Oh dear, I seem to have run out of Level 2 lessons. Again, went through them each just once so far. Still a good ways to go to “master” or “defeat” the challenges, but I still was following what everything meant, so I’m sure it’s just a question of how much review it takes until everything is burned in. For Level 1, there’s that convenient Challenge 25 and listening practice, but reviewing Level 2 might be more challenging.
I guess it’s on to Course 1 now? BTW, I recently got a secondhand copy of Colloquial Welsh (1995), and then I saw someone commenting here about how great Gareth King is, so that’s encouraging.
Going to the Polyglot Conference this weekend–I wonder if there will be any Welsh speakers? Given that there are at least going to be a few people claiming to speak Scottish Gaelic (for example), it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising.
to @MarilynHames as well!
I have only ever heard ‘Good Health’ i.e. ‘Iechyd da’ used in this context, so I’d say that the Cymraeg equivalent to “Cheers” is “Iechyd da!” or, as you said, “Hwyl!” @aran???
Worth having a look at Course 1, but you might find it far too easy now.
Courses 2 and 3 should be worth trying, although you will notice a different approach in them.
What I like about Gareth King is that he doesn’t charge extra for the jokes… (although they are sometimes fairly subtle and not too obvious).
If it’s the same sort of people who tended to post on HTLAL, there are definitely people interested in Celtic languages there. Irish always seemed more popular than Welsh though, for some reason.
If you happen to run into David James (aka Huliganov), remind him about SSiW and ask him when he’s going to start learning Welsh… (Any one of the organisers will know David James I suspect, and will point him out if he’s around… No idea if he’s actually going though).
@geoffreywilliamson To you both: Do these polyglots…sorry, do you polyglots ever learn the language of Georgia which I believe is Kartveli? I got interested in the people because of the rugby and found Georgia is really Sakartvelo and the language and beautiful, complex alphabet are very old. I am not volunteering to learn it… I am as far from polyglot as one can be… a bit of school French, a bit of Italian, an accidental bit of scientific Romanian (turns out to be like Italian!)… some scientific Russian, now forgotten and a lot of forgotten Cymraeg… but I would love more people to know about Sakartvelo!! I told @aran that Kartveli seems an ideal language for the SaySomethingIn treatment because the alphabet becomes irrelevant. I can see that the Kartveli alphabet makes Russian and Hebrew look easy!! (I had a goy friend marrying an Orthodox Jewish chap and she tried to learn Hebrew! I sort of learned with her for moral support until I remembered some word she forgot and her fiance implied she wasn’t trying!)
Surely the furthest away from a polyglot would be monolingual with no exposure to other languages whatsoever…I’d say you’ve had a wider exposure than a lot of people - certainly more than a lot of people I know who speak English and haven’t even thought to listen to anything else.
@henddraig: The way you have quoted makes it look like it’s me who is going to the PG conference. I definitely am not. Neither do I consider myself a polyglot. I’m just someone who enjoys pottering around with languages and just keeps on keeping on at it, one way or another. I admire genuine polyglots, but I don’t have the ability or even the ambition to become one in the true sense.
Sorry Mike!! I’m terrible with quotes!! A Mae ddrwg gen i @geoffreywilliamson, since it is you who are the polyglot!!
To @Karla really, all I did was learn in school when forced and try ‘Teach yourself Italian’ because it seemed a bit like Latin and useful for holidays!! The Russian was ‘that or German’ for college and I knew that I found German hellish since forgetting all I’d learned the easy way aged 3-4!! So, it is all environment, not real study and mostly forgotten!!
Not to this one in New York, Tatjana, but I hope to get along to the next one in Berlin next year. Perhaps Geoffrey will bump into @Kinetic - Ifan - in New York? And there were quite a few Welsh speakers at the Berlin polyglot get-together in Berlin this year, so it wouldn’t surprise me if NY were the same.
Oh, its grammar will make Russian grammar seem easy, too. It uses the case system, as does Russian, but how these cases function inside the sentence is quite unusual:) But it’s very beautiful, yes. And the phonetics is fairly simple, in case you make up your mind to give it a try.
I have very warm feelings for peoples of the Caucasus and their languages seem very beautiful to me: especially Armenian and Georgian.
Oh, I didn’t know there are more gatherings in a year. Since I can’t afford one I don’t pay much attention to them but I read you attended one and thought you’d be on this one too. I lost the track of time was that one you attended last or this year though.
Think I might try to get to Berlin next time (if that’s definitely where it’s going to be). Berlin is certainly one of my favourite cities (not that I am a city person really).
Well, mainly from the UK, e.g. Simon from Omniglot who lives in north Wales. And yes, they’ve announced that it will definitely be in Berlin again next year - in the same location, close to the Hauptbahnhof.
If you speak Kartveli, maybe you could work on SSiKartveli(Georgian) with @aran???!!! Then I’d have a go at learning a bit!! What I meant about not being polyglot is that I do not get languages fixed in my brain easily!! They pop out again all too fast!! Also, it seems to me polyglots love learning languages, whereas I just want to use this-or-that language!! (Or in the case of Kartveli, find out more about the people and their country.)
Only slowly using the SSi… method and I couldn’t guarantee to go very far with it. It’s really just curiosity on my part… a bit like @tatjana who ended up learning Cymraeg because she liked our rugby team!
I was impressed by the Georgian team and started to try to find out about the country, which caused me to find out a tiny amount about the language!!
I think the instinct to be curious and want to communicate is one that we all share - which takes us down the initial of learning languages. I personally feel more PolyCLOTish than Polyglotish and feel comfortable fumbling around as long as I am communicating.
Being a Polygloter seems a further seious step which, as you point out ,appeals to those who have a love of learning languages, who are relatively good at it and perhaps who enjoy understanding some of the underlying patterns shared by different languages.
That may be a bridge too far - I guess we’ll recognise it if we ever arrive,
Again, went through them each just once so far. Still a good ways to go to “master” or “defeat” the challenges, but I still was following what everything meant, so I’m sure it’s just a question of how much review it takes until everything is burned in. For Level 1, there’s that convenient Challenge 25 and listening practice, but reviewing Level 2 might be more challenging.
