They get all worked up over keeping Wales Welsh! But they use english words when it suits because they could'nt be arsed to invent their own!...Come on taffs burn the flag! We will let you say your english if you like!
2006-09-30 06:40:30 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
You know what I mean dont you...'Nos-dar' library...bottom, fish, banana!..Dave!
2006-09-30 06:51:52 · update #1
this is a joke right?! as far as i'm concerned you should know a little more about your own language before slagging off someone elses. for a start english is a mongrel language (not necessarily a bad thing) where do you think the word difficult comes from? its from the french word dificile, yes the french, you know your biggest friends in the world.
other english words of french origin:
beef, castle, court, jolly, abolish, battle, beagle, bombard, brave, campaign, cassette, cavalry, cheat, cinema, county, country, courageous, damn, derive, dessert, devour, dignity, diplomacy, diverse, eagle, ecstasy, emperor, empire, enemy, environment, example, exploit, failure, farce, farm, fertility, flower, future, gallant, general, generous, genius, gorgeous, grace, grammar, hazard, hotel, ignorance, integrity, intelligence, ivory, jelly, justice, kilogramme, laundry, liberty, license, lozenge, machine, marriage, masculine, memory, mercy, military, monarch, money, mount, mustard, naive, noble, nun, nurse, object, opinion, oppress, optimism, original, palace, pathetic, pencil, philosophy, platform, pleasure, pledge, plumber, popular, pork, pregnant, princess, pronoun, adjective, province, purify, question, quit, rave, reclaim, regret, restaurant, roman, romance, round, royal, sabotage, science, second, sentence, sex, shop, socialism, soldier, stuff, stupid, surrender, table, tampon, tax, telegraph, tennis, theatre, toilet, university, universe, verdict, vintage, virgin, volume, wage.
Also 40% of english vocabulary is of french origin
some english words of welsh origin:
bard, coracle, corgi, druid, flannel, penguin, coombe, crag, tor, crockery, dad.
but i'm sure you'll have a reason for these, as people like you always have. out to knowingly upset people without even doing their own research! the truth is welsh is a completely different language with a different structure and everything. the majority of welsh words are of welsh origin, mainly down to welsh being 2000 years older than english, even older than latin.
your type of arrogant and ignorant (both words of french origin BTW!) behaviour is sickening and you should really grow up. now you've got what you were looking for at least from me so go read a book or something, learn a bit of life before opening your mouth to some more utter crap.
goodnight.
2006-09-30 07:56:19 · answer #1 · answered by Dazza 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Hi,
you raise some interesting questions.
1) Why keep Welsh alive?
This is a very political question wrapped up in a lot of cultural concerns (or maybe it's the other way round?), either way I think the best way of looking at it is to imagine that pretty much overnight you had to learn a brand new language just to get by. You'd resent that wouldn't you? So, culture and politics collide and keeping Welsh alive has become a huge political football. Of course, once you speak it and use it and enjoy books, music, tv etc in the language it becomes a part of you and day to day the politics matters less.
2) Why use English words?
A previous post outlined exactly how little English is English! Read "The Adventure of English" by Melvyn Bragg, it's quite intesesting! As a Welsh speaker who also has a knowledge of French, Spanish and Hebrew I am actually impressed by how LITTLE English is used in Welsh. (Computer - cyfrifiadur, CD is amazingly, still CD "Cryno Disg", download - lawrlwythiad).
A colleague once made fun our word for Ambulance - Ambiwlans. The spelling is different but the pronounciation is the same. It's pretty much ambulance in most European languagues isn't it? Is ambulance an English word? Nope, sorry - it's two Greek words shoved together and was invented by a French surgeon during the napoleonic wars.
Welsh speakers live in the UK and have English around them all the time and yes, I struggle for the right word sometimes (I've lived in England for years now) and we recognise this and it's not a big deal. If you were bilingual you'd do the same.
3) Myths.
I have travelled a lot in my own country both as a Welsh speaker and an English speaker (eg - my mates dictate the language) and I have never had the experience of walking into a pub or shop and hearing the language change. I think because you don't cross the sea or show your passport and the only material difference is that the signs on the roads are twice as big and the writing half as small due to the original Welsh place names, then you EXPECT people to speak English as you walk through the door and it takes your brain a second to register "hang on, this is a bit odd....". One thing that is true, due to the lack of understanding of the language situation, sometimes Welsh speakers will quite happily talk about you, right in front of you! Did you see Big Brother in the summer? I loved those two - Imogen and Glyn, so funny! But of course, you needed subtitles, which were toned down!!!!!
5) Burn the flag.
What? and swap it for that stripy mis-hung monstrosity? No thanks mate.
2006-10-01 05:38:36 · answer #2 · answered by sd5 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
we keep our welsh language because in the days of the iron masters they forbid the welsh workers from speaking welsh or lose their jod if they disobeyed what their employers wanted. Children were punished by english school teachers for speaking their native tounge, and these english teachers were brought in by the Ironmasters.There was a time when the whole of Britain was welsh speaking. The welsh language is spoken world wide, not just in Wales. The English do not have a language of their own. What they have is a combination of other languages. They do not even have their own national costume.We still have decendants of the true Welsh royal family.Prince Charles is not the true Prince of Wales either.At least our royal family are Welsh and not of German blood as the present Royal family are.
2006-10-01 13:01:43 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Phew,Dazza uses a lot of words but doesn't say very much! I think there should be a limit on the length of answers.
Back to the question. I think that the Welsh are very proud of their country and they have every right to be. However, I suspect that secretly they would rather speak English because it is a more beautiful and richer language.
I remember going into a shop in North Wales a couple of years ago and the proprietor and a customer were speaking in English but as I walked in they began to speak Welsh. They may have had something private to say but as they were talking about the weather I very much doubt it. Anyway,why were they speaking English in the first place?
2006-09-30 08:35:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 7⤋
I am half Welsh and do not speak Welsh but I am 100% in favour of the Welsh keeping their language. Why shouldn't they? I love to hear people speaking in their own language. I am in favour of the Irish and Scots learning Gaelic and the Bretons speaking Breton. People from these places have a rich culture and tradition and their language is one way of helping to keep it all alive.
The Welsh are British, so I can't understand your attitude. Are you as much against foreign languages spoken by ethnic 'minorities' who have come to live in England?
2006-09-30 06:50:32 · answer #5 · answered by ? 5 · 10⤊ 0⤋
This year came Ælle to Britain, with his three sons, Cymen, and Wlencing, and Cissa, in three ships; landing at a place that is called Cymenesora. There they slew many of the Welsh (Wealas); and some in flight they drove into the wood that is named Andredesleage.
Then they chased the Welsh out of England into the mountains of Cymru (or something like that). Then later England invaded Wales. Why didn't we chase the Welsh out of Wales and then we wouldn't be having any of this nonsense and they would be playing with a round ball.
2006-09-30 06:55:55 · answer #6 · answered by Perseus 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋
it's coz welsh have f all other than their stupid language to keep them unique. They are brainwashed at a young age that wales is great and they should be really proud. That's why they all have to learn welsh. They get the prejudices from their elders who hate england.
Oh well at least they don't have a welsh republican army.
2006-09-30 06:45:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 13⤋
I just can't understand why anyone would want to keep their own culture? Language is a major part of cultural identity, but if we all spoke the same language and had the same religion and had the same politics, it would be a more peaceful, yet boring, world. Anyone want to start the voting on which language, religion, politics, music, fashion, bed time stories we keep and which we try to push into oblivion..... ? One person one vote.... We would all be speaking chinese.
Why should you care or have any say in the matter?
2006-09-30 06:46:34 · answer #8 · answered by Mr Cellophane 6 · 8⤊ 2⤋
I'm English, but my family are Welsh and Welsh speakers and I have a question for you.....
How would you feel if someone told you
"What's the point in speaking English? Don't bother, just speak German all the time!"
This a pathetic question and you make me ashamed to call myself English!!!
2006-10-01 10:33:14 · answer #9 · answered by Kirk_84 4 · 5⤊ 0⤋
There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning an old language, provided that it is a second language. I am thinking of Basque or the Creole French in southern USA, provided that they learn the official language of the state in this case english.
Its rather quaint in fact, and good for tourism, as is the gallic in Scotland.
Provided it is not pushed down the throats of visitors then it's OK
2006-09-30 07:08:28 · answer #10 · answered by xenon 6 · 0⤊ 6⤋