Category: General

Eisteddfod Llangollen

By Simon

Yr wythnos ddiwethaf es i i’r eisteddfod yn Llangollen dwy waith – Ddydd Mercher es i efo ffrindiau prifysgol, a Ddydd Gwener es i yn ôl ar fy mhen fy hunan. Roedd y ddwy ddydd yn wych, ac mi weles i gerddor, gantorion a dawnswyr talentog o bob cwr y byd.

Nos Sadwrn roedd parti wych ar ffarm un o aelodau y côr cymuned yn Nhregarth. Parti diwedd y tymor ydoedd. Roedd hi’n bwrw glaw trwm, ond mwynhaom yn dda.

Llangollen Eisteddfod

Last week I went to the Eisteddfod in Llangollen twice – on Wednesday with friends from the university, and on my own on Friday. Both days were great, and I saw loads of talented musicians, singers and dancers from all over the world.

On Saturday night there was an end of term party for the community choir on the farm of one of the members in Tregarth. It rained heavily, but we had a great time.

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.

Studies

By Simon

I handed in my last essay today, so that’s pretty much the end of the taught part of my course and I can now concentrate on my dissertation. It’s a great relief to get all the assignments out of the way after spending what seems like ages on them. Fortunately I don’t have any exams this semester. The course seems to have gone really quickly and I’ve learned a lot of interesting and useful things. The areas I’ve found most interesting have been phonetics, bilingualism and speech and language disorders.

I plan to spend the last two weeks of June on the Isle of Man gathering information for my dissertation, learning some more Manx, and having a bit of a holiday. The last time I was on the island was about 30 years ago when I went there on a day trip from primary school, and I’m looking forward to going back. I’ve started making contact with a number of Manx speakers and hope to meet as many of them as possible when I’m on the island.

Are there any Manx speakers or learners who read this blog?

Vel Gaelgeyryn erbee lhaih yn blog shoh?

The importance of backups

By Simon

This blog seems to be working again now and I’ve managed to restore the data up to last November. Unfortunately that was the last time I made a backup of the blog, and due to the problems with my old server, it is not possible to recover the data since then. Oh well, lesson learned. I will try to make regular backups from now on.

The forum is also up again, though I haven’t managed to restore any of the old data, so we’ll just have to start anew. Sorry!

In other news, one of the university assignments I’ve been working on is a presentation on bimodal bilinguals – that is people with normal hearing who have deaf parents and grow up fluent in sign language and a spoken language such as English. Unlike other bilinguals who switch between their languages (code switch), bimodal bilinguals can speak and sign at the same time (code blend). Normally the signs and words mean the same thing, though occasionally one adds to the meaning of the other. When speaking, for example, some of the words may be accompanied by signs, and vice versa. It is also possible to use both languages simultaneously, a difficult undertaking known as SimCom (Simultaneous Communication) which is used in educational settings.

I find this topic fascinating as I’m learning British Sign Language as the moment. So when I give my presentation on this, I’ll be able to demonstrate a bit of code-blending.

Ymlacio

By Simon

Mae’r semestr cyntaf ar ben bellach, a dw i’n gallu ymlacio tipyn bach ar ôl wythnosau o waith ar fy aseiniadau. Ydw i wedi gorffen nhw o’r diwedd Ddydd Iau diwethaf, ac heblaw arholiadau seineg Ddydd Gwener, ’sdim gen i ddim byd i wneud ar gyfer y prifysgol yr wythnos hon. Wrth gwrs mae gen i pethau eraill i wneud – erthyglau i ysgrifennu, cerddoriaeth i ymarfer, ieithoedd i ddysgu, a phethau i wneud ar Omniglot, felly fydda i ddim yn hollol diog. Eto i gyd, dydy’r pethau ‘na ddim yn teimlo fel gwaith oherwydd dw i’n mwynhau gwneud nhw.

Bydda yr ail semestr yn cychwyn wythnos i yfory a bydda i’n gwneud modiwlau dewisol mewn anhwylderau iaith a materion cyfoes yn ddwyieithrwydd. Yn anffodus, dydy’r modiwl mewn caffaeliad iaith plentyn ddim ar gael yn yr ail semestr, felly roedd rhaid i mi ddewis rhywbeth arall.

Lig mo scíth

Tá an chead téarma críochnaithe anois, agus is féidir liom lig mo scíth giota beag i ndiaidh a bheith ag obair go dian le seachtaine ar mo thascanna ollscoile. Chríochnaigh mé na tascanna faoi dheireadh Déardaoin seo caite, agus lasmuigh de scrúdú foghraíocht Dé hAoine seo chugainn, níl obair ar bith agam ar an ollscoil. Tá rudaí eile i dhéanamh agam ar ndóigh – airteagail a scríobh, ceol a chleachtadh, teangacha a fhoghlaim, agus rudaí a dhéanamh ar Omniglot, mar sin de ní bheidh mé go hiomlán díomhaoin. Ach is maith liom na rudaí sin a dhéanamh, agus dá bhrí sin, ní bhíonn iad mar obair dom.

Tosóidh an dara téarma seachtain ón lá amárach, agus beidh mé ag déanamh modúil i neamhord teanga agus ceisteanna reatha dátheangachais. Ní bhíodh an modúl sealbhú teanga an pháiste ar siúl sa dara téarma, ar an drochuair, dá bhrí sin bhí orm rud éigin eile a roghnú.

Relaxing

The first semester is over now and I can relax a bit after weeks of work on my assignments, which I finally finished last Thursday. Apart from phonetics exams on Friday next, I don’t have anything else to do for uni this coming week. Of course I have plenty of other things to do – articles to write, music to practise, languages to learn, and stuff to do on Omniglot, so I won’t be completely idle. Then again, these are all things I enjoy doing, so they don’t feel like work.

The second semester starts a week tomorrow and I’ll be doing modules in language disorders and current issues in bilingualism. Unforunately the module in child language acquisition is not available in the second semester, so I had to choose something else.

Nadolig

By Simon

Dw i’n treulio Nadolig efo fy rhieni yn Sir Gaerhirfryn, yn mwynhau bwyd fy mam, yn gwilio gormod o deledu ac yn ymlacio.

Bydda i’n mynd yn ôl i Fangor yr wythnos nesaf, ac mae cryn dipyn o bethau i wneud ar gyfer fy nghwrs yn y prifysgol.

Nollaig

Tá mé ag caitheamh an Nollaig le mo thuismitheoirí i Lancashire, ag bhain sult as bia mo mháthair, ag amharc ar an teilifís agus ag tógáil go bog é.

Rachaidh mé ar ais go Bangor an seachtain seo chugainn, agus tá a lán obair ollscoile agam a dhéanamh.

Christmas

I’m spending Christmas with my parents in the wilds of Lancashire, enjoying my mum’s cooking, watching too much telly and generally relaxing.

I’ll be back in Bangor next week and have quite a bit of work to do for my course in the university.

Digwyddiadau

By Simon

Roedd ginio Nadolig y Gymdeithas Ieithyddiaeth Bangor (CIB) mewn tŷ bwyta ym Mharc Britannia Nos Fawrth. Roedd y bywyd yn dda ac mwynheuais yn fawr. Roedd ginio arall am ieithyddion uwchraddedig Nos Iau – aethon ni i dŷ bwyta bach ar y stryd mawr ac roedd hi’n wych. Neithiwr es i i berfformiad Messiah gan y Cantorian a Cherddorfa Monteverdi yn y prifysgol. Roedd y cyngerdd yn ardderchog a ches i fynediad am ddim oherwydd mod i’n helpu efo’r te a choffi yn egwyl.

Happenings

On Tuesday night the Bangor Linguistics Society had their Christmas dinner at a restaurant in Parc Britannia. The food was good and we had a great time playing silly games. There was another dinner on Thursday evening for postgrad linguists – we went to a small restaurant on the High Street and it was good. Last night I went to a performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Monteverdi Singers and Orchestra at the university. The concert was excellent and I got in for free because I helped with the refreshments in the interval.

Wythnos o ganeuon

By Simon

Mae’r wythnos hon wedi bod yn brysur iawn – Ddydd Sul diwethaf, canais efo’r côr cymunedol yn y Ŵyl Heddwch ym Mangor -gwahoddynt i ni ganu wrth iddyn nhw bwyta ein cinio. Nos Fawrth canais efo cór y gymdeithas gerdd yn y prifysgol, Nos Fercher canais efo’r côr cymunedol, a Nos Iau es i i gyngerdd wych gan Northern Harmony, côr ifanc o’r UDA. Yna treuliais Dydd Sadwrn yn canu mewn gweithdy canu efo Northern Harmony – roedd yn ardderchog a dysgon ni ganeuon o America, Corsica, Siorsia, De Affrica ac Ukraine. Nos Sadwrn es i gyngerdd wych gan Trio Naatyashwora, grŵp o gerddorion o Nepal.

Mae cynhadledd ryngwladol ar ddwyieithrwydd i’w chynnal ym Mangor y penwythnos hwn hefyd, ac es i ryw areithiau ddoe ac echddoe.

Seachtain na hamhráin

Bhí an seachtain seo an ghnóthach – Dé Domhnaigh seo cáite, chan mé leis an cór pobail ag an Féile Síochána i mBangor -thug iad cuireadh dúinn ag canadh agus iad ag ith ar lón. Oíche Mhairt chan mé le cór na cumann ceoil san ollscoil, Oíche Chéadaoin chan mé leis an cór pobail, Oíche Aoine chuaigh mé chuig ceolchoirm le Northern Harmony, cór óg as Meiriceá. Ansin chaith mé Dé Sathairn ag canadh i gceardlann chanta le Northern Harmony – bhí sí go hiontach agus d’fhoghlaim muid amhráin as Meiriceá, an Chorsaic, an tSeoirsia, an Afraic Theas agus an Úcráin. Oíche Shathairn chuaigh mé chuig ceolchoirm le Trio Naatyashwora, grúpa ceoltóirí as Neipeal.

Tá comhdháil idirnáisiúnta ar an dátheangachas ar siúil an deireadh seachtaine seo freisin, agus chuaigh mé chuig cúpla óráidí inné agus arú inné.

A week of songs

This week has been a busy one – last Sunday I sang with the community choir in the Peace Festival in Bangor – they invited us to sing to them while they were having lunch. On Tuesday evening I sang with the community choir again, on Wednesday evening I sang with the university music society choir, and on Thursday evening I went to an excellent concert by Northern Harmony, a young choir from the USA. Then I spent most of Saturday at a singing workshop with Northern Harmony, which was fantastic and we learnt songs from America, Corsica, Georgia, South Africa and Ukraine. On Saturday night I went to a great concert by Trio Naatyashwora, a group of musicans from Nepal.

An international conference on bilingualism is being held in Bangor this weekend as well, and I went to a few talks yesterday and on Friday.

Hydref

By Simon

Mae hydref (y mis a’r tymor) wedi cyrraedd yma, mae hi’n mynd yn oerach ac yn gwlypach, mae’r gwyntoedd yn gryfach, mae’r dail yn newid eu lliw ac yn cwympo i’r ddaear, ac mae’r myfyrwyr yn ôl yn y dref.

Fómhar

Tháinig an Fómhar anseo, tá sé ag éiri níos fuaire agus níos fliuch, tá gaoth níos móra ann, tá dathanna na nduilleog ag athrú agus tá siad ag titim go dtí an talamh, agus tá na mic-léinn air ais sa chathair.

Autumn

Autumn has arrived here, it’s getting colder and wetter, the winds are getting stronger, the leaves are changing colour and falling to the ground, and the students are back in town.