About the Welsh language 

I would like to say as a native Welsh speaker thank you for covering our language so clearly and beautifully. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I’m a first language speaker from a farm in the Snowdonia nation park mountains, and i must say im so thrilled to see the language spoken about by a non native speaker so eloquently and positively. Thank you so much 💖

I'm Irish and we speak Irish. I can speak my native language. But did you know out of all the Celtic languages Welsh has the most native speakers in the world. Irish he's the most by 2nd language but Welsh takes the cake as they're mother tongue. Keep Welsh alive Wales👍👍

Welsh: utterly gorgeous, completely phonetic, almost no irregular verbs, the oldest literature in Europe. What's not to love? It feels like a mouthful of rubies when I speak it.

I'm Welsh, so naturally I went into this video skeptical about how accurate it would be. Just want to say I was very impressed by the depth of research you've put into it. Thank you for bringing awareness to my wonderful language!

My 98-year-old Mum was born and raised in Betws y Coed. Although she has been in Canada since the late 1940s, she has kept her Welsh and still speaks it fluently. I love the language.

As a Welsh speaker I'm very impressed with the quality of this video. Great research and good to hear a non Welsh speaker complimenting the language. Chwarae teg a diolch yn fawr (Fair play and thanks very much).

This young lady is amazing! I'm welsh, and a Welsh speaker, and the amount times I hear the language dismissed as "not even a real language", resulting in people not even trying to pronounce the most simple of Welsh words is frustrating and at times insulting, yet the pronunciation in this video was almost perfect. Very good video, and very nice to see the language given the respect it deserves, thankyou 👌

I'm from Patagonia , argentina! My great-grandfathers were from wales! Interesting video

Cymru am byth. Fun fact: There are more castles in Wales than anywhere else in Europe because our ancestors were such ungovernable bastarau. It's probably why the language has survived so long.

I am a Filipina and I want to learn the Welsh languange. I am now on my 2nd week learning Welsh in Duolingo😂

So happy that the Welsh are fighting to keep the language alive. My father’s people are from Bala. I’m American. I hope to visit someday. Now I know why I love to sing.

It's nice to see so many positive comments about the Welsh language from around the world. Ardderchog, diolch yn fawr.

There are a few Welsh speaking people here in South Eastern Lancaster PA. They continue to teach it in the only Welsh chapel.

Diolch yn barchus i chi! This video covers the language so beautifully! The main reason it did start to die off was due to being banned not once, but twice. It only recently regained status equal to English in 1993! If you're curious about this, research on the act of union 1536, the treachery of the blue books (Brad y llyfrau gleision 1847) where a member of parliament decided that Welsh language was barbaric and only served to hold the Welsh people back, and also the use of the Welsh Not in Schools through the 1900's Despite everything, all the oppression, us Welsh are a very stubborn people and our language continues to thrive to this day! It's wonderful to see more people taking an interest in, and learning the language, during the course of this pandemic. O byddedd i'r hen iaith barhau!

Shwmae a prynhawn da! Kate dw i! 😊 What a wonderful video! 😍 Welsh is my family’s ancestral language. In 1833, my 4th great grandfather, grandmother, and their six children came to America and still spoke Welsh in their home. Unfortunately, it was lost by the next generation. I am 40 years old, and a month ago, I began to learn Welsh to feel more connection to my ancestors and also for the beauty of the language. I now know over 300 words. 🥳 Reading Welsh is a lot easier for me than hearing and speaking, but it’s early days. I would love to be able to be fluent in Welsh, and I’ll put in the work! Diolch! 😊❤️

I am self taught speaker of Irish (Gaeilge) and there is a saying, "Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without a soul.” A quote from Patrick Pearse.

I don't know how I arrived here, but I'm a history nerd so I'm staying.

As a Welsh speaker is was so lovely to hear a non-Welsh speaker promoting our fascinating and historic language. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I love this culture, blessed to have it in Patagonia. Regards from Puerto Madryn, Chubut 🖤

Warms my heart they protect their beautiful languages x

I am from Wales and speak fluent Welsh, it really is a great language. I went to an all Welsh primary school. I speak what you called ‘southern Welsh’. It can be very difficult to remember all the mutations when writing Welsh, I find it much easier to speak than read or write. It’s very interesting to see what other people think about something I have grown up with an consider a part of normal everyday life.

As an English man married to a Welsh speaking wife, (we were married in Welsh) - this video is a perfect example and explanation of and about the Welsh language . Thank you!

A lovely language, and Tolkien's Sindarin Elvish was heavily influenced by Welsh!

I’m watching from Vancouver 🇨🇦 - I’m part Welsh on my mother’s side. Fond memories of visiting Cymru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ... and meeting the older relatives. Hope to return after this pandemic is over.

Is really important preserve the diversity of languajes in Europe. My people, The Basques know so well how hard can be preserve a languaje, we speak Basque or Euskara, an isolated languaje, the only pre Indoeropean languaje alive in Europe, actually we are not more than a million speakers but we make a great enfort to preserve and we still doing for sure! So dont give up and preserve your languaje! Is a cultural heritage and not only for people of welsh is a treasure for European culture to.

I tried to teach myself the Welsh language from library books before I had internet. I was determined but it was difficult. I did learn a lot about how the language was suppressed by England through school and laws. Thank you for this.

as a welsh person who cannot speak welsh, it can feel very isolating and i have been made to feel inadequate by native welsh speakers for not being welsh enough (don’t get me started on the “get over the bridge” comments i’ve received), though i was born and raised here. i have been practicing online and soon going to start classes, thanks for this video, wales and the welsh language don’t get talked about enough.

Thoughts on the Welsh language: beautiful to my ear.

I found this to be one of the more informative dissertations on the Welsh language but you also added a lovely measure of intrigue and nuance to the subject, You are truly a gifted linguist, Diolch!

Welsh speaker here, hi. Loved your video. It's people like you who bring our language to the mainstream and I really appreciate you for it. So, storytime. I was in America at a birthday party when I was younger (16?) and everyone kept asking me where I was from. But there was this one guy who asked me, kind of in that, "hey everybody, look at me!" kind of way? And I said, "I'm from Australia, but from Wales originally" as I'd said about 1,000 times that night" And this boy every so confidently said "Oh, I can speak Welsh too!". So I'm like, yeah, go on. And he says "Sigh May! Why do I'n seared (and I kid you not) SIMREEOO!!!" I tell you I died. I died that day. To think this boy was obviously bragging about his knowledge of Welsh only to have read and memorised "Cymraeg" as "SIM-ree-oo"! Oh, always a good laugh at that one. So, Diolch. And for those who want to say "I speak Welsh" but not actually learn anything else, 1st, don't. Have some self-respect. And 2nd it's pronounced "Do een SHAR-rad come-RAIGH" And yes, Phonetic transcription IS my specialty ;)

I've been studying Welsh for a couple of years and it calls to me more than any other language I've learned or studied.

As a Welsh person who continues to speak Welsh fluently, this video makes me so happy :') diolch yn fawr iawn Julie!

I live in Wales (though I'm not Welsh, pretty sure you can tell by my surname) and it is hearthwarming to see the bilingual signs, street names or sometimes even announcements in stores. Myself I can only speak few words in Welsh, but love hearing about it. As for your question, I'd say that a lot of languages in Europe could follow the Welsh example. I think that in a way the government of Ireland tries to revitalize Irish and I wish them luck w/that. Personally I would love to see that kind of strong preservation practice within the speakers of Sorbian and Kashubian. Would also love to see you makin videos about those languages. Or even better, about the Wymysorys language. Look at that one if you haven't heard about it, it is amazing.

It's so nice to see the Welsh language being recognised! I'm fluent Welsh so this is lovely for me! Diolch Cariad ❤

I live in the U.S. a small town named Wales in Michigan. I was just curious about the history of the original Welsh people and language. Thanks for this intriguing lesson.

I spent my teenage years in Welsh-speaking Wales, and it's my guess that about half a million people speak Welsh as a first language while about the same number again (including people like me) learned the language at school or evening classes and speak it as a second language. Usually not that fluently because real spoken Welsh differs a lot from school Welsh and literary Welsh is different again ~ a kind of diglossia. The unusual L sound also exists in Mongolian, I heard...

Thanks again Julie. Your attitude towards language exploration is always refreshing. And it's obvious that you put a lot of work into understanding them. More please!

As a native English person, with an interest in Welsh, I was impressed by this well researched piece. Great job !

As an American who traces nearly half her roots to Wales, and has always been both curious about and flummoxed by the language, I found this fascinating. Thank you!

Best national anthem and always, always the best sung!

Thank you for taking the time to pronounce the words properly. There are so many people who done videos and not even bothered and just pronounce the words as if they were English. Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi.

I’m Welsh amd I never see videos about Wales and the Welsh language so this is so nice to watch, the Welsh language is extremely important to me, so important that I go to a Welsh school and I speak Welsh to ny family and friends outside of school too! Diolch am creu hyn a cael pobl i deall mwy am cymraeg! ( thank you for making this and get people to understand more about Welsh) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

this is such an amazing video! as someone from north wales who speaks northern welsh, it's crazy to see how different the dalects are around the country!!!

Welsh choirs are beautiful to listen to in their own language and so passionate. The Welsh nation anthem has to be one of the best in the world. Unfortunately the english in past eons tried to destroy this language but failed. Even though I'm not welsh I do enjoy telling my english friends that welsh is the original language of britain and that english is really a scandinavian language.

So nice to see such a beautiful person inform the world on the Welsh language. I was born and raised in Wales and had my education through the medium of Welsh. Thank you very much for shedding some light on the language as the country is often overlooked and forgotten globally. I couldn't be happier watching and listening to your overview of the language, and your grammar is spot on!

Fascinating video! I’ve just discovered your channel and I love your way of talking about languages - your passion (which I share) is absolutely felt! I live in Shropshire, in England but very near to the Welsh border. This has convinced me that I should begin learning this beautiful language…

Diolch Julie, you made a very thorough video that was perfectly structured and paced. Welsh can be a challenging language but it's also very rewarding. I know a lot of people will have a better grasp of Welsh because of your video. Da iawn ac dal ati!

Diolch Julie - da iawn. Your pronunciation was very good. The only points I'd make are: 'y' as you say can be liken 'i' sound, but it's usually a schwa. The definate article is 'y' which is pronounced as a schwa, 'uh' (yr if word after it starts with a vowel). Counting, there is a 'classical' way, which is similar to French, or, it seems, French is similar to Welsh as it may be proof of the Celtic Gaulish language subratatum in French, but the modern counting system is decimal so, for instance: 31 classical is "un ar ddeg ar hugain" (one and ten on twenty) but modern decimal is "tri deg un" (three ten one). This modern system was developed by the Welsh colony in Patagonia as they started the first ever proper Welsh medium schools there (Welsh was banned in Wales and children could be hit for speaking it) and they found that the classical counting system was too cumbersome for mathematics. The other small point I'd make is, there is a standard Welsh but, unlike, say in English is does allow for local variation. So, for instance a news reader may use the word 'rwan' (northern) or 'nawr' (southern) for the word 'now' in English, and both are acceptable. The big difference between spoken and written Welsh (though again this isn't a hard rule) is that increasingly Welsh speakers aren't running the verb, so not using the more condensed version e.g. "I ran" - "rhedais i" (condensed, 'standard') "dwi wedi rhedeg" (colloquial). Why this is, is difficult to understand, as the consended version is shorter, maybe people don't want to remember how to run the verb and may reflect a growing number of second language speakers who may not feel so confident in knowing how to run the verb. (I understand this happens in other languages too, like Hebrew?) The first clip you used, ironically, was a humorous sketch about the Welsh Language Commissioner, discussing the Welsh language! I don't know if you knew that! But thanks for the video, it was good - and thanks for the support. We're in the shadow of the world's most powerful language ever and it's a testament to our strength that we're 'yma o hyd': ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZpaYJT-5MHc.html

I had no idea about the magnificent history of the welsh. Greetings from México.

as a native speaker i love how you did this so nicely

I'm currently learning welsh and it's kinda hard but everytime I speak a sentence it feels epic.

Diolch yn fawr iawn am dangos diddordeb yn ein iaith....thank you very much for showing interest in our language I love it when someone shows a real interest and doesn't want to push it aside as a "nuisance language" Diolch o'r galon.❤️

I'm actually quite impressed you took the time to research the word combrogi, most Welsh people don't even know that, or the word pritani... a great video, it's always awesome to see our beautiful and ancient language being appreciated by others.

Fantastic. I love they way you glided over history, language inventory, grammar and linguistics so smoothly. Great job. Thank you.

This is very comprehensive, but it does miss the part where English language was forced upon the Welsh. The Welsh Knott happened, children were forced to forget the language with physical punishment! The English nearly destroyed the Welsh language! We’re very lucky it survived! Cymru am byth!

/ɬ/ I learned living in Musqueam country on the west coast of Canada! It was awesome learning Cymraeg has this sound, too!

Thank you Julie!! Fascinating video combing historical and cultural facts with their consequences on Welsh language. Keep it up!!!

I’m Welsh and this is surprisingly accurate I’m glad you made this video to educate people love this video x

Most of my family is Welsh and we're very proud to be Welsh especially with the culture, beautiful language and landscapes🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 I'm seeing Wales and the Welsh language being represented more recently and I'm glad to see there are many people from different ethnicities learning our languages it's how everyone should be towards other cultures ❤️

I am of Welsh heritage but was born and raised in the United States. I just learned today that the Welsh language exists. Thank you for this video!

The accents of north and south vary greatly e.e Sut mae hi: How is it (informal North: su'mai South:shwmae

Hello from England, please keep your language alive! Every language has something unique to it, so keeping them is interesting!

OUTSTANDING job, Julie ! Your mastery of the subtleties and "quirks" of English grammar and syntax is amazing. I very much enjoy listening to your presentations. Keep up the good work. Congratulations from Pennsylvania in the US, and best wishes for the New Year. S'nami bog.

I've wanted to learn Welsh for years, even though I'm American. Mostly to order at McDonald's in Welsh...

Diolch! Loved you accent when using Welsh words!!

I think I could listen to you forever. Your voice is just so calming and lovely. Your content is wonderful - especially to someone like me who has devoted his life to linguistics and cultural immersion. I only found your channel yesterday and am excited to follow along with you!

This is extremely interesting! Thank you for making this video. Please continue!!

Thank you for an informative video about Cymraeg. Cymru was forced into the UK through English colonisation rather than joining voluntarily as some might think. Our language didn’t almost die of its own accord - it was rather almost killed off by the English through concerted political efforts to vanquish it. E.g. banning it in courts etc in the acts of Union, caning welsh children for speaking welsh (Welsh Not) and Brad y Llyfrau Gleision (treachery of the blue books) where Westminster attacked the language and Welsh people as evil, lazy and stupid. The treatment of the language and the Welsh is shameful really (same with Scotland and Ireland).

This is so informative, thank you! Welsh is such a beautiful language! I'm so glad this video came up in my recommendations, subscribed 🥰

Terrific piece. Very clear and informative. Thank you!

Excellent video. You covered a very good amount and managed to do it in under ten minutes. Very impressive. Thanks for the wonderful content.

Another fantastic video!! Dear teacher, you are definitely one of a kind! You have my deepest admiration. Thank for sharing your amazing knowledge with us. Congratulations and God bless you always.

Let us not forget that King Arthur was Welsh, and therefore spoke Cymraeg, and also that the reason the Welsh peoples were reduced but still surviving, is because they were historically stubborn, and so we have the beautiful language and traces of history to this day

Great positive video. There's a school in Japan which teaches Welsh too.

I've pursued learning Welsh on my own, because of my Morgan ancestry. It's a HARD damn language, but I absolutely love it 🖤🖤🖤

Some great eye make-up going on there! When I was born Welsh was already disappearing (I lived just over the border on the English side). Then it underwent a revival and we even organised a petition at school to try and make it a foreign language taught at the school. Sadly it didn't happen.

I just found this channel. I find it fascinating. And my son is studying 'language & linguistics' at Uni. Thank you so much for such interesting information!

Thank you so much for this video… my first time seeing anything from you. I am very impressed by your clear, concise, and thorough presentation.

What an excellent video! I'm glad this popped up in my feed! Subscribed.

Wow! Excellent job! You got even the smallest historical details spot on, like the fact Breton was transplanted to France by Brythonic speakers fleeing the Anglo Saxon invasion of what would become England

Well done! It gave me a good feeling when u said that they are trying to help their language.

Brilliant presentation - so insightful and full of historical accuracies regarding our wonderful Welsh language - diolch yn fawr am rannu

It is a wonderful experience every time I listen to your channel. Congratulations!

Very interesting! Thank you. Your knowledge of language structure is impressive 👍🏼

In German, welsch is an old word meaning foreign, incomprehensible. For instance, Welschschweiz is a Swiss German word for the French speaking part of Switzerland and Kauderwelsch is a German word for incomprehensible speech.

Hey Julie!!! Again, I LOVE your channel SOOO much, & the VERY beautiful tongue of Y Gymraeg!!! 😍😃

Nice work probably one of the most informative videos, documented information broken down into specifics and related others

My Grandmother is from Galway and speaks West Ulster Irish. She has Dementia now and she has forgotten most English words. She still speaks Irish though. I'm a native speaker. The Language was stolen from us for many years but thanks to some brave men and women we finally got it back. Dia dhaoibh Éire

Awesome video Julie. Cheers from Argentina

This video is lovely to watch. Thank you for sharing our story. Sending you love from Wales Diolch yn fawr. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The quality of your videos is amazing ! You are stunning. Your accent is so pleasant. Im glad I stumbled upon this channel :)

I found your channel by Georgian language and oh my god im in love with the way you explain, now its my favorite channel, greetings!

I congratulate you on your scholarship. Great work. We visited Puerto Madryn, Argentina in January 2019 and as we disembarked from the ship we were surprised to be welcomed to Argentina by a group of young people dressed in Welsh costume (pointed hats and dress) waving at us. So obviously, a group of people very proud of their heritage.

Hello ! Julingo every your explanation are meaning to me very much, thanks.

Thank you Julie, for the great video.

I watched this out of curiosity, and I’m very impressed. I honestly think I will send this to anyone who says “Welsh is a dead language” or “They shouldn’t teach Welsh, no one even speaks it any more” as there are some facts in here this video that state otherwise. I’m proud of my culture and heritage, I absolutely love being able to speak Welsh whenever possible and teach my friends simple terms (mostly the swear words). This filled my heart with so much pride . Cariad mawr ❤️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Anyone have a favourite Welsh word/expression? Mine is “Fel rech mewn pot jam” gets me every time 🤣

glad to see a new upload! especially on a celtic language.

Excellent presentation. Taking so much functional details-and people who study languages can attest, quite the crux-and fitting them lucidly in less than 10 minutes is an admirable feat.

I found this video in my recommendations and I'm glad the algorithm for once knew what I like :) Thank you for covering Cymraeg so beautifully and well researched. Almaenes Gymraeg ydw i, I'm German and I studied Welsh for a few years, moved to Wales and now I'm a fluent Welsh speaker.