Hi, I’m relatively new to this, I’m not certain in most cases whether to use the word ‘hoffi’ or ‘licio’ ?
Hi Jacqueline
“hoffi” and “licio” mean both the same " to like" .
Aran (Northern course) teaches “licio”, Iestyn (southern) “hoffi”.
but it’s just a matter of taste, what you want to use. The best thing is to listen what the people around you use.
Hi Jaqueline, and welcome!
As Brigitte says, use whichever you prefer. You’ll find an awful lot of learners object to using “licio”, but that an awful lot of natural speakers would only use “hoffi” in church. You may even be told that you “should” use hoffi, but don;t believe a word of it! Use whichever feels most comfortable, or whichever springs to mind first. As Brigitte says - listen to those around you: You’ll soon end up using what’s commonest amongst the people you speak with most.
Dw i’n hoffi “hoffi” ond dw i’n licio “licio” hefyd 
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Diolch yn fawr pawb 
I had same issue when I started, I constantly hear both lico and hoffi in the South, it’s what you feel comfortable with and whatever comes into your head first,
Phil
I live in flintshire and work with people from Denbighshire and I find they use hoffi much more … in the northern new course we are taught liciuni (I would like) spelt wrong id think! And was recently corrected by some ppl who said theyd always say hoffiuni for that … confusing iawn!!
Don’t worry about stuff like that, Katie - you’ll naturally end up using what you hear other people using most often (whether or not they ‘correct’ you!) - the only important thing is if they understand you when you say ‘liciwn i’, and I guarantee you they will…
I appreciate what you’re saying … but it is a bit frustrating when you’re doing the northern course and northern ppl say they dont use that word! And iv heard licwn i a lot on south walian tv progs. Another example is hogan … they all say genedd here !
Don’t get hung up on it, Katie. Try to look at it like they’re both words that can be used in any part of Wales, because they are. I have a textbook from the 1990s that tells me the opposite - that hoffi is more common in the north, and licio in the south. My experience of listening to a lot of Welsh on radio and TV is that licio is more common in the north, and in the south I hear both hoffi & “lico” a lot as well, but I have noticed that a lot of speakers from NE Wales use hoffi. You need to remember that Welsh is not anywhere near as standardised as English, and accept that you can use either wherever you are. A poster here recently started a thread with a link showing different Welsh words for the various areas and the variety is astonishing - both in vocabulary and how many areas have their own terms. It cannot be compared to English. Just go with it - remember - all the first language Welsh speakers have the same issues with the different dialects as you do. Pob lwc!
We do try to say as much as we can that there is no such thing as a ‘northern’ dialect and a ‘southern’ dialect - we’ve just gone for the language as we use it, and since one family is in the north and the other in the south, it’s as good a way to divide it as any. But there is much more variation in Welsh than in English, as Bontddu says - Flintshire definitely has lots of differences to Gwynedd! - and you’ll benefit hugely from getting used to smiling and saying ‘oh, thanks’ when people ‘correct’ you, but not worrying too much about what they say as long as they could understand you.
Pretty much anyone you talk to will say some things differently to how you do - and (unfortunately!) good natured people will often think that ‘correcting’ you is helpful - but in the long run, you’ll understand all the variations, and you’ll end up using the ones you hear most often…
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On a deeper level, first language speakers (and, TBH, more often people who have learned to some form of fluency) seem to assume the right to ‘correct’ early stage learners even when there is nothing to correct. Would they say “actually we don’t say that round here” to a first language speaker from the other end of Wales (or Argentina)? Of course not.
Additionally, early stage learners are, of course, much less likely to have the confidence to assert their right to speak their own version of Welsh.
The good news is that it’s just a stage. You’ll get through it. And hopefully, when you’re Welsh is much more developed, you’ll remember not unnecessarily to ‘correct’ the perfectly valid Welsh of those who follow.
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Yup, excellent points from Rob. It really is an odd kind of thing - and definitely unhelpful - but no-one in Flintshire would ever, ever tell a confident, fluent speaker not to say ‘liciwn i’.
Did anyone watch the series ‘Ar Lafar’ on S4C about various linguistic issues like the north/south divide and so forth? It was absolutely fascinating, and really well made. I only saw the first series but I think there was a second one also. I wish they’d repeat it/them!
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One point is, I suppose, that if someone “corrects” you, it must mean, by definition, that they understood what you were trying to say. Or to borrow Michel Thomas’s nice way of putting it: you must have got the ball over the net.
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