'Sleeper' Cymraeg

We were at a formal dinner last week, when I heard this nice (English) lady from Ceredigion say, ‘No, I don’t speak Welsh, it’s such a harsh language. Gosh, I hope there’s no Welsh speakers here’. Well, I might have had a drink. ‘Bois blydi bach! Be’ sy’n bod efo ‘chdi? Mae’n hen iaith hyfryd’, said someone who sounded a lot like me. It was like one of those old Western films where even the piano player goes quiet. After the initial shock, the poor lady had grasped the idea of some random Yorkie being able to manage a few Welsh words. We had a good conversation about the language, and she asked why I had a softer accent than Cardi. I told her that I bought it by the yard from Mr & Mrs Jones from Mynytho. It all went off well and the dear person took home a few handy bits of Cymraeg so she could be polite in shops. I love working under cover :slight_smile: However, I did get a minor slapping from Mrs G for my trouble.

Anyone else walked into a situation like that?

No, but if I do, I hope you’re there ready to do your bit again. :slight_smile:

Well played, Sir!

I know rural Ceredigion very well and have spoken Welsh there with locals (my family all live there). It is in my view quite a tricky accent to be fair to her, but I wouldn’t describe it as harsh. In many respects it’s softer than some northern dialects imo. I would say Cardi is the dialect I have the most trouble with actually, which is ironic because I found out recently I’m not only Merionnydd by descent but also a Cardi by descent! ;>)

Chwarae teg. I think the ‘harsh’ thing came about from feeling a bit excluded. It was amazing the speed of the turn around when we started to talk about why I started learning and how easy it is to make a start. A few words later and a ‘ffrog newydd’ joke about a friend wearing a kilt and we have a convert :slight_smile:

Whatever it was you drank, that must have been good stuff. Great job Andy! Were you tempted to do you rendition of Calon Lan to emphasise your point? :slight_smile:

I try not to give offence, these days. And then, there’s always my weapons grade Myfanwy. One thing, Louis, your idea of dropping Welsh into a conversation works really well for flushing out other speakers

and we have a convert :slight_smile:

Da iawn Andy! Gwaith ardderchog! And what a turnaround from the start of your story. Gwych. :slight_smile:

Andy, ti wedi rhoi gwen ar fy ngwyneb ben bore. Diolch! :slight_smile:

‘Bois blydi bach! Be’ sy’n bod efo ‘chdi? Mae’n hen iaith hyfryd’

Ffanblyditastig…:slight_smile: :seren-aur:

I love happy endings! Awesome story.

What’s the Cymraeg for ‘booyakasha’? :wink:

Bwiacasiâ!

;-\

So, what about an ‘Expostulation and pious exclamation’ vocab module when the new site settles down :slight_smile:

Such a pity when people judge languages without first learning a bit. I speak English and Afrikaans, can understand a little Zulu, and Welsh is so different because of the attention to sound of phrases - i suspect part of the reason for mutations. When sung by a choir or soloist you realise why Welsh is so amazing. To me it is a language designed to be sung. It is a truly beautiful sounding language, and i so regret not learning it when i arrived here in 1995.

Da iawn chi!

“To me it is a language designed to be sung.”

YEP!!!

Fantastic response, Andy.
Comes into the category of “I wish I’d thought of saying that” after the event. Except you actually did. (( arwr lingo ))

With inhibitions tuned down by drink something I’d normally chuck at y wyrion popped out. Of course, no-one understood a word but, on the good side, everyone spotted it was Welsh not Polish/Punjabi/Vogon neu rhywbeth :slight_smile: