Anyone else doing the Cornish course?

From what I here/see it really shouldn’t be all that much longer… :slight_smile:

Thanks Aran!

1 Like

Good news re the petition “Please continue to provide annual financial support for the Cornish language”! It’s just gone over 10,000 signatures, which means the government is obliged to respond to it. Exactly how they will respond (and what difference it may make, if any) is not yet clear, but at least they can see this is a cause that a lot of people care about. :slight_smile: Thanks to all those who’ve signed it and shared it with others.

2 Likes

And the not-so-good news re the petition, if anyone here hadn’t heard: the government finally responded, to the effect that Cornwall Council has its own money and can use that to fund the language if desired, so there. A lot of Cornish language speakers and advocates are not pleased, to say the least. :angry:

1 Like

Yes, I heard that, and was deeply unimpressed by it.

1 Like

I think that one of the most powerful things the revival movement can do is start concentrating on a few things which are a bit more technology based and a bit more community building (not really a criticism here I am just trying to make some observations).

I am a member of the Cornish diaspora (outside of the UK) and I have observed with interest the developments over the last few years. I am a young person (30 years old) and my grandparents spoke some basic Cornish and alluded to their own family speaking it. I respect the fact that people put alot of effort into translating complicated texts but we need more accessible and mainstream translations.

In terms of how to buld this language up, I think it would be far better to translate into Cornish something like Whatsapp, Skype or other programs than to translate biblical texts or old books. While literature is important we need to concentrate on what is really important and do the basic stuff. When my Cornish is up to scratch I want to spend my time translating computer programs and mainstream materials.

In terms of the “community building” aspect of what I was saying, I reckon that there needs to be more to appeal to the young and online community stuff could work. For example, I have not seen any Cornish language chat fora (though I have not looked).There should be more central places online so that young 20-30 year old people can chat in Cornish.

I just found this place now and I am interested and generally impressed with the ongoing discussion. Ultimately, it is all about building a community which can really be quite hard to do.

Just thought I would add, I think if the efforts are ont he community building then funding really will not matter. If there are enough resources and enough of a community then ultimately the funding issue does not scare me. Though, it would of course be better to have a few in support of the cause!

3 Likes

Completely agree with a more online space to chat (this has been mentioned here in another thread) but I genuinely think there are not ooddles of twentysomething’s Cornish speakers, as unlike wales/Brittany etc it’s not taught in schools so the younger speakers speak it because they have a desire too (and that’s good!) people use things like Facebook to chat to each other.
Btw I believe there is a Kernewek Skype already??

4 Likes

Welcome to the forum, Binjamin - we’re not as busy on the Cornish side of things as we’d like, but hopefully that will change as the volunteers putting the course together are able to make more materials available… :slight_smile:

1 Like

Here’s a link for Skype
https://community.skype.com/t5/Translations/Skype-Kernewek-Skype-Cornish/td-p/1112904

1 Like

Nadelik Lowen, onan hag oll! :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:

(ha Blydhen Nowydh Da)

6 Likes

Hi Courtenay,
I have also been doing the SSIC course and am eagerly awaiting the follow up to this. It was supposed to become available in the spring of 2016 and yet another year has elapsed and I am still waiting. Do you know anything or have you heard when it will become available? My Cornish is getting rusty now which is a pity as I’m sure they need all the speakers they can get.

All the Best,

Chris x

2 Likes

Hi Chris,

No, I haven’t heard anything at all either. From what I can gather, part of the problem is the lack of funding — the Cornish Language Partnership (MAGA) office, which was behind the original 10 lessons, seems to have been reduced to an almost defunct shell.

I will be attending the Cornish Language Weekend run by Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek next month, so I’ll try to ask around then and find out if there really are any further plans for SSiC (I know at least one of the people who worked on the existing 10 lessons will be there). I think there were also some issues with the new SSi technology that they now use to create the lessons, but I’m sure that was supposed to make it all easier, not harder… :grin:

Anyway, I will see what I can find out. :wink: Good to hear from you.

3 Likes

Just tagging @miketresidder-1 @miketresidder @polhodge-1 in here - lads, how are things shaping up at the moment? :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi Courtenay,

Thank for your most welcome reply. I was most interested about your plans to attend the Language Week End. Do you live in Cornwall by any chance? I live in Boston, Lincolnshire which is very distant from Cornwall else I would have loved to have attended the courses there with you. I am sure we would have had a lot of fun making a lot of grammatical mistakes together. I expect you are further on with your learning than I am. Whilst waiting for the second course of SSIC I have been doing the Desky Kernewek course devised by Dan Prohaska. Very good course and he explains everything meticulously. The only thing is it’s the more modern orthography and I do worry that I might get more confused doing the two. On balance I think it is a more easier and simpler structure to learn, but that’s just my opinion. Do let me know how you get on when you attend the Language Studies next month, I would be most interested. For now I wish you all the best with your studies and for your life in general. Take care. Chris x

3 Likes

Hi Chris — thanks for your good wishes.

I’m afraid I live a long way from Cornwall too — in Kent, just outside London — so I haven’t been able to attend many events in person either. There are Cornish classes in London, but as I work in a care home and my shifts are different each week, I can’t guarantee I’ll always have the same nights free and so it hasn’t worked out for me to attend classes so far. But I do the best I can with what’s available online.

Haven’t tried Desky Kernowek yet but I ought to look into it. I agree the different spelling systems are a bit confusing while you’re learning. There is now a Standard Written Form but even that has variations and there are still debates going on about possible future modifications to it… But as a spoken language, when it comes to pronunciation and grammar, there’s really no more difference between the several varieties of revived Cornish than there is between different dialects of English. At least it all goes to show it’s now a living and evolving language again and not just a museum piece! :smile:

2 Likes

Hi Aran

Just checking the slack messages and I am guessing we are OK to go now? Will get hold of Pol and see if we can start recording next week-end.

5 Likes

I think that would probably be perfect - I’ll double-check in Slack… :slight_smile: :thumbsup:

1 Like

I’ve heard a rumour that more challenges are coming soon!

3 Likes

Dydh da all… ive just joined this group. Im trying to learn Cornish on my own back. I too live in Kent, if there is some one who speaks Cornish in Kent, Id gladly meet up and visit in order to learn more, as using the language is better than reading it out of a book.

If any one has any downloadable reading books, id be grateful. Meur ras

Oll a’n Gwella
Pete

2 Likes

If you are fine with Cornish in other spellings than SWF and KK, Gwask an Orlewen makes a number of ebooks in Unified Cornish spelling available for free:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/GwaskanOrlewen

2 Likes