How to Read Welsh - a Celtic Language 

Thank you.

Yes I agree ben you are nothing short of incredible, I follow your posts with dedication. I had an educator in my early life which fuelled my interest in linguistics. so thank you!

Kind indeed. Diolch / Thank you.

Great!

Thank you. I hope the video will be able to help those beginning the journey.

You are very welcome. Cheers.

@@BenLlywelyn Prynhawn Da.

I would estimate that around %30 of Welsh's core vocabulary for simple short words, come from Latin. A contrast from English which more often took longer words from Latin.

Most kind indeed, I will try to keep using my voice.

Great you are learning Welsh. Diolch am wylio. Dal.ati / Keep at it.

Croeso / Welcome.

Excellent. Thank you for watching.

Croeso. Mae Guernsey yn 'Gehrn'.

Yes, much easier than 1st appears!

Welsh is actually a category 1 language like most Germanic languages, so it’s pretty easy, category 1 languages and category 2 languages being the easiest languages ever, including all Germanic languages and Welsh / Breton / Cornish / Manx, and, Irish / Scottish Gaelic are category 3 languages, so they aren’t as easy as Welsh, and they are the hardest languages I am learning, but I am learning all the modern Celtic languages, and also all Germanic languages like Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Danish etc! However, none of the pretty languages are phonetic languages, as phonetic language means that it looks exactly the way it sounds and that it has a consonant + vowel + consonant etc format without double consonants or double letters etc, and, Welsh looks very different in spelling and it has many double letters and two consonants or three consonants in a row, so it is the opposite of a phonetic language, and even languages such as Spanish and Italian aren’t phonetic, only semi-phonetic or partially phonetic! Welsh doesn’t look the way it sounds, as it uses W instead of U and, the U is more like an I / Y sound etc, plus the Y can be pronounced like E / A / I depending on the word, and there are words with different vowel sounds that don’t sound like in most other words, so it all depends on the word and what sounds best for each word, and, the rh is pronounced hr etc! I find its pronunciation very easy, definitely way easier than French / German / Swedish pronunciation! Tho I’m not sure about the LL sound as to me it sounds like the LL is like a type of S-sound or something like that, but I am not sure about this sound, tho it does sound just like a softer S sound, so I use a soft S sound at the moment as I don’t know how to make that exact sound yet, and I don’t know if it really is different from a S, so if it is, I will probably get it right when I get to an advanced level, if I keep hearing it and trying to figure out what type of sound it is!

Gwych.

Croeso. Mae gwyddor a dull o ysgrifenu dda iawn gan y Gymraeg.

Thank you.

Diolch am wylio / Thank you for watching!

Irish is written pretty phonetically, these days. It may not be intuitive initially, but once you learn the system it's not bad.

The Gw. Fascinating isn't it! Diolch.

Diolch yn fawr!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a find Mexican holiday!

@@BenLlywelyn Certainly!!! Ben! No problema with that! But, remember, México is the Only country on the World, who has "Religión Celebrations Every Day" Every Small Town, City, have a Catholic Church!!! Every Church has a Saint to be the guide of Town! For example: The Best City on the World (UNESCO Classified) is in "Guanajuato State, México" and His named is "San Miguel de Allende" (Saint Michael) And the Principal Church, Celebrate on September 29! Saint Michael Day! But, the celebration cover 5 days! So, imagine that We have more than 3,000 Churchs on the country!!! It means, an everyday's celebration But, is not a simple celebration... No man, "The People of the Town" Colaborate with money, to make a great celebration!!! Bands of Classical Music, Mexican Music, Impress fire works, People make Splendid Flowers Carpets!!!Over Floor!!! Hand made!!! Little Food Restaurantes, Mechanical Games, Dancing Groups, Singing Groups, etcétera So... Is an unbelievable way to celebrate!!! For example, now A Very Close Church from home, is celebrating his Saint!!! Till January 7 A World tourism leader, say, México "Is a Completely Different World" 🍇🍷🍾🥂🥩🍸☕😇🇲🇽😎

So is the R, actually. No the Rh, but the R in Welsh.

Indeed. Romanian orthography is quite straightforward also.

​@@BenLlywelyn Ea vs ia, oa vs ua * ia/ îa & wa/ ŵa. Â din a,, î din I.

Oh?

@@BenLlywelyn Well, my experience is that in reading the Mabinogion, the names are quite hard to pronounce (hence, how I found your channel trying to get some helps on the Mabinogion), whereas my attempt at Irish had changes in the sounds of different letter combinations that were hard to follow. With Scottish Gaelic, once I heard some of it, it became easier for me to follow. There seems to be more regiment with it.

I don't know IPA except for beer.

A E I O U

@@BenLlywelyn ...and perhaps "Y", as in by, shy, rhythm etc. I do like the way that Welsh is largely consistent in it's phonetics. Thanks for this video Ben - I found the content very useful, and your attitude to learning Welsh very encouraging. Diolch yn fawr, cadwch y fideos i ddod!

@@dyyony Croeso. Appreciated.

English has more than 5 vowel sounds, but has 5 vowels.