It's Welsh, Jim, but not as we know it

I have been reading a novel called ‘O Law I Law’, by T. Rowland Hughes, set in the slate quarry country near Caernarfon. I have been really enjoying it – I suppose it could be considered a touch sentimental, but I find it very moving – but the Welsh, especially of the dialogues, is rather different from what I have been learning. My question would be: is this because I have so far only done the southern SSW course, and now doing the northern course would be a good preparation for reading books like this, or is it because the language of the book is now a bit dated anyway, such that people in the north no longer speak quite like that, so the northern course wouldn’t really help much and I’m better off just absorbing the differences as I read (and hoping I don’t get too confused with my linguistic registers!).

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I think I heard @aran mention in a growth club recording that he has read this book so he should be able to answer you better. Tagged to grab his attention.

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It’s always worth learning northern Welsh anyway, they get everywhere :wink:

I did the northern course, then went to southern boot camps. As a bit of prep I did some of the southern lessons. It was useful. The differences aren’t huge, so it wouldn’t be like learning a fresh.

(P.s @gruntius I’m not stalking you today I promise, you just seem to have commented on lots of interesting posts :slight_smile:)

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Yes, it would be - that’s literary Welsh from the 1940s…:slight_smile: Beautiful stuff, but it’s a changed world since then…

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