I know that this has been discussed in the Forum before, but I could do with some input from others. I have been learning Welsh for many years, and I am fluent,. I have had all my welsh learning experience in the north. I learnt byddwn, byddet, byddai etc from the beginning of my Welsh learning experience, and although I am aware of baswn, etc. in the north I have always used byddwn (baswn) etc without any problems. I attend the Gloywi course (Dysgu Cymraeg) and have so for the last two years. In the class just before the Mayday bank holiday, my tutor took me to task about my using byddwn, etc. and said that this this form of formal or literary Welsh. Her expectation is that I mend the errors of my ways and use baswn forms. There are two ladies in my class who like me learnt byddwn forms in school in the old Denbighshire and also in north Wales Welsh languages classes. The tutor did not include these ladies in her rebuke. My question is whether byddwn, byddet, are spoken in other parts of Wales? S4Câs programmes would say yes, but I am now uncertain whether I am using formal forms of the language and so come over as speaking unnaturally and stilted. According to the Gloywi (Hyfedredd) curriculum learners should be able to understand other Welsh dialects besides their own, and ought still to use their local dialect. Is there a Holywell Welsh dialect, if so where do I find and hear it. Scouse is the local accent and Lingo here.
Iâm sorry, but thatâs ridiculous and that tutor should be ashamed! Those forms are used in casual, everyday speech in various different parts of Wales. They are pretty much all I heard in Ceredigion when I lived there!
Diolch yn fawr iawn. This really helpful and has restored my confidence.
I have done several Dysgu Cymraeg courses (though never up to Gloywi standard) from Cardiff, Gwent and Swansea. One tutor told us that we must always use byddwn and never, ever baswn. Another tutor told us that we should always use baswn. Since I have no plans ever to take an exam, I say whatever comes to mind.
Sue
Thanks very much. I have always used what comes automatically and shall continue to do so. The reason I introduced this topic was that I was called out specifically about using byddwn, etc. I missed the last class as I was so aggrieved. Hwyl or should that be ta ta wan!
Absurd.
Both these tutors are talking nonsense - and you are right to choose whichever you feel like on the day. Normal (i.e. non-prejudiced) Welsh speakers wonât bat an eyelid either way.
Shame that this kind of stuff gets pushed, though.
Diolch am hynny. My husband who has been learning for 4 years now uses your books because you explain points of grammar so clearly that he understands immediately what has puzzled him hitherto. Rydw iân cytuno - abswrd ywâr gair!
Quite! The point in a language is to be able to communicate with one another. If your message is understood this shouldnât be a problem, especially in spoken language, and especially for a language tutor.
I find stories like this so upsetting! Welsh is such a rich and beautiful language, and a lot of that is down to the wonderful variation that exists. We should be celebrating it, not trying to squash it. For someone who is supposed to be encouraging and supporting people to learn and speak Welsh to peddle these myths/personal bugbears is bad enough, but to undermine the confidence of a new speaker in the process is unforgivable!
(Sorry - I was the recipient of something similar, luckily only during a one-day Welsh course, so Iâm quite sensitive about itâŚ)
I had not forgotten about this issue as I am in the same class (Gloywi) with same tutor. I continue to use byddwn instead of baswn, 'swn, and waiting to be corrected again and will say there are other proficient Welsh speakerz who say they agree with me and there should be an acceptance of variations in the language. A Gloywi class should not have problems at this stage with all the Welsh language variants. Hwyl am y tro!
Good for you!
What the tutor should be teaching you are the nuances of when byddwn and baswn could be used in different situations, and what the different implications of those might be for different registers (âcyweiriauâ). Unfortunately, a lot of Welsh-language education is fixated on a concept of âcorrectnessâ - Iâve had a couple of university-level Welsh lecturers tell me that the first lesson they have to give their students is that they need to stop thinking in terms of something being correct or incorrect!
Thereâs an interesting article on something similar that came out recently on BBC Cymru Fyw (so, sorry, but itâs only in Welsh) if anyone would like to read more: 'Derbyn pob tafodiaith yn allweddol i'r Gymraeg' - BBC Cymru Fyw
And in any case there is âincorrectâ and there is âincorrectâ - dialect variation is not incorrect, but unfortunately it appears that some teachers who should know better let their (as you correctly term them) personal bugbears get in the way of their job. ON the other hand, there IS such a thing as incorrect, in the sense of a locution that all native speakers would identify as wrongâŚand these we must point out as such to learners. For example, in parts of S Wales they say atebws for atebodd answeredâŚitâs perfectly correct Welsh for that area, just dialect non-standard. But talodd nhw for talon nhw they paid is simply wrong, and no native-speaker would ever say it. Similarly in English: he were is normal in many northern (England) counties for he was - dialect variation; while we am for we are is simply wrong - no native speaker would say it, and every native speaker would immediately spot it.
Iâd like to invite you to The Black Country. You might reconsider your example.
Yes - I think thatâs the challenge the lecturers face, trying to get their students to recognise the difference between these two types of âincorrectâ, when one has been drummed into them through their school career.
When I were living in Holloway in the '70s, my neighbours used to drive me to distraction with their âwe wasâ Youâs so right.
I didnât know that - and I will! Though I must give you due warning that I shall be undercover in the Black Country within the week, listening very hard to the locals.
In the meantime, here is my reconsidered example : She has get three childs for She has got three children. I think that is pretty safely wrong.