When & how to learn reading and writing Welsh?

Hello,

I’ve just started the course - currently on Level 1, Lesson 6. Obviously this course focusses on speaking and listening, but I’m just wondering at what point should I start learning how to read and write Welsh? And what resources would you recomend for that?

We generally recommend that you leave the reading side of things until you’ve got through Level 1…:slight_smile:

When you do want to go for it, I’d recommend a combination of novels for adult learners (the Nofelau Nawr series, for example) and Lingo Newydd.

And welcome to the forum! :slight_smile:

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Hello, I know this is an old thread but I’m also at the stage where I would like to start learning to read and write in Welsh, so rather than start a new thread I just thought I’d reply to this one.

Question: should I sit down and learn how to pronounce each letter in Welsh, or should I just read the vocabulary lists that come with each lesson/challenge and figure out the pronunciation of letters naturally from the context by learning the spelling of words as a whole? I’ve actually been thinking that after hearing words many times in an audio course, when one sees how they are spelt the brain figures out the pronunciations of the individual letters naturally, kind of like how in the ‘SSI’ method we are not explicitly taught grammar but we naturally and subconsciously learn it from the challenges by having to form sentences.

Anyway I digress, but I’m perfectly happy to sit down and learn how the Welsh letters are pronounced. I assume they’re phonetic and regular, unlike English? Any good resources for learning them? (I know I could just ‘Google it’, but I thought the good folk on this forum might know of some decent and efficient resources).

Thanks.

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A few ideas:

A couple of months later, I still find song lyrics the easiest way because it’s fun and I’m sure to learn to pronounce them right (while even though it’s easier to guess than English, I can’t always figure the correct way to read words by myself).

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I think your best bet would be to work through Beca’s material (Learn -> Advanced content) - listen, read the transcript, do that once a week and you’ll be ready to start trying out books that you think you might enjoy in a month or two… :slight_smile:

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Thanks, I’ll check that out. I hadn’t noticed the advanced content before.

Btw this looks like a good little guide for learning how to pronounce Welsh letters, for anyone else reading this:

http://www.go4awalk.com/fell-facts/welsh-language-pronunciation.php

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As far as pronouncing the letters and diphongs goes, the Welsh Plus videos are excellent.

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More phonetic than English, yes. But (perhaps largely due to regional variation), you can’t always go by spelling as a guide to pronunciation. Or to put it another way, there isn’t always one “correct” pronunciation. (And in some cases, there isn’t even one correct spelling!). So although I would not discourage learning how to pronounce the letters (and dipthongs) in Welsh, don’t expect that it will always lead you to a “correct” pronunciation. However, so long as you learn to take a fairly relaxed view of the relationship between the written and spoken word, reading can be a great way of extending your vocabulary.

In addition to the other suggestions, one useful resource (which I should use more often myself), is the Cymru Fyw website:

(Check out the VOCAB facility and help info).

In similar vein, there is


which has a similar VOCAB facility.

Oh yes, almost forgot: there is also the rather marvellous

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