Siarad Cymraeg? Do you speak Welsh?

The Welsh language developed in the same way as that of Cornish and Breton and the extinct language of Cumbric. It is the last remnant of what was once spoken by the Celtic people of Britain before the arrival of the Angles and Saxons.

Despite the relatively small number of Welsh speakers, it is still a living language largely concentrated in the North and West with support increasing in the second half of the 20th century with the rise of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru. In 1993 the Welsh Language Act and later the Government of Wales Act 1998 made it possible for Welsh and English to be treated equally in the public sector.

Since 2000 the teaching of Welsh in schools has been compulsory for children up to the age of 16 and has helped stop the decline in Welsh language speaking.

Welsh has a Latin based written alphabet similar to that of English but with 28 letters not 26, eight of the letters consist of two letters put together...

a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y

and in Welsh there are 7 vowels, not 5.... a, e, i, o, u, w, y and there are sounds used in Welsh pronunciation that we don’t use in English.

As English language learners you are familiar with the rule of subject – verb – object , but in Welsh the system is verb – subject – object and auxiliary verbs are used a lot more.

The Welsh system of counting can best be compared to French because it is based on twenties. For example in French 70 is soixante-dix (“sixty-ten”) and 99 is quatre-vingts-dix-neuf (“four twenties nineteen”). The Welsh for 12 means the same as “two on ten”, and 24 is “ four on twenty”

The increase in Welsh has now spread to the electronics world with Welsh language interfaces for Windows XP, Vista, Microsoft Office and websites such as Facebook and Wikipedia also offering Welsh versions.

The ultimate example of the Welsh language is currently speeding its way out of our solar system as one of the 55 examples of languages on Voyager. The Welsh greeting is...

Iechyd da i chwi yn awr ac yn oesoedd – “Good health to you now and forever”