Welsh books to be bought start of list

Welsh books on my to buy list:

(1) Author: Ifan Morgan Jones

Title: Yr Argraff Gyntaf

Publication date August 2010

Publisher: Y Lolfa, Tal-y-Bont

ISBN 9781847712677

(2) Author: Bethan Gwanas

Title: Yn ol i Gbara

Publication date October 2010

Publisher: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst

ISBN 9781845272838

Having borrowed most of the books I have read recently, I feel a little guilty after reading a couple of pleas from Welsh writers for us to buy their books. The potential audience is not so large - and apparently Welsh speakers are not big book buyer - so if we want our favourite authors to continue we need to support them. Hence I have identified some books to buy as opposed to borrow

Back to work and weekend course coming up

We're at the end of the Christmas holiday period now and although I've had over a week off, I was ill for quite a few days so did less of nearly everything than I had hoped to. I had finished the novel that Jim had found me (Omelet) just beforehand and had T Llew jones's autobiography (Fy Mhobol I) at home with me (on interlibrary loan). I finished T Llew Jones - though some of it was a bit of a struggle, especially the chapters on the eisteddfod that talk about the entries - and give examples of the poems. The poems themselves are not that easy to follow or understand (for me, anyway) but he was a fascinating and very energetic man. I've now read a few of his children's books too - which are very good.

I also started and finished a Welsh classic by Daniel Owen - probably (this might be showing my ignorance) the first modern Welsh novelist. Styled as an autobiography it gave a really interesting account of the restricted life led by many people in small villages and towns in some parts of Wales - also the strength of religion at the time - and the fear around it.

But now I am out of books that I have not already read - except for ones that I have given up on - and may try yet again. I booked into the Pontypool course in the end so we'll see how it goes - I'm looking forward to it though a bit apprehensive as it isn't residential so I have the delights of the holiday inn (or something similar can't remember). And apart from a Welsh boost I should also be able to buy some new books

New Year courses

I am hoping to get to at least one short course in the New Year and dithering between a weekend course in Pontypwl (good because don't need to take leave from work - but bad because rather a long journey........) and one in Bangor - mid-week (so would need to take leave); faster journey but more expensive course (with no food provided). Hmmm. Perhaps I should have had the foresight to realise that I would want to get back to my Welsh before I moved to England and so far away from any opportunities to speak Welsh. But this was many many years ago.

But at least I am relearning in a digital age with access to SC4; radio cymru on the web and podcasts to listen to whilst I am cycling. I am struggling to find enough audio in Welsh though and had to resort last week to listen to quite a long programme on Highland cattle whilst I was cycling home. Nothing against highland cattle - I like them - but it would not have been my choice of listening, not for a whole 40 minutes.

And I am going to try harder to keep writing in Welsh. Though I am now in the position where I email a few people in Welsh and talk on the phone sometimes so I am not just reliant on writing in the Welsh blog.

Still here....

I haven't posted to either this blog or the welsh one for a little while - but this doesn't mean I have been doing no Welsh. I went to the Welsh summer school in Abergavenny at the end of July and had a really good week. And part of the benefit is in being able to buy more Welsh books, so I came away with a small pile, once again.

Gareth has lent me two books, one a novel and one of short stories. The novel is by Dafydd Llewelyn, entitled Tocyn I'r Nefoedd (ticket to heaven) and is both very funny and rather sad - an odd story about a minister in a very small conservative minded village who is pilloried for inadvertently having helped a family win the lottery - which enables them to take their daughter who has leukemia for treatment to the States. Sadly, the treatment does not work - and neither does his relationship (or job) work out - but for once the suggestion on the back cover that the reader will be crying and laughing in turn is not far from the truth.

I also finished Mared Lewis's Y Maison du Soleil - about relationships between a group of friends on their annual French holiday. And I have just finished Y Stryd (The Street) - a detective novel which was really good. And also Chris Cope's book about learning Welsh (Cwrw am Ddim) Perhaps more on that in another post.

I intend to really learn the new words as I go along - but often get caught up in the book itself though I often do go back and make a list of the translations I pencil in on the pages for the unknown words. I hope that by reading the new words in context I will remember them - but acquiring new vocabulary seems to take a long time.

It's often interesting though as I have noted before to see what the Welsh word for something is - take Barrister. It's literally "Bar - solicitor" - nice and easy to remember (assuming you know solicitor - bar is the same as in English as it happens).

So now I need to be disciplined to keep going not only on the reading but also on the vocabular and grammar as there will be a gap before the next course. There is a day school in Caernarfon I hope to get to in November and likewise in London - but that is a long way away.....

Not sure this blog is quite dead

My intention for my Welsh was to move this year to only blog in Welsh. http://aildysgu.blogspot.com/
I have indeed tried to do this and will keep going. The main problem I think is that the main thing I do in Welsh (apart from watching TV and sometimes listening to the radio) is to read books. I'm finding it very hard to effectively post up mini book reviews in Welsh - and I'm also finding it much harder to write in Welsh than I do to speak.

I haven't given up yet - I will try to see if I can keep going all year. But I may need to broaden what I post about - and just not worry about the level of the Welsh. The practice can only help...........

Last post in this blog? Or is it? What is fluency? and challenges of a new blog for 2009

The long long gap between this and my last blog is mainly because I broke my wrist badly in the summer, and ended up needing lots of hand therapy on it, though it is much better now and I can type reasonably comfortably again, though a bit slower than I used to. So, I got out of the blogging habit, but am now back (though maybe just for a while - read on!)

So, what has this meant for my Welsh? Well I have still been doing as much as possible – went to a weekend in Abergavenny in September when my arm was still in plaster, and to a day school in London in October, but unfortunately had an infection and missed the last weekend I was planning to go to.

So, this is probably a good time to reflect on where I have got to over the last few months, and I think on the whole, it's gone well. It's really hard to assess progress. I am doing different activities from those I did near the start: I listened to the Welsh soap downloaded from the website whilst cycling (this has been out, as I am not yet back to cycling..........); I listened to the lunchtime and after lunchtime news programme. I didn't have the welsh TV channel nor was Clic available on the web (the welsh channel 4's equivalent of watch again), so, I do much more tv watching, both live and catching up on the internet. I have kept up the reading, tackling a new novel and autobiography recently. And when I go to my Welsh courses, I sign up for the highest group, which for the course at the Hill, certainly requires you to be fluent. This has got me thinking about what fluency is – not straightforward. It can be different for different categories, as below:

fluency in understanding speech For me, this is pretty good, certainly fine in everyday conversation where there isn't too much unknown vocabulary - i.e. colloquial Welsh, I guess. Much spoken Welsh, like (I guess)many minority langauges living alongside majority languages has lots of borrowings from English – it is only in certain contexts that the correct Welsh term is used or in formal settings. (Indeed some of the Welsh words have only come into existence a little while ago). I am gradually building up my more formal vocabulary but it us slower so much slower than I would like.

Fluency in reading – well this is a bit like the category above, depending again on the vocabulary. But I am really enjoying my forays into Welsh literature.
The grammar doesn't usually get in the way in these categories – except in old literature – then forms are used differently

Fluency in speakiong = unfortunately this doesn't get tried out often enough – but it is not bad – I often can't think of the words I want but in speaking there is always the option of using a different one instead (if you can find one!)

fluency in writing – OK, this is where I don't do as well. I get no practice in writing - and hence, from now on, am going to practice through my blog. I am going to see whether I can set up a Welsh blog which facilitates the accents etc needed - if not, will simply set up a new one which will be mainly in Welsh, but my aim is to also provide an English summary - though this may not always happen - so do check it out

Here is the address for the new blog: http://aildysgu.blogspot.com/ Aildysgu - menas "re-learning"
I am also exploring writing a nature blog: http://newportnature.blogspot.com/

mobile Welsh back again and some history

For a number of reasons I have been less active on the Welsh front in the last month or so. Visiting Conwy gave me a bit of a boost and, perhaps more importantly, some Welsh books. It is always much better browsing in a shop rather than buying a bit blind through the internet. But what would be best would be a Welsh lending library by post - so if anyone reads this and knows of one, please please let me know. Meanwhile digital media play a large part in my attempts to build up my vocabulary in this rather un-Welsh spot of the UK. I am starting to catch up on Welsh music - there is a wealth of great riches out there. Not surprisingly it has moved on a lot since I left, but I am only just starting to find out about some of the singers and bands. I'm very much looking forward to having time (some time maybe........) to get to some live events but of course these are also thin on the ground in Milton Keynes.

I also try to watch the regular evening magazie programme "Wedi Saith". This is a really creative and excellent programme. Imagine you have a TV channel in a language that has a relatively small number of speakers and who are distributed over Wales - what would you put on as a regular half hour slot in the evening? Wedi Saith is a really interesting magazine programme featuring mainly Arts and cultural events in Wales, but quite a diverse range of features. Through the programme I have discovered that there is a Welsh 'lost garden' (think Heligan but with an amazing series of underground passages/grottos which I am now itchingn to visit). I have also learnt about the history of the ferry to Anglesey from my home town of Caernarfon and of the time when all but one of the passengers were drowned after many were drinking heavily at the Christmas fair. The "Arvon" (note the English spelling) was quite a large steamer licensed to carry 300 persons : bought in 1896 and sold in 1923. In addition to passengers the steamer carried animals and goods destined for Caernarfon Market. And excitingly there are plans to perhaps re-introduce a ferry/boat crossing - wh ich would mean crossing in possibly 15 minutes instead of having to go the 9 miles or so to the Menai Bridge.