I sat in on a Manx conversation class that takes place every Tuesday lunchtime in a local pub. It was the first time I’d heard live Manx conversation, and somewhat to my surprise, I could understand almost everything they said, which is encouraging. My knowledge of Irish and Scottish Gaelic certainly helps.

Tomorrow I’ll be visiting the Manx medium primary school and talking to some of the teachers. I discovered today that most of the kids there only speak Manx in the school – outside school and at home the speak mainly or entirely in English, except in a few Manx-speaking families. I’ll find out more about this tomorrow.

Ynys Manaw

By Simon

Mi gyrhaeddais yn Ynys Manaw y prynhawn ‘ma, a dw i’n aros yn Douglas, prif dref yr ynys. Roedd hi’n braf heddiw, ac roedd y môr yn dawel. Does dim llawer o Fanaweg i glywed neu i weld yma, heblaw ar rhyw arwyddion ac ar amserlen y bysiau. Bydda i’n cwrdd â pobl sy’n siarad Manaweg yfory.

Oileán Mhanann

Tháinig mé go dtí an Oileán Mhanann an tráthnóna seo, agus tá mé fanacht i nDubh Lios, príomhbhaile an oileáin. Bhí lá breá ann inniu agus bhí an fharraige ciúin. Níl go leor Manainnis a chluinstin nó a fheiceáil an seo, ach amháin ar roinnt comharthaí agus ar amchlár na busanna. Casfaidh mé le daoine atá Manainnis acu amárach.

Ellan Vannin

Raink mee ayns Mannin fastyr jiu, as ta mee tannaghtyn ayns Doolish. Va laa braew ayn jiu as va’n keayn lane rea. Cha nel mooarane Gaelg ry akin ny ry clashtyn ayns shoh, agh er chooid veg nyn cowrey as er earroo claare-traa nyn barrooseyn. Bee’m meeiteil ry Gaelgeyryn mairagh.

Isle of Man

I arrived in the Isle of Man this afternoon, and I’m staying in Douglas, the island’s capital. It was fine today, and the sea was flat calm so the voyage over from Liverpool went smoothly. I haven’t heard or seen much Manx here, except on some signs and on the bus timetable. I’m be meeting some Manx speakers tomorrow.

Newyddion

By Simon

Dw i wedi bod yn brysur yn ddiweddar -es i i’r Bala efo ffrindiau prifysgol ddoe, a neithiwr roedd parti yn nhŷ un o fy ffrindiau o gôr cymunedol. Nos Wener ymunais â’r Côr Dysgwyr Cymraeg, ac roedden nhw’n dathlu eu llwyddiant yn Eisteddfod Môn. Nos Iau roedd ginio efo ffrindiau o fy nghwrs, ac y penwythnos diwethaf es i i Abermaw efo ffrindiau prifysgol. Dw i wedi sgwennu chwe mil o eiriau ar gyfer fy nhraethawd hir hefyd. Yfory a i i Ynys Manaw am bythefnos, a dw i’n edrych ymlaen yn fawr ato.

Language barrier

By Simon

According to an article in The Guardian, a man who planned to walk 9,000 miles to Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace in India without money found the language barrier insurmountable when he arrived in France.

His aim was to show that a world without money is possible, and he thought he could obtain food and shelter in return for helping people, a philosophy he promotes via his website, the freeconomy community. The walk went well until he arrived in France, when he realised that the little French he could remember wasn’t sufficient to explain his mission and his dietary requirements – he’s a vegan – and people thought he was a refugee or a beggar.

He now plans to travel around the UK offering his help to people and brushing up his language skills with members of the Freeconomy network, and would like to try the walk to India again eventually.

Have you ever had trouble explaining your mission and/or dietary requirements in a foreign language?

I don’t drink alcohol and sometimes find it hard to explain this in other languages, especially when asked why. I discovered recently that you can apparently avoid drinking in Japan if you cover your glass and say kyōkai (church) – no one will mind as long as you keep their glasses topped up. Does anyone know if this works?

Happy New Year!

Anglesey

By Simon

An seachtain seo caite, tháinig mo thuismitheoirí go Bangor ar feadh cúpla lá. Thaiscéal muid páirteanna Bangor agus Porth Penrhyn, an port beag in aice le Bangor, agus tiomáin muid timpeall Anglesey (Ynys Môn i mBreatnais). Chuaigh muid go dtí an stáisiún traenach leis an ainm is faide san Bhreatain mhór – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Eaglais Naomh Muire i log an choill bháin in aice leis an bpoll súraic tapaidh agus Naomh Tysilio na huaimhe deirge), nó Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. Níl a lán rudaí ann a fheiceáil san sráidbhaile beag sin ach an stáisiún traenach agus an ionad cuairteoirí mór in aice leis.

Station at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Bhreathnaigh muid thart taispeántas iontach ealaín gloine sa stáisiún, agus d’ith muid ár lón sa chaife san ionad cuairteoirí. Ansin chuaigh muid timpeall an oileán agus thug muid cuairt ar iarsmalann an shuimiúil sa Port Amlwch. Stad muid i Feaumaris, ach bhí sé ag cur fearthainn go trom, agus dá bhrí sin ní stad muid i bhfad ansin. Is amhlaidh bhí báisteach ann beagnach an t-am ar fad nuair a bhí mo thuismitheoirí anseo, agus tháinig an grian amach i ndiaidh siad a fhágadh.

Last week my parents came to Bangor for a couple of days. We explored parts of Bangor and Porth Penrhyn, the small port near Bangor, and drove round Anglesey. We went to the railway station with the longest name in Great Britain – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (St Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave), or Llanfairpwllgwyngyll for short. There’s not much to see in the village about from the railway station and the huge visitors’ centre nextdoor.

We had a look round an exhibition of art made from glass in the station, ate some lunch in the visitors’ centre, then went round the island. We visited the very interesting museum in Amlwch’s port and stopped in Beaumaris, by which time it was raining very heavily and we didn’t stay long. In fact it was raining almost all the time my parents were here, and the sun came out after they left – typical!

Aros am dywydd braf

By Simon

Yr wythnos diwethaf, sylweddolais taswn i’n aros am dywydd braf cyn mynd allan i fforio’r ardal ‘ma, baswn i’n aros am amser hir. Felly er fod hi ddim yn braf bore Iau, es i i Feaumaris, tref fach ar de arfordir Ynys Môn. Mae’n bosib i weld Beaumaris o Fangor a ro’n i’n meddwl byddai hi’n dda mynd draw fan ‘na rhyw ddydd.

Mae’r lle yn dlws, mae’r golygfeydd oddi o fo yn godidog, ac yn ffodus, roedd y tywydd yn braf pan gyrhaeddais yno. Roedd torf mawr o bobl ar y pier yn pysgota am grancod – gweithgaredd poblogaidd iawn yn ar ardal ‘ma, dw i’n meddwl.

Y dydd canlynol, es i draw i Borthmadog. Ro’n i’n bwriadu mynd i Flaenau Ffestiniog ar y trên o fan ‘na, ond roedd y trên nesaf yn gadael ar ôl dwy awr, felly es i â bws i Fetws y Coed trwy rhan o Barc Cenedlaethol Eryri, ac yna yn ôl a fi i Fangor trwy Gonwy. Hyd yn oed yn y glaw, mae’r golygfeydd yn Eryri yn ffantastig, a doedd dim prinder o law pan ro’n i’n yno.
Waiting for fine weather

Last week I realised that if I waited around for fine weather before going out to explore this area, I’d have to wait a long time. So although it wasn’t fine on Thursday morning, I went to Beaumaris, a small town on the south coast of Anglesey. You can see Beaumaris from Bangor and I’d been thinking that it would be good to go over there one day.

The place is very attractive, the views from it are wonderful, and fortunately it was fine when I arrived. There was a big crowd of people on the pier fishing for crabs – a popular activity in this area, I think.

On the following day I went over to Porthmadog. I was planning to take the train from there to Blaenau Ffestiniog, but the next train didn’t leave for two hours, so I took the bus to Betws y Coed through part of Snowdonia, and then returned to Bangor via Conwy. EVen in the rain, the scenery in Snowdonia is fantasic, and there was no shortage of rain when I was there.

Eachtra

By Simon

Tháinig mé ar ais go Bangor Dé Máirt an seachtaine seo caite i ndiaidh saoire ar fheabhas ar fad in Éirinn, Albain agus Sasana.

In Éirinn bhí sé an deas daoine a bhuail mé leis ag an scoil samhraidh anuraidh a fheiceáil arís, agus ag bualadh le a lán daoine eile. Bhí mé sa rang a sé i mbliana, agus bhí i bhfad níos mó deiseanna ann mo chuid Gaeilge a cleachtadh na a bhí sa rang a seacht anuraidh. Bhain mé triail as Gaeilge a labhairt an t-am ar fad taobh amuigh den rang freisin. Sa tráthnóna rinne mé an amhránaíocht sean-nóis le Gearóidín Bhreathnach agus bhain mé an-sult as.

Bhí ceolchoirmeacha ann san oíche le ceoltóirí, amhránaí agus scéalaí den scoth, agus seisiúin sa tithe tábhairne i ndiaidh sin. Sheinn mise an fheadóg íseal beagnach gach oíche sa seisiúin chomh maith -ní raibh gach port agam, ach bhí roinnt acu agam. Caithfidh mé níos mó a fhoghlaim de ghlanmheabhair -is féidir liom a lán port a sheinm ón ceol scríofa, ach ní féidir liom a oiread a sheinm gan ceol. Bhí roinnt againn ag seinn i ngach áit – sa tithe tábhairne, sa bhialann, sa lóistín agus nuair a bhí muid amuigh ag siúil.
Adventures

I got back to Bangor on Tuesday of last week after a fantastic holiday in Ireland, Scotland and England.

In Ireland it was lovely to see so many of the people I met at the summer school last year again, and to me many others. I was in the level 6 language class this year, and there many more opportunities to practice my Irish than there were in level 7 last year. I also tried to speak as much Irish as possible outside class. In the afternoons I was in the sean-nos singing class with Gearóidín Bhreathnach and really enjoyed it. Some of us in the class couldn’t help breaking into song wherever we happened to be – in pubs, restaurants, lodgings and while out walking.

There were concerts in the evenings with top musicians, singers and storytellers, and sessions in the pubs afterwards. I even played my low whistle in quite a few of the sessions – I didn’t know all the tunes, but could play along with some of them at least. I need to learn more tunes by heart – at the moment I can play plenty of them with written music, but not nearly so many without the music. I say this to myself everytime I go to Ireland, and am gradually building up my repertoire of tunes.

I’ve decided to write in one main language each time on this blog, rather than trying to write in Welsh, Irish and sometimes Chinese every time. This is mainly because it takes me quite a long time to write everything in two or three languages. And because I think it’s better to write directly in each language, rather than translating from Welsh into the others, as I usually do. So today it’s Irish (and English), yesterday was Welsh, and tomorrow I might have a go at Scottish Gaelic. When I get round to it, I’ll write English versions of the posts – sort of loose translations with extra bits.

Fforio

By Simon

Yn ddiweddar dw i wedi bod yn fforio Bangor ac yr ardal hon. Dw i’n arfer dilyn pob llwybr ydw i’n darganfod i weld i le maen nhw’n mynd. Echddoe, er enghraifft, mi ddarganfodais lwybr sy’n mynd i lawr i’r lan o Ffordd Siliwen, y ffordd sy rhedeg ar hyd y môr o’r pier, ac mi gerddais ar hyd y lan cyn hir ag medru i, ac yna i lawr â fi i’r prifysgol. Ddoe es i i Borth Penrhyn, ac wedyn mi ddarganfodais lôn sy’n mynd i fyny Mynydd Bangor hyd at Clwb Golff St. Deiniol. Roedd llawer o fwyar ar hyd y lôn ac mi ddynnais a fwytais cryn dipyn ohonynt – roedden nhw blasus iawn. Heddiw mi ddarganfodais lwybr sy’n mynd i fyny ochr arall Mynydd Bangor, lle roedd llawer o fwyar a golygfeydd hyfryd dros y ddinas i Eryri. A i yn ôl i dynnu mwy o fwyar cyn bo hir, a bydda i’n ceisio peidio â bwyta nhw i gyd cyn i mi cyrraedd adref! Bydd rhaid mi i ofyn i fy mam am rysetiau sy’n defnyddio mwyar.

Roedd fy ngwyliau yn Iwerddon, yr Alban a Sir Gaerhirfryn yn wych dros ben, gyda llaw. Yn Iwerddon roedd hi’n hyfryd gweld cymaint o bobol ydw i wedi cwrdd â nhw y llynedd, ac i ddod i nabod llawer o bobol newydd. Roedd gen i llawer o gyfle i siarad Gwyddeleg yn y dosbarthiadau a thu allan, mi ddysgais cryn dipyn o ganeuon newydd yn y prynhawniau, roedd cyngherddau gwych yn y nos ac wedyn sesiynau yn y tafarndai lleol. Mi ganais fy chwiban yn rhai o’r sesiynau hyd yn oed.

Y cwrs caneuon Gaeleg yn ngholeg Sabhal Mòr Ostaig ar Ynys Skye roedd yn ffantastig hefyd. Mi ddysgais mwy na 30 o ganeuon efo tiwtor ardderchog efo llais hyfryd, Christine Primrose, cwrddais â llawer o bobol diddorol, a siaradais cryn dipyn o Aeleg a Gwyddeleg – roedd torf fawr o siaradwyr Gwyddeleg yno sydd yn dysgu Gaeleg. Mae lle yn hyfryd hefyd, yn arbennig harddwch gwyllt y mynyddoedd a’r môr. Hoffwn i’n mynd yn ôl yn y dyfodol agos, ac efallai bydda i’n gwneud cwrs mewn Gaeleg a cherddoriaeth draddodiadol yno ar ôl i mi orffen y cwrs ym Mangor.

Beidh mé ag scríobh rud éigin as Gaeilge faoi m’eachtraíochtaí in Éirinn agus Albain amárach.