How does Welsh sound to you?

**Jackson** · 12-24-2012, 09:55 PM

[YOUTUBE]SFrCCjZRi0E[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]oJDFlmjbr98[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]EuEXS6dY2vQ[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]2gyyHrko1TQ[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]RrczmOGkV6Y[/YOUTUBE]

**~~archangel~~** · 12-24-2012, 10:02 PM

sounds cool very

**Smaug** · 12-24-2012, 10:02 PM

A little like Gaelic. Like Tolkien, I fell in love with this language.

**Damião de Góis** · 12-24-2012, 10:10 PM

Are there actually native speakers? I think there was some welsh language revival recently?

**Jackson** · 12-24-2012, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by Alex Delarge

Are there actually native speakers? I think there was some welsh language revival recently?

Yeah, i believe there are supposedly around 500,000 Welsh speakers, although probably 2 or 3 times that know some Welsh. A lot of rural areas in Wales probably never really stopped speaking Welsh, but some parts of Wales have been speaking English for many centuries instead. Recently there has been a big revival in both Celtic identity and Welsh language, as well as Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic.

So really a lot of Welsh people are re-learning the language of their ancestors, while some other's never really stopped.

Edit: Of course a similar language (Brythonic, a so called P-Celtic language) was common across most of Britain a couple of thousand years ago, but it survived in some areas of the Island in the Southwest (Cornwall), West (Wales) and parts of the North-West (Cumbric). I believe the old north-west from about Lancashire up through Cumbria and in to parts of south-west Scotland was known as Hen Ogledd (The Old North), and also resisted language conversion longer.

**rashka** · 12-24-2012, 10:14 PM

I detect some guttural H sounds.

**Damião de Góis** · 12-24-2012, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jackson

So really a lot of Welsh people are re-learning the language of their ancestors, while some other's never really stopped.

Yeah, this is where i had doubts. I think in Wales everyone is a native english speaker, or is this incorrect?

**Jackson** · 12-24-2012, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Alex Delarge

Yeah, this is where i had doubts. I think in Wales everyone is a native english speaker, or is this incorrect?

Yes that's correct as far as i know. All of the Welsh know how to speak English, i'm sure, but many who have learnt it will use it whenever they can, to aid in it's revival. I believe there are some small differences in the languages and customs of North Wales and South Wales, so in that sense Wales also has a North-South split, like England and Ireland.

**Jack B** · 12-24-2012, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by rashka

I detect some guttural H sounds.

Yes I think a lot more than in Irish (Gaeilge):

[YOUTUBE]xsBv1ukVp9U[/YOUTUBE]

There are quite a lot of native Welsh speakers as far as I know btw, they would all probably still know English though of course.

**Jackson** · 12-24-2012, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by Jack B

Yes I think a lot more than in Irish (Gaeilge):

[YOUTUBE]xsBv1ukVp9U[/YOUTUBE]

There are quite a lot of native Welsh speakers as far as I know btw, they would all probably still know English though of course.

That's interesting. Irish does indeed sound a lot 'cleaner/smoother' (as in less Guttural sounds). I used to watch Gaelic programs when i went on holiday there but i can't remember the language very well to be honest, was probably too young to be too concerned over it. Couldn't understand a word, but it was interesting.