Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

Not that much I’m afraid - English isn’t my first (or even second) language. My very theory-oriented school taught me the principles of reading Latin aloud, but not much else :sweat_smile:

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Well, amend that to “in your native language” then. :slightly_smiling_face:
Do you ever read aloud to any children? That’s also good training.
Basically, you need to enunciate very clearly, and also try to sound natural. Put expression into your voice that matches the meaning of the words. Stick to the rhythm of the poem (one advantage of Welsh poetry is that the rhythm is impossible to miss, IMHO). It’s getting the balance right between the poem’s meter and a naturalistic, expressive “flow” that’s the trick. Neither should ever be wholly sacrificed for the other.
Breathing is also important - never ever take a breath in the middle of a line or phrase. You’ll hear that in singing lessons too, for the same reason. Projecting your voice shouldn’t be much of an issue if you’re recording with a microphone, but you still want to be relaxed and use your diaphragm. The voice gets strained and odd-sounding if you’re tense and “breathing with your shoulders”.
Source: several years of childhood spent reciting poems for Speech and Drama competitions and exams. :slightly_smiling_face: It was a long time ago and none of it was done in Welsh though!
And hey, the point of this challenge is not artistic perfection. It’s just to speak some lovely literary Welsh aloud. Some of us (me) are too chicken to do it. Considering the number of years I spent doing exactly this, it’s a little weird I’m so leery of performing or being recorded, but there we are. People are complicated.

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That is a very elaborate reply, thank you :slight_smile:

Actually, my question was more about “rules of Welsh poetry meter”, because I can guarantee you that I can miss the rhythm in a Welsh poem :sweat_smile: but your advice was very helpful in a way I didn’t even think of yet. Diolch o galon!

I’m really not an “out aloud” person, but with your help and the imaginary Aran in my head saying that “you are MEANT to make mistakes”, I guess I’ll just have to make the recording one of these days :wink:

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My brief question for today.
I’ve seen and heard “up” and “down” expressed as “i lan” and “i lawr” elsewhere. I was in a lift the other day and the invisible voice used those terms. In the examples SSIW uses, the ‘i’ is dropped. E.g. “mynd lan y wal”. Am I missing something here?
Thanks

My S.Welsh is a bit rusty, but I think lan is used on it’s own whereas lawr (and fyny for ‘up’ in the North) need the i (happy to be corrected if I’ve mis-remembered)
“dwi’n mynd lan i’r Gogledd” / “dwi’n mynd i fyny i’r Gogledd” / Dwi’n mynd i lawr i’r De"

With lawr the “i” is optional. Dw i’n mynd lawr i’r parc (I’m going down to the park) or Dere lawr nawr! (Come down now!) are fine :slight_smile:

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Posted this for interest. I often try talk to the checkout lady in Swansea’s Morrison in Welsh as it is good practice for me. After the usual trivialities she asked me what I was doing this afternoon after shopping. I replied “Dw I’n torri’r glaswellt” , which she understood (thankfully) as cutting the grass. The interesting bit was she said “torri’r gwair”. So I’m assuming “gwair” is a very local dialect word for grass. I looked it up and the formal definition is “hay”, same thing I suppose. Anyone else come across this?

Torri gwair is commonly used for “cutting grass” - even up here in the North, so not local dialect. Anweledig (from Blaenau) had a song called “Torri Gwair” about someone who got community service for growing * ahem * ‘grass’ and the chorus was “Torri gwair am dyfu gwair…”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BN8_PsBpBY

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