Reading Welsh

[mikeellwood]

My wife told me that Ladybird is owned by Penguin these days. Anyone seen this?

The flyaway success of the Ladybird art prank

[owainlurch]

@mikeellwood

My wife told me that Ladybird is owned by Penguin these days. Anyone seen this?

The flyaway success of the Ladybird art prank | Publishing | The Guardian

Ah, a fine book- I remember it well from my youth.
Anyone else have fond memories of this one -

Or remember this classic?-

[henddraig]

@owainlurch

Ladybird books in Welsh, when I see them in second hand book shops or charity shops, they seem to be going for a pound or two at most

So you can’t get them from Amazon because they are all in 2nd hand shops!!!

[owainlurch]

@henddraig

Sorry ‘Peter & Jane’, not ‘Janet & John’!!

It’s “Gareth a Siân” in the Welsh ones, in case anyone finds that interesting!

[mikeellwood]

@henddraig

Sorry ‘Peter & Jane’, not ‘Janet & John’!!

Think we might have had “Janet and John” at primary school. Perhaps this was pre-Ladybird. I think there was also a cat and a dog (or two dogs) called “Fluff and Nip”…

Google tells me it was in a different series:

Dick And Dora

I don’t remember Dick and Dora, but I certainly remember Fluff and Nip.

[louis]

Can you get me the Welsh version, Owain?

[helenlindsay]

I remember Janet and John at school. I remember “Jump Janet, jump!” being on the last page of one of the books in the series. But I think the dog was called Spot, because my younger brother had terrible trouble with saying words that started with S and another consonant, such as spot, scamp, spade. If the story included Janet and John going to the park with their dog, Spot, he would say Spot very quietly.

[henddraig]

@mikeellwood

“Janet and John”

I think these came after my time in Primary!! Peter and Jane may have overlapped, but I could read when I went to school, so never had them. (I had a bored Mam, husband in Burma, living with her Mam and Dad.. so she got books (Ladybird) to read to me.. and I asked, “How does it say that?”.. and she told me!!) She did not, of course, approve of Welsh, as she was, in modern terms, ‘aspirational’!!!

[mikeellwood]

I didn’t learn to read at school, but my Mum spent a lot of time reading to me, and I learned to lose myself in books both then and later when I started to read. I’d always have my head stuck in a book (Dad and sister the same) and simply wouldn’t hear people talking to me. I’m still like that, and it’s only partly because I’m at least half-deaf, and it’s mainly because I am choosing to read, and not talk. If I wanted to talk I’d talk, but you can see I’m reading, so please respect my choice…of course, the real world doesn’t work quite like that.

[henddraig]

@mikeellwood

I’m reading, so please respect my choice

We are soul mates!!! (And seen as anti-social by a lot of strange folk who don’t understand about books!!!)

[AnnaC]

@mikeellwood

I’d always have my head stuck in a book… and simply wouldn’t hear people talking to me. I’m still like that

My mother would tell you I was exactly like this as a child, and I am still the same now

[Deborah-SSi]

I’ve just come across a great online resource for people starting to read in Welsh. It’s aimed at young people, but it looks like a great way to increase your vocabulary.

http://www.gweiddi.org/rhifynnau/rhifyn-1-gweiddi/ is the link to the first one, but there are loads more.

Has anyone read any of this material before?

[Catriona]

I’ve really enjoyed Ffenestri by Lois Arnold. Her stories are graded by difficulty, and even the absolute beginners ones are fun to read.

[Bleddyn]

thanks for the heads up, I’m at the point where I should be reading more and have finished the series i’m on.

[stephenbranley]

I can also thoroughly recommend Ffenestri. I’m currently reading it and have just finished the Mynediad level stuff - 8 short stories (I think, from memory!) and a poem. The stories start off very simple with limited vocabulary and in the present tense and gradually increase in difficulty both within and between levels (Mynediad, Sylfaen and Canolradd). By the end of the Mynediad section she’s introduced some short-form past tense and a few idioms too. I’m looking forward to starting the Sylfaen section!

For reference, I’m been doing SSIW for about 6 months and DuoLingo for 4 months or so before that and I needed a dictionary only once within the Mynediad section. Lois has helpfully included a glossary of some of the words you’re less likely to be familiar with at the bottom of each page (as is common with books for adult learners).

One further thing: it’s written in Southern Welsh, I believe. I didn’t encounter anything I’d think of as “Northern”. I’m definitely going to try Lois’s book “Sgwp!” next, and then try Blodwen Jones for a bit of Gog flavour.

[Deborah-SSi]

This is an old thread, but still with relevant information for those of you starting to read in Welsh.

Getting hold of books when you live outside the UK can be a problem though, especially if you try to avoid Amazon, but there has been some discussion about this issue on Facebook lately. I can’t vouch for the information given, but it might be useful for some of you, and if anyone has bought from these booksellers, perhaps you could let us know how the experience went. Some sell second hand books which might help keep the cost down.

addall.com
Awesome Books
Siop Cwlwm - their website calculates international postage and customs charges, so you should pay everything upfront and not get hit with extra charges when you book arrives
AbeBooks.de or Booklover.de - for people within the EU
World of Books
Books Please