Breakfast

Welsh General / Questions
1

can i ask someone if they want breakfast in welsh,?

2

I don’t know, can you? :wink:

The word for breakfast in Welsh is brecwast - do you want is already covered in the course ;).

3

Sut fyddet ti’n licio dy wyau yn y bore? :wink:

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4

Wyt ti isio brecwast? or Dach chi isio brecwast? depending on how formal you want to be/how many people you’re talking to… :slight_smile:

5

Aran, can I ask, how do you mean formal? Is it for people I don’t know or know well, or is it posh, do we stick to wyt as friendly? Just trying to get my mind set around level 2 and the changes to what I have learned in level 1. I’m hoping it will just come naturally but don’t want “foot in mouth” disease. :grinning:
Oh, and spoke to my neighbour in welsh today, just a little, but we understood each other…yay.
Thanks,
Jan

6

That’s a great result - well done! :star2:

Formal/informal - this is just a bit of an unavoidable minefield for people whose first language doesn’t distinguish, because there are all sorts of soft social patterns tied up in, and it’s not the same for everyone every time.

The best thing is not to worry about it - broadly speaking, stick to ‘chi’ with people older than you (until they say you’re making them feel old and will you please use ‘ti’!) or with people you don’t know - beyond that, don’t overthink it… :slight_smile:

7

Thanks, it’s nice to have support in this adventure. And I’m probably worrying too much. Will follow your advice for chi and see how I do.
Have just finished lesson 2 of challenge 2, can speak about children now. :grinning:

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8

Years ago, as a student, I got chatting in French with a lass I met on the ferry. As a young adult, I was aware that I’d just about moved out of the “all of my peers are automatically ti/tu and grownups are chi/vous” of childhood, but I hadn’t really got any kind of a feel for how else to judge, and I noticed that she was tutoying me, and I commented on it. Her immediate reaction was “Oh, now I’ve offended you,” so I explained that I wasn’t offended, I was just trying to get my head around how one makes these judgements. So her reaction then was to say that she’d started off with toi because I looked kind of friendly, whereas – as she looked around the bar, and pointed out some other, rather more severe-looking young woman – “I’d vousvoie her, because she looks more uptight” – or words to that effect :slight_smile:

But I do think that even if your first language does do this, you still have to adjust to whatever new language you’re learning: I’m pretty sure that in Catalan these days, everyone you meet as a peer in an informal setting is automatically tu, whereas that just wouldn’t work in other settings.

Incidentally, English used to do this – it’s just that it’s become standard to be polite to everyone, with the possible exception of God. A lecturer of mine assured me that it was still fighting talk to “tha” the wrong person in some pubs in Sheffield (I don’t know if this is true), and still seemed upset over the conduct of the prosecutor in the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh – apparently he was deliberately insulting, saying to him “I thou thee, thou traitor!” (as in Don’t thee tha them as thas thee!).

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