There was a really interesting effort in the early part of the twentieth century by a Cornishman, Caradar (A S D Smith).
He published a set of three teach yourself Welsh books, wanting to “repay something of the debt I owe to the welsh people” because the Welsh language had “unveiled much that was hidden,” and “helped him to understand and love Wales”
Well, that’s nice isn’t it!
But then I’ve always found the Cornish to be good at that sort of thing!
Anyway, in his book he stresses that his aim is to encourage the reader to speak Welsh, “and that at his own fireside, without the aid of a teacher: to break down that initial shyness most of us feel when trying to talk a strange language for the first time: and to set him on the road to a more comprehensive knowledge of this fine old tongue”.
Admirable aims, which SSiW does very well!
Well, it’s interesting to see what he did with the limitations of the printed word.
Stressing that “it would sound stiff and unnatural to say, for example, 'Pa beth yr ydych chwi yn ei weled? (10 syllables) for “What do you see?” when “beth yr ydych chi’n weld?” (6 syllables) is the coll. form, still further contracted in rapid speech to
NW : “be dych chi’n weld?” (4 syllables)
SW: “be’ch chi’n weld?” (3 syllables)”
he goes on to give example after example of Welsh sentences to be read aloud, in full literary form and spelled colloquial versions (spelled with a phonetic alphabet of letters and symbols explained at the beginning), with sentences to be translated into both - as in
"a) Say aloud in Welsh, and think of the meaning:
- Yr wyf wedi cofio. 2. Y mae ef wedi anghofio. 3. A ydych chwi wedi bod yn cysgu? 4. Nac ydwyf; nid wyf ddim wedi bod yn cysgu. [etc…]
b) Colloquial pronunciation:
- roo’-i wed’-i kov’-yo. 2. Ma’-e wed’-i ang-hov’-yo. 3. ud’-ich-i wed’-i bod yn kus’-gi? 4. Nag’-doo; doo’-i thim wed’-i bod un kus’-gi. [etc… but using more symbols than I can reproduce here.]
c) Translate aloud as in b); then write as in a)
- I have remembered. 2. He has forgotten. [etc…]"
Sorry for that lengthy tangent! But it’s an interesting attempt at trying to teach
- Different forms of Welsh alongside each other, and
- Spoken Welsh at a time when there were no audio recordings easily available.
Anyhow, just out of interest, as I said! One of the many forms of teaching Welsh which you speak of.