A Basque speaker here! I hope Welsh is having a bright future despite globalisation and the influence of the massive English language. Our languages may be vulnerable but they make what we really are as Welsh/Basques.
As a Scanian (used to be it's own language pretty much then a dialect; now slowly disappearing) I can't even use the old dialect to speak to people younger than me (and according to my grandmother I would have had issues understanding her grandmother). It's weird man... Hold on to your language. 👍
@@SicketMog Scanian has never been language. It has always been either Danish or Swedish. Skånskan har aldrig varit ett eget språk. Det har alltid varit antingen danska eller svenska.
@@joelthorstensson2772 Nej den har väl aldrig räknats som det men gå tillbaka några hundra år så har gammal skånska varit snudd på sitt eget språk. Kvickt utdöende dock (tyvärr) men det skulle ju gå att åtgärda (artificiellt). Skånska Akademien är rätt på det. Min farmor hävdar ofta att jag hade haft svårt att förstå HENNES farmor öht och det finner jag inte otroligt. Om du inte är skåning så vågar jag snudd på garantera att du inte hade förstått ett samtal mellan mig, min far/farbror och farmor.
Having grown up in England I grew up thinking Welsh was an anachronism that was just a bit silly. As an adult I had a holiday in Brittany and read a bit about the decline of Breton in the face of the hostility of French speakers. I thought that this was a terrible thing, but then realised that this was exactly my attitude to Welsh as an English speaker.
Welsh culture, language and tradition will gone soon, it will be replace by English, just like Brittany in France, a cousin of Welsh, Manx, Irish, Scottish and Cornish. Cornish also will gone.
This video hit home in many ways. So I’m a Zulu guy raising a 4 year old in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Obviously it’s the most prominent language here but because it’s historically more of a spoken language and due to colonisation, every piece of academia as well as other signage and labels are in English (and Afrikaans, but that’s a whole other story of Apartheid I won’t get to). We still have a lot of places with Zulu names, even though spelling has butchered many of them but that’s as far as it gets. Back to my 4 year old. So she consumes a lot of English content in the form cartoons and nursery rhymes. There’s little to none on mainstream media that’s in Zulu. As a result, she speaks English, even if I speak to her in Zulu, she’ll reply in English. So I’m constantly debating with myself whether I should not force the Zulu and let her be great in English because Zulu is just her heritage as far as she chooses to identify with it and its importance to her. Or I force her to be fluent in Zulu as well to ensure she can communicate and fully understand other Zulu speaking people and places better. Long story short, English’s hostile takeover as a language is at the detriment of the heritage of the native language of a specific region. Great video. I actually started noticing the Welsh names when watching the Wrexham documentary. I’ll stop here.
I think, in the end, you’ll do nothing but benefit your daughter to keep speaking to her in Zulu. She will know both languages. It will probably take her more time to have enough vocabulary and practice to speak in Zulu, but the situation you described is very common for children who are growing up in a bilingual environment, especially if they hear one language more in the outside world and another language more or only in the home. It probably feels a little strange to you at the moment, but it sounds to me like you’re doing great and she will have Zulu along with English shaping her brain and will go on to be able to connect with other speakers of Zulu. Excellent! 💪
This is not only an issue of linguistic, but cultural identity. Whilst directives, laws and plans, plus the will of the people can change things, I would say the WG haven’t really factored in what can and what cannot be achieved by such policies.
I'm Asian, but I'm learning Welsh now. I'm studying in Wales. I love here. I think it's too arrogant if I don't learn it at all. so I started to learn Welsh, and hopefully, I can be fluent one day. I'm not very optimistic about Welsh, but some good news remains. I knew several people in person who were not Welsh but sent their children to Welsh medium schools. And they are learning Welsh too. A friend just told me that an African lady has become a Welsh language teacher and is teaching beginners Welsh. These stories are inspiring. It's a pity I hardly heard people speaking Welsh in South Wales. Yesterday I finally heard a man talking on the phone and saying "siarad Cymraeg"(speaking welsh), but then he shifted to English. Hey guys, if you are just like me, living in Wales but not Welsh, you can just learn some Welsh for fun! You will know more very friendly Welsh people. By the way I can pronounce llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! 😜
See, now this is part of the problem, we are way too small to have immigrants here. You're destroying our culture. Honestly we don't want foreigners learning our language, it just fuels the fear that we are being replaced. I remember seeing these videos about syrian kids being given free welsh tutors as soon as they arrived here and I thought wtf? I'm weldh and I don't have access to free welsh tutoring which again fuels the fear of replacement. Why not teach the Syrians English when we all speak English here anyway unless they really are replacing us or at the very least rubbing it in our faces. When ever I'm searching for welsh learning videos I'm met with African faces, it's actively discouraging me. I know why they're doing it, so in a few years they'll be like why don't you want immigrants here? They learned the language, they're more welsh than you. I know full well how this government works. They pretend they want to save welsh but the work against it, destroying place names. Being forceful in schools and discouraging the kids from learning it. My niece was so excited to learn welsh but her teacher was so aggressive that it took the fun out now she wants nothing to do with it. All by design.
@@yizhou5903 I forgot my welsh when I moved schools when I accidentally spelt English words with welsh letters I was told it was wrong and I would be upset because it was my native language they fired or the welsh teacher left I can’t remember but I’m angry and upset that I can’t remember most of my welsh I understood what you said a little bit I am re learning also my family has been welsh for as long as I know I am related to somone called sir Rhys ap Thomas who killed king Richard the 3rd at the battle of bosworth also ap means in welsh son of so his dads name was Thomas
As a Welsh speaker I can’t say that Welsh towns have weird names at all, they’re almost always descriptive which helps out place where I am. For instance if I’m in Aberystwyth, I know that I’m at “The Mouth of the River Ystwyth”, or if I’m in Pontypridd I must be near the “Bridge of Earth” (or would have once upon a time but you get the idea!). It helps connect you with where you are. Interestingly, Welsh has 2 words for landscape: tirwedd, which would be more or less the same in English, but also tirlun, which means more like “picture of the land,” how it lies - it’s this that I think of when it comes to Welsh place names, as they can indeed be very poetic.
Interestingly Pontypridd is a contraction of Pont-tŷ-pridd which means the bridge [by] the earthen house, probably a ‘clom’ house typical in Wales for hundreds of years. The local abbreviation to “Ponty” preserves this meaning.
I'm not from Cymru but it's important that the language is preserved. You pointed out so many reasons why in this video. Your research and genuine passion for the subjects you cover come through so much and that's why I love this channel. Cymraeg is a beautiful language just to listen to, even if you don't understand a word of what is being said It's worth mentioning that Cymraeg isn't the only language that's at risk in the UK. There's also Gaelic in Alba (Scotland) and Cornish in Kernow. As an English speaker, I will always try at least, to learn and pronounce the places names I visit outside of England. The way I see it, we wouldn't like it if people came to England and started making up different names for places or purposely mispronouncing them, so why should we do that to the places we visit? It's just respect for the places you visit at the end of the day!
I'm a welsh person, never felt connected to my country or my language. School ruined welsh lessons, made them boring and uninspired! Fast forward to age 36 and I am deeply immersed in welsh myth and folklore, the mabinogi and the book of taliesin. The ancient books of wales are rich and varied and permeate the lands of wales, myths run through the veins. The welsh place names tell a story, they connect the land to the history and connect us to the land and the history. They tell the stories that are part of who we are. The idea of stripping society of their individual identity is a big agenda right now. It's not one I am willing to indulge in. I do not speak welsh yet but I am learning. Every time I go to a new place I immediately feel drawn to want to understand what the name means. It's truly magical and feels really exciting to have a deeper understanding of the land. I tell you what is also a huge shame is that in schools in south wales no one teaches the kids about the myths and folklore! No one ever teaches you about the magical and myth and the beauty of the language. No one ever tells you about the connection to the land and your own identity. It's something I am passionate about and I am making changes to this with my own children! They are definitely aware of their deeply immersive and magical culture. Also the census. Maybe a lot of people just didnt fill it in this time? It could reflect the lower numbers in the census.
I didn't learn Welsh until I was an adult (albeit a very young adult), but one of the delights I found was that with just basic Welsh you can read and understand large sections of the Mabinogion (compiled ~1350, using material a century or two earlier). Very few English speakers can read Chaucer at sight, and even fewer can manage Gawain and the Green Knight or the Ancrene Wysse. I can even manage nearly half of Pais Dinogad (composed around 660, and possibly the oldest nursery rime in Europe). Also I can talk with my grandchildren, who are at an Ysgol Gymraeg. Dal ati, it's well worth it.
@@OscarOSullivan Are you aware of what we call sarcasm? The idea that people forgot to do the census just selected by the fact that they can speak Welsh is insulting to the millions of anglophone Welsh. You won’t win an Oscar that way.
Very well presented, I think you covered the issue really well, and your pronunciation is really good! It’s a really important issue, as you mentioned it’s possible to erase the history of the entire place, both known and undiscovered. Cae’r Gastell (field of the castle), for example, inadvertently preserved the location of a Roman fort that was only uncovered a few decades ago, and replacing actual names with alternatives for the lazy just dampens the already threatened language. Diolch!
I’ve visited Wales almost every summer (from the US) the past 30 years. When I’m visiting a new place, I work ahead of time to learn to pronounce. I’ve also loved watching the Welsh channel in hotel rooms in the mornings. The kids programs help to learn (even a little bit) of the language
Yes they do. After retiring I spent some time volunteering with Menter Iaith (Language Venture) a Welsh language organisation. I would bring children's Welsh books along much to the learners' amusement but they (all adults) quickly realised that they could cope with this level. It gave them confidence. Sadly the Covid Plague put paid to these informal sessions which were Known as "Sgwrs Dros Paned" Talk/Chat over a Cuppa.
Britain did this throughout its empire. Sometimes most unimaginately e.g. New York, New South Wales.and several towns simply given the same name as British ones.
I’m from Perranzabuloe in Cornwall and I hope, like Wales, that such places retain their distinctive names and culture, indeed, it would be sad if they all sounded English because our collective history says otherwise.
This is sometimes presented as a new problem, but it has its roots in Victorian times and the early days of mass tourism. The railways were responsible for the loss of a lot of names: for example, the village of Llansanffraid Glyndyfrdwy (which translates to the Church of St. Brigit in the Dee Valley) was evidently too much of a mouthful for GWR, so they named their new station for the nearby Carrog Hall instead. Now, the village itself is known as Carrog to practically everyone. Tourist hotspots often gained twee Victorian monikers which were copy-pasted from elsewhere in the UK. I'm sure viewers who live here will all know of a Fairy Glen or two, or perhaps a Happy Valley, or a Constitution Hill. They probably don't know the names these places used to have: Ffos Anoddun, Cwm Maethlon or Craig-Glais. The Cable Bays, Happy Donkey Hills and Lake Australias of this world are just the latest phase in a two-century long assault on Welsh place names.
Ireland uses the Gaelic language for everyday administration and legal documentation. If the Welsh government increase the amount of fluent speakers, they may be able to preserve the identity through everyday use in government, legal documents, and conversations. For policy on language preservation, Ireland may be an excellent example to see what have to offer that Wales can implement.
@@simonh6371 Yes. Despite the Irish government's supreme efforts to promote the language, I think one could fit all the native Irish speakers in a large tent.
@@caeruleusvm7621I get the impression that the Irish teaching methods have been a bit staid. Eg based on books not conversation. So students haven't been gaining fluency.
By extension Breton language is also recovering from extensive centuries of culture erasing from the french govt (voluntary). But recent years have seen the birth of schools and so on trying to keep it alive :p
As an Australian who loved visiting Wales, I enjoyed looking at the bilingual signs. What did annoy me was that when driving you need to read the signs quickly. Most of the signs had the English in the same place (I don’t remember if they were on top or bottom) but when you need the sign most, some were the other way around. Good on Wales for having these signs but please be consistent. I loved Wales and the people we met. The Welsh were friendly and even the English living in Wales were friendlier than the English in England.
Next time you visit NZ you will see the road sign thing happening here. Maori words first, and English below, probable in smaller letters. They are even changing the town and city names to Maori if they were not Maori originally. Should be a lot of lost tourists resulting from it, because, as you have stated, you only have a finite time to read a road sign if you are driving. They are not even indigenous to NZ!!!
I’ve been living in North Wales for a while now and it’s amazing to hear Welsh spoken everywhere I go, although there is a growing problem though, as so many properties are AirBNB style holiday lets meaning some communities are dying out as there’s barely anyone there during the Autumn/Winter months - it’s a vicious cycle of tourists keeping the areas going, leaving little room for local affordability for properties, meaning people move away, leading to fewer non-tourist related jobs available, cycling back to the reliance on tourism!
You would've thought that having placenames in Welsh/ Cymraeg would be a draw for tourism by making them stand out from England next door Also greetings from a fellow half-Welsh Bristolian!
people don't like feeling dumb, and not being able to pronounce words makes people feel dumb. you see how often in these videos people apologize for not knowing how to pronounce words. the problem with Welsh is that English speakers have no idea how to say the words, and that makes them feel dumb, so they'll go somewhere else, like Spain, where they can't really pronounce things properly but at least there is a standard "English" way to mispronounce Spanish words that they know.
They don’t, Welsh place names have hundreds of years of history and mean something, from Battles, People, Treaties etc. The Weird names in Wales comes from certain colonists who were unwilling to learn the native names and in doing so they replaced them with names that have no direct meaning to anything in the immediate area, or the country on the whole.
I can guarantee the Happy Donkey Hill woman is not Welsh. Owned the property for 6 months before changing it. Would be outraged if someone not from England changed an English name to a different language.
This deserves so many more views and thumbs-ups than it has. This is better than most network broadcast programming and equal to, or above, the standards of other TH-camrs producing similar content. So glad I stumbled upon this channel.
Da iawn, good video. I've just returned from travelling through 12 nations on continental Europe, and every single one of them had everything either totally in their one national language or in the two or more languages housed within their borders. That's all the adverts, press, product labels, street signage and official information as well as other media. Wales needs to assert itself more. Some of this has been happening, especially since the 60s, but we have a long way to go. (Anyone learning Welsh - gwych, dwi wedi, a dyna un o'r penderfyniadau gorau i mi wneud yn fy mywyd.)
Once you learn a few rules, Welsh names aren't that difficult to pronounce. This is coming from someone who doesn't speak Welsh but lived in Llanelli and had relatives in Pwll etc. It was also the only coded language during the war that the Germans never broke.
I thought that was one of the more obscure native American languages. There were plenty of German textbooks on the Celtic languages, even going back into the 19th century so I doubt the Germans were stumped by coded messages in Welsh for very long.
@@egbront1506 Think that's the Navajo as used by the US military. I did hear that secret messages were left (and not discovered) in somewhat obscure Welsh newspapers during WW2 though.
Spent 2 months working close to Llanberis, which is the town closest to yr wyddfa. Was kind of a last minute opportunity so I wasn't around long enough to learn anything beyond how to read/pronounce things. The two things that struck me were 1) How many locals were passionate about the Welsh language and how encouraging they were to learn it 2) How often you would hear the language used by strangers just in everyday life (on the bus, at the shops etc)
They sure do but the trend is for languages to merge... And that is probably for the better. Here in Germany there was a time where a man from Sylt could not have spoken a word with a man from Schwaben but thanks to the languages merging and mixing we now all speak German. A lot of languages were lost... but I'd lie if I said I regret it.
@@underarmbowlingincidentof1981 Can you imagine the English incorporating Scottish, Irish and Welsh into their language? Germany is different because all the languages are Germanic based, it wouldn't work with English and Celtic languages. In fact English is far closer to German and bear little to no similarity to the Celtics
@@McConnachy I mean... There was a big shift in english language when a bunch of french words got added. So big that a bunch of english writers were angry at the "youth bastardizing the good english tounge" and thats how the english we speak now came into existence (or into being if one wants to stay english in their language). Incorporating languages together into a single tounge has to be slow and natural. Just how cultures and people mix. So doing it now forcibly wouldn't work. I think the biggest barrier against mixing the languages succesfully isn't their different language roots but the history of the languages, the fact gaellic for example has always been a bit of a supressed language. They are at odds.
One issue that always faces Welsh and the perception of the language is the historic lack of an independent print media and the dismissive attitude by the English media of any attempt to expand Welsh usage (even by the Guardian/Independent who like to champion diversity/minorities). When Welsh and English readers regularly see columns written by someone with a disdain for Welsh or even just questioning the validity of expanding its usage (in good or bad faith) it does enter the subconscious and filter through opinions of the general population.
A similar problem exist here in the Republic of Ireland when people call Irish schools and speakers all sorts of defamatory statements. Agreed on the Guardian longsighted when it comes to London’s wrongs.
@@OscarOSullivan also with gàidhlig in scotland, people will unironically say that adding gàidhlig under english on road signs will cause fatal car crashes. people will come up with the most out of pocket ideas and claims to justify their bigotry towards minority languages.
So the owner of Happy Donkey Hill is English anyway, where are Plaid Cymraeg when you need them? Seriously though it's incredibly hypocritical that nowadays in the UK we are being told we have to be more diverse and multicultural, but our regional, and in the case of Wales national diversity is being eroded and erased. It's as if the whole country has to turn itno a drab homogenous place, somewhere with no regional character. The UK already has way less regional diversity than most European countries, even small ones, as it is.
My dad is Welsh and I was born in Hereford .. as I got older I asked him why I wasnt taught my own fathers tongue and even he said that it wasnt worth it as we lived in England .. I do sorta regret not getting to learn my fathers language i't would have been nice as much as I dont get to see my Welsh family as they fget older and one by one they start to pass on .. but my heart does belong on Welsh soil. Its funny the push for native Cornish and Scottish but not Welsh :(
I don't believe that is so. The census asks - IN ENGLISH - do you speak, understand, read or write any Welsh and, consequentially, many people say yes and are thus categorised as Welsh speakers when actually they can speak, read or understand a few wrods of Welsh. I studied Welsh in school and as an adult but have never had the opportunity to speak it as it is so rarely spoken except in a few small areas. The Welsh government is pushing an agenda to revive the Welsh language SOLELY because the Welsh Labour party has a pact with Plaid Cymru to assure their majority in the Welsh government and for NO other reason.
@@jeffhalbo96 Get that huge chip of your shoulder Jeff. You can live your like through Welsh in about eighty percent of the country. At the moment close on 25 percent of the Welsh population speak fluent Welsh, A quarter of the population are taught totally through the medium of Welsh. Many of these children come from English speaking homes
I'm from England and I don't speak any welsh, but I think it's a beautiful language when I hear it. I hope it can be preserved. Shame that lady from "Happy Donkey Hill" seemed so sour about it.
I'm surpised. When I visited north Wales ariund Caernarfon and Bagor, people around were all speaking welsh, chatting in welsh, when they came to me, welsh was the language they addressed me first, church was in welsh, the local library I visited had most books in welsh. Sad to learn thats not the rule the case everywhere.
I lived in Bangor for 4years, and my reaction here to the numbers in this video is the same.😮 I also lived in Cwmbrân 2years though, and, well... Let's just say there's a major contrast.😅
I think the Frisian language is doing better than Welsh and is not considered vulnerable by Unesco. But all of the Celtic languages are in some way vulnerable with Cornish and Manx in critical condition. The Basque language in Spain is doing well and in a slightly better position than welsh.
@@annabelholland Yes West Frisian is doing alright for now but the Celtic languages are definately a cautionary tale of what will happen if we don't spend more effort teaching Frisian in schools and encouraging it's use in daily life because west Frisian is still on a slow decline. Saterfries and many North Frisian dialects are definately in danger of disappearing in a couple of generations.
@@annabelholland Manx first died out in 1974 as a first language with the death of Ned Maddrell but who had taught the language to others and who was recorded by the Irish folk commission Leslie Quirk was taught it by an elder relative
We moved to Cymru 10 years ago to a village near Aberaeron. The house name is Bryn Yr Afon and it never occurred to us to change it. No, I haven't learnt Welsh but being born in Bristol and living most of my life in the middle of Dorset English is difficult enough. We have good friends in the village and help when we have needed it.
Thank you , you wouldn’t believe the amount house names that have disappeared over the years, So again thank you Diolch yn fawr iawn am beidio newid enw’r Ty !!!
A very well produced documentary. I am an emigrant from Cymru now living in Costa Rica. It saddens me to see the decline in the language and the dilution of its culture by immigration from across the border. My paternal grandmother was the last native speaker and my father never passed the language on because the valleys were full of foreign industrial workers. I discovered Cymraeg when I worked and lived in another part of the country and I embraced it fully and loved learning to speak it. It felt that I had become whole, a complete welshman. It would seem that neighbours across the border once they settle in an area they behave linguistically superior and become domineering. There is little respect for the values and language of that area. Diolch am dynnu sylw at y problemau hyn o ran yr iaith Gymraeg, gadewch i ni obeithio y bydd cynlluniau llywodraeth cymru yn llwyddiannus. Des Curtis
A really cool book is by Dewi Davies : Welsh place named and their meanings. Such a good book if you want to delve in to the deeper meaning of the land. It connects me to the places I visit and weaves together the threads that make the rich tapestry of the stories that belong to the people and the land. Change the stories and you change the picture, you change the identity and you undermine the connection or people to their history and culture.
I am from Wales and this really hurts me. Every name in Wales has a meaning or story behind it. And just by reading the name you can tell something about the history of the place. In my experience it is mostly down to lazy English people (and I really hate saying that but it's the truth) that just say 'its too difficult.', and they don't even make an effort to try, even when someone is showing them how to say it. I understand we have difficult sounds in Welsh, but at least make an effort. I used to live close to Bermo (Barmouth) and all the people I worked with (mostly English) said that 'Bermo' was too difficult to say. Really?
Cytuno'n llwyr! I completely agree with you on your points. There's a general ignorance whereby people know we speak English so the majority have the attitude 'I don't need to make an effort to learn Welsh because you speak English' but this only fuels the growing concern that we're loosing our identity and culture. I'm always impressed by anyone who makes an effort to speak the native language and you get my respect - and this is what we need to encourage! I've also seen an example where a local village sign was changed over night from Rhyd-Ddu to Roodi do - bonkers! Needless to say that sign was swiftly removed but this is something you wouldn't see anywhere else - if we moved to France for example, do you think they'd allow for a French place name/house name to be changed to English or another language? I think not, so why do we put up with it here? In my opinion, education plays a massive part - in Welsh schools our history lessons are based on the history of the Romans, why do we not educate our own people on the right history and culture of Wales and the Welsh?
I'm English, and I agree with you. It really isn't difficult to find out how to pronounce Welsh. The spelling is consistent, so there are only a few rules to learn. It's not just laziness, it's the attitude that any foreign language is impossible, which is, of course, ridiculous.
Why? Because the names have meanings, sometimes descriptive of features like mountains, rivers, etc; but also places were named to commemorate important people or events. The place names of Wales preserve the history of Wales. Erasing the place names is tantamount to erasing Welsh history, and I don't think this is accidental. Wales and England are next door neighbours, it's not as if we're floating somewhere out in the Atlantic. Respecting our culture, history and language should come more readily to our English neighbours, due to proximity, and would go a long way to atoning for the centuries of abuse of the same.
I really think you should've mentioned the 'Welsh Not' as an important part of how English overtook Welsh. This piece of history is so important. Great video 🏴
Devonian who knows a little Welsh (Brython yn Nyfnaint). I get kind of sick of the long railway station name. It's played out as a meme, but it also makes Welsh seem to be more difficult than it is. Just call it Llanfair. Meanwhile there's a thread that English people seem proud not to know other languages which is kind of a supremacist thing. There's a lack of curiosity. But then they'll show off their limited French, Spanish or Italian if they've been on holiday.
l Llanfair P G, actually. That's what it says on the signposts, road signs etc. I, too am sick of the 58-letter version. It's a 19th century publicity-inspired corny joke name and nobody uses it.
As a potential tourist, I'd be much more interested in visiting an exotic place called Faerdre Fach than a Happy Donkey Hill. That owner's approach is sad and misguided. Japan's tourism industry is booming even though their towns retain their descriptive Japanese names instead of anglicizing them for the benefit of tourists.
Honestly think Welsh, Scot’s or Irish needs to be taught as languages in whole of the UK there needs to be more investment needs to had in wales said this for a long time “levelling up” was a start but it needs to be on a bigger scale especially north wales certain areas Uk we need to come together more understand each other’s cultures more
awesome video, love the perspective and the idea for the video seems really thoughtful and purposeful not just some easy clickbait video that every channel can copy
14:46 "Welsh is too hard to pronounce for tourists and it's not marketable" Welcome to dystopia ladies and gentlemen, where culture and language is treated as just a consumer product
For the longest place name is _“Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit”_ a.k.a “Bangkok”
I always hated the way Barmouth isn't called Abermaw, it's proper Welsh name. I'd have thought that now both names would be on signs but I haven't been there for decades. Same with Welshpool, but I do recall in the 80s it was signed as Y Trallwng too, as I can remember and spell that name without looking it up. Dozens of villages in Shropshire have only Welsh names as well as a few in Herefordshire and a couple in Worcs, and many other places in Shropshire have other names in Welsh, some like Clun being anglicised spellings of Welsh words (from Colunwy). Also there are historical places in England like Caer Caradoc (the hillfort where Caracatus made his stand against the Romans) which only have Welsh names. The river Avon is a Welsh word, but actually afon itself means river in Welsh.
The modern Welsh name for Barmouth is Y Bermo. This is much more in line with the natural stress in Welsh which is on the penultimate syllable whereas the name Abermaw, which is linguistically correct, is slightly awkward. There is a place in Anglesey called Aberffraw and locals call it Berffro.
Da i awn! Diolch yn fawr! Very informed. i ive moved away to Portugal and speak Portuguese, a language i,ve learned for over a decade. I come from Wales but was attacked just because of my very light Welsh accent recently. Now i avoid English people in Portugal because of the instant put downs i have received for decades, only because of my accent One of the physical attacks- is on one of my earlier videos,- this happened in 2019 !! I really have never understood this and never believed it would ever happen until it happened whilst working in a busy place in England- i was BORN in England, I certainly feel Welsh but my passport says England. I was Born in England!- but i was attacked in England because of my Welsh accent by a man i had never met before whilst doing my job! Why the Hatred for such a small country. Thank you for your educated view. .
You need to live it for it to continue. Create situations where welsh is either beneficial to use or the only method of communication allowed. Once people start using it regularly it’ll just seep into their every day lives. And then one day they’ll wake up in a sweat realizing they dreamt in Welsh. Then it’s pretty part of them from then on
I do rather regret not learning more Welsh in my uni days there - I only ever really managed the basics, alas - but the place names were always part of the draw of Wales, I think. And most of Welsh is very phonetic, so once you've got how the various letters are supposed to sound it generally isn't that hard to pronounce most things/places (I do fall over the long version of Llanfair if I don't go slowly though!).
Here is another perspective on new names for places. The White Horse pub in Aberystwyth wanted to get a new sign recently. The town council blocked it because they said it had to be in Welsh eventhough it always had that name historically and there wasn't great support for the change. The only way it could be resolved was if pub withdrew the application... so it did and now they won't have a new sign.
Thank you for putting this out and helping to educate people about Welsh language and culture.The front picture had the desired effect to get me raging about Happy Donkey Hill! So important to keep the language alive as without culture we are all impoverished - I say this in particular to those who cite convenience or publicity etc. In my county for example the current owners of Gelli Aur insist on calling it by the English name Golden Grove - in my view there is firstly no need and secondly a pity to try to expurgate the Welshness. Fortunately there are many trying to push back. Diolch am y fideo!!
I am Swedish. I lived in Ireland in the late 90’s. When i wrote letters home i always made sure to write the return address in both English and Irish. To me it was just a sign of respect. Language is a big and important part of culture.
It is really hard when the language replacing your national/minority language is English. Its the language of globalization, business, technology, etc. At least, if you're a small country with a national language, you can protect it and give it more importance. Wales doesn't have that power.
This is not the first;Irish place names were mangled by English translations,and then again by the Irish themselves, it is an attack of which has never been fulfilled..I was so proud that the Welsh and Scots kept their language on their mountains..
Agreed very few place names in English are the actual English translation. Baile Manach-Monkstown, Chnoc an tSalainn Salthill, Carraig an tSionnaigh-Fox rock.
funfact: the really long place name was designed in the 20th century to be a really long name to attract tourists. particularly they wanted to have the longest name of a train station in the UK.
I’m Norwegian and I know how to pronounce the long name. Because I’m interested and took the trouble for 10 minutes with a Welsh speaker. I notice that English speakers are almost proud of not being able to pronounce non-English names and words, often with a fake apologetic grin.
Congratulations. A good Welsh word for you is ansbaradigaethus. It is my current favourite word. I try to use it daily currently. It is makes the day a bit more fun/interesting. I've purposely not given the translation, if you look it up then you are worthy of the compliment. Cheers / Iechyd Da 🥂🥂
Specific to Wales? Have you not heard of Ireland, same story! Dubh Linn, pronounced Dove Lynn (It means Black Pool), you probably know it by the English name Dublin. Corcaigh meaning Marsh, called a tree bark instead (Cork).
Unfortunately, the demise of the language often lies within Wales itself. Many Welsh - speaking prospective parents don't pass the language on to their children - a common occurrence - especially if only one parent speaks Welsh. I've also witnessed on more than one occasion when _both_ parents speak Welsh - but converse in English only - including to their children - who are then monoglot English - speaking...
Independence from the UK would achieve what exactly. The Welsh voted to leave the EU. Break the UK from the EU as well as the UK from being a United Kingdom?
I get it that the English are crap at languages - in fact I'd call us linguaphobes - foreign words do actually scare a lot of people. But giving in to fear and ignorance does seem rather sad and pathetic. If places and businesses feel the need to have English names, they could at least have the two names alongside each other. There are still many visitors who aren't linguaphobes and find the local culture fascinating.
4:22 as far as i remember the language is on its way back to becoming a first language in north wales as my kids had to learn welsh when they were at school having been born in Brazil and two of them couldnt speak english even so learning welsh in english must have been fun 😊
I’m very very happy Cymru has decided to promote and their language, culture and history. I would go as far to say, the language should be mandatory taught in schools.
I don’t honestly agree with that. Time moves on and always has done. It has been so since the dawn of human civilisation. To state right now that it can’t move on any further is just small minded really through our desires that grow ever stronger to try and preserve the past as it is easier now to keep records of what was. The Welsh language one day Will go extinct, and there are many reasons for this, but really the main two are both because of convenience now and relevance. Most languages eventually, give away to more efficient or relevant ones as time goes on, which is an ever happening battle of the languages throughout the ages for both complexity, detail and efficiency. A language shouldn’t just be preserved in the end, just for the sake of preservation when it is no longer relevant. These aren’t just my words. These are academics words. The Welsh language (just like Cornish as well) should be preserved in some form, but in the long term, I don’t think it should be preserved in every day speaking society forced upon the people just for preservation’s sake, just to try and stem the tide.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons Well, I wouldn’t say that is entirely true. Sadly, in my experience, when I’ve gotten down to the root of many of these people I have spoken to or heard about, the majority of them both in Wales, Ireland and some in Scotland that have wanted to preserve, or even use every day what’s left of the regional languages have harboured more nationalistic views with the language being a cover symbol of it, and then others having deeper anti-English views. It’s a tale as old as time really, and it is usually doomed to failure with a lot of hurt happening in the process on all sides.
I really appreciate you taking the time to make this video, you clearly spent a lot of time on production. If the Welsh language is lost along with the other celtic languages. We don't lose out,, the whole world loses out. We are the last remnants of a culture that once spanned most of modern Europe. More people have Welsh and other Celtic DNA than they realise. I'm a second language Welsh speaker and I learned almost all of my Welsh in school. I don't speak it everyday, but I can speak it to a very competent standard when needed. And as a self employed man. I do my best to encourage people to use it. One thing I think you ought to be aware of though, I actually worked as a field officer for the 2021 census, and as I was the only Welsh speaker in my team I was sent to the Welsh speaking areas. And I can tell you, a LARGE amount of people did not fill out the forms. But I guess they can only report what they can report
Interesting story of a sad loss of language and culture. I hope the Welsh people can retain much of it. There is an very interesting side note on the story of Gelert: the noble dog mentioned about 7:00 minutes in. This story is not from Wales. It is actually from ancient India in a collection of stories called the Panchatantra. There the story is called the "the noble mongoose" and is essentially the same story. Apparently, these Panchatantra stories made it to western Europe and the animals were changed to match the local animals. So the good news is that Gelert never died. It is amazing that they named a region after a fictitious dog.
I would love to see pronunciation guides on welsh place names! As a Brit with no welsh heritage (living in North America no less), I have so little exposure to welsh that I would love to be able to have a guide :)
Awesome vid! Its a really interesting video, I love wales ive been a couple of times and travelled the whole south coast! Even in England its sad to see welsh/gaelic/celtic and my native suffolk speak slowly being dwindled away, in suffolk we use alot of "Vs" in our words "Avgstv" (August) for example n its been on a real decline to see heritage wittled away, wales is one of the most forgotten examples i think... What a beautiful country, i hope people of the future and yourself preserve your welshness!🏴🏴🏴
This has already happened in my home Guernsey. Guernesiaise has only a couple hundred speakers left, mainly killed off from the evacuation in WWII, migration from england and English being a "prestige" language. Most you'll hear of Guernesiaise is the place names and a some words in our dialect. I live in Aberystwyth now for university, and I plan on staying in Wales further; I fully support the Senedd and their actions to preserve Welsh, it's an important and Beautiful language. Dw i'n caru cymraeg, j'oimai la laongue de ma p'tite ile. J'saogne triste quand j'regardai a la conditiaon de Guernesiaise.
I can see the influence of Johnny Harris all over your videos and I am 100% here for it. Not to mention that your channel is stilll fairly new! Keep making content, this channel is going places.
Welsh placenames disappearing is a symptom of a problem not the problem itself. The problem is that of native depopulation, second home onwership, and mass immigration of English people into rural west Wales. And how on earth do you solve all that?
Don’t have to be a nationalist just have be a staunch advocate for keeping the history, culture and what makes each of the nation’s individually unique and keeping those things councils and governments changing things across the Uk removing buildings, names, history and it’s our job to to stand up that it’s not the rest of the country’s fault that these are being changed it’s down to local governments
There are a number of reasons other than those you've already mentioned that also have and are still affecting the decline of the Welsh Language =Yr Iaith Gymraeg. Education has a great deal to answer for. When I attended school in the 1950s we had at most five monoglot English pupils who to be fair did learn some Welsh but all our lessons apart from the language itself were most of the time conducted through the medium of English by a headmaster who actually preached in Welsh on the weekends. If we dared to answer in Welsh in any other lesson we were criticised, mocked or sometimes caned. Playing with any of our English speaking classmates in the yard we spoke English so they could understand the rules. Some family members and teachers would tell us " Welsh is no use to you once you've crossed the Menai Bridge to the mainland." We lived in Anglesey =Ynys Mon.
Great video...although the some of the figures maybe wrong...according to the national survey, its more 29 percent of people across Wales who can speak Welsh not 17 percent. As a side note In the west of Wales this increases to 60 + percent
They shouldn't change the names. I'm American, but I grew up in a city and State that have Ojibwe names. I can't think of anyone who would propose changing the names of either to English.
Its interesting that Henry VIII was so brutal to wales given that the tudor family was welsh and he even had people killed or imprisoned for mentioning that.
He despised his homeland thats why, it was also the price he had to pay in order to be allowed more wives. The Vatican also ordered him to tie Wales to England so that the English could pass themselves of As British, and effectively replace the Britons of Wales as such.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons there's so many incorrect statements in your statement, it's insane. First, it wasn't his homeland, he was born in England to mostly English parents and grew up there, I said they were Welsh because they originate from Wales (grandfather I believe). The reason why he has to hide his Welsh origin was because his father usurped the throne of England and to appear like a legitimate ruling family you wouldn't be screaming "I'm actually a foreigner" to everybody, so he silenced everyone that said he was of Welsh origin to appear legitimate. And he didn't need to attach Wales to England to be able to marry more wife's 😭. And the English didn't need to pass themselves of as British they already were 😂 every single nation in the island of great Britain is British, guess where England is?
1. It’s self evident by saying homeland I meant ancestral homeland. 2. His father didn’t usurp anything, he won the throne of England in battle, By the ancient custom of Conquest. And 3. Yes, he did have to prove his loyalty to the Vatican so he could marry more wives….his loyalty was tested by destroying the British church that had been around since the first century AD. Hence why he went around all of Wales destroying Every Abbey he could find. England graciously gave Wales back the church, but cheekily calls it “Church in Wales”. Even though the British one predates the Anglican.
As for passing themselves off as British, guess who the English are? Anglo Saxon, the literal opposite of The British. No Englishman between 410 and 1650 would have called themselves British. This is a fact! Geographically British, yes! Culturally British? No! The distinction is night and day.
Even J.R.R Tolkien lamented the fact that his people called themselves British. As he saw it as cultural theft. He did a lecture at Oxford or Cambridge where he provided evidence to prove everything I have commented on, in regards to who the English are, the Welsh are, and when the English adopted Britishness. But I guess someone as esteemed as Tolkien is also incorrect huh?
Thank you for this. My mother’s great grandparents were Welsh and didn’t speak English when they immigrated to the US in the early 1900s… but obviously they HAD to learn. I’m now the immigrant but in the opposite direction of my great grandparents , however my husband and our kids live in southern England; our daughter will be attending uni at Aberystwyth in September and in digging through family history, dealing with uni stuff, etc., all at the same time made this upload hit especially hard (and close).
As an angloscots Irish IE every country in British isles, except Wales. Why can't the anglicisation on place names be rolled back or pushed forward with Welsh name first or above bigger or bolder font. With a 'poetic' English equivalent of meaning below or after?
Thank you so much for this video! In Hong Kong we are going through a similar cultural cleansing where property developers and the government(yes) erase toponyms for the sake of convenience. Toponyms, just like other forms of heritage, connects us to our land and must be preserved.
I'm a Yank, but a good bit significantly Welsh through ancestry. The Welsh language has always been intriguing to me though honestly complicated and so far removed from English that learning it is difficult. The same could be said about all Gaelic languages, like Irish. I see a similar parallel with the Native American languages here in the United States fighting a battle with the more mainstream English, and the fear of the Natives losing their thousands year old culture. I live about 2 hours away from a Cherokee reservation. The Cherokee developed their own syllabary for their language through their leader and educator Sequoyah in the early 1800's. Cherokee syllabary can commonly be seen in the Cherokee village, but English still dominates. Pretty much every Cherokee person I meet is fluent in English, and it has me worried about the future of the Cherokee language. It lent itself plenty of place names in part of the Southeastern United States, but as a viable language, it sadly may be dying. I guess in a way, the Welsh are the "Native Britons" trying to save their culture from a dominant colonizer if we go back in history far enough. English isn't necessarily "indigenous" to Britain as the Anglo-Saxons that spoke it came from the modern day Netherlands and Denmark, yet settled in what became "England" after much fighting with the native Celtic Britons. Welsh and Cornish in Southwest England (an even more endangered language) are the last remaining remnants of the old pre-Anglo-Saxon Brythonic language.
I know that a lot of young people who were Welsh 1st language educated, but when asked say they don't speak Welsh anymore they have forgotten, but when you speak to them in Welsh the reply in Welsh and carry on a conversation. But according to them they can't speak Welsh, also most non Welsh speaking Welsh people know more Welsh than they think as it is picked up by osmosis and signage they know and read.
A Basque speaker here! I hope Welsh is having a bright future despite globalisation and the influence of the massive English language.
Our languages may be vulnerable but they make what we really are as Welsh/Basques.
Irish has a similar problem
Eskerrick asko!👍👍👍👍👍
As a Scanian (used to be it's own language pretty much then a dialect; now slowly disappearing) I can't even use the old dialect to speak to people younger than me (and according to my grandmother I would have had issues understanding her grandmother). It's weird man...
Hold on to your language. 👍
@@SicketMog Scanian has never been language. It has always been either Danish or Swedish.
Skånskan har aldrig varit ett eget språk. Det har alltid varit antingen danska eller svenska.
@@joelthorstensson2772 Nej den har väl aldrig räknats som det men gå tillbaka några hundra år så har gammal skånska varit snudd på sitt eget språk. Kvickt utdöende dock (tyvärr) men det skulle ju gå att åtgärda (artificiellt). Skånska Akademien är rätt på det.
Min farmor hävdar ofta att jag hade haft svårt att förstå HENNES farmor öht och det finner jag inte otroligt. Om du inte är skåning så vågar jag snudd på garantera att du inte hade förstått ett samtal mellan mig, min far/farbror och farmor.
Having grown up in England I grew up thinking Welsh was an anachronism that was just a bit silly. As an adult I had a holiday in Brittany and read a bit about the decline of Breton in the face of the hostility of French speakers. I thought that this was a terrible thing, but then realised that this was exactly my attitude to Welsh as an English speaker.
Same with the Gaelic languages ,Occitan etc
Man the Welsh probably hate you
Actually scratch that the Welsh definitely hate you
Welsh culture, language and tradition will gone soon, it will be replace by English, just like Brittany in France, a cousin of Welsh, Manx, Irish, Scottish and Cornish. Cornish also will gone.
The penny finally dropped...
This video hit home in many ways.
So I’m a Zulu guy raising a 4 year old in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Obviously it’s the most prominent language here but because it’s historically more of a spoken language and due to colonisation, every piece of academia as well as other signage and labels are in English (and Afrikaans, but that’s a whole other story of Apartheid I won’t get to). We still have a lot of places with Zulu names, even though spelling has butchered many of them but that’s as far as it gets.
Back to my 4 year old. So she consumes a lot of English content in the form cartoons and nursery rhymes. There’s little to none on mainstream media that’s in Zulu. As a result, she speaks English, even if I speak to her in Zulu, she’ll reply in English.
So I’m constantly debating with myself whether I should not force the Zulu and let her be great in English because Zulu is just her heritage as far as she chooses to identify with it and its importance to her. Or I force her to be fluent in Zulu as well to ensure she can communicate and fully understand other Zulu speaking people and places better.
Long story short, English’s hostile takeover as a language is at the detriment of the heritage of the native language of a specific region.
Great video. I actually started noticing the Welsh names when watching the Wrexham documentary.
I’ll stop here.
I think, in the end, you’ll do nothing but benefit your daughter to keep speaking to her in Zulu. She will know both languages. It will probably take her more time to have enough vocabulary and practice to speak in Zulu, but the situation you described is very common for children who are growing up in a bilingual environment, especially if they hear one language more in the outside world and another language more or only in the home. It probably feels a little strange to you at the moment, but it sounds to me like you’re doing great and she will have Zulu along with English shaping her brain and will go on to be able to connect with other speakers of Zulu. Excellent! 💪
You should raise her bilingual, English and Zulu. There's nothing wrong with having to learn another language, and it can only do good for her.
In my understanding, the Zulu immigrated into South Africa. No disrespect, but you should learn Dutch or English.
Raise her bilingually, glad I was.
@@bigmarc1008 me too. At times it feels like a superpower.
On a side note: Your video was very well done. an English person having so much respect for Wales and its history is a rare sight to see.
He said he is Welsh but he doesn't speak any Welsh
This is not only an issue of linguistic, but cultural identity. Whilst directives, laws and plans, plus the will of the people can change things, I would say the WG haven’t really factored in what can and what cannot be achieved by such policies.
@@yokelengleng
He said he is a _quarter_ Welsh.
@@xapaga1 oh
It's not a rare sight. Most English (and I'm sure Scottish and Irish) have a great respect for Wales and the Welsh people.
I'm Asian, but I'm learning Welsh now. I'm studying in Wales. I love here. I think it's too arrogant if I don't learn it at all. so I started to learn Welsh, and hopefully, I can be fluent one day.
I'm not very optimistic about Welsh, but some good news remains. I knew several people in person who were not Welsh but sent their children to Welsh medium schools. And they are learning Welsh too. A friend just told me that an African lady has become a Welsh language teacher and is teaching beginners Welsh. These stories are inspiring.
It's a pity I hardly heard people speaking Welsh in South Wales. Yesterday I finally heard a man talking on the phone and saying "siarad Cymraeg"(speaking welsh), but then he shifted to English.
Hey guys, if you are just like me, living in Wales but not Welsh, you can just learn some Welsh for fun! You will know more very friendly Welsh people.
By the way I can pronounce llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! 😜
See, now this is part of the problem, we are way too small to have immigrants here. You're destroying our culture. Honestly we don't want foreigners learning our language, it just fuels the fear that we are being replaced. I remember seeing these videos about syrian kids being given free welsh tutors as soon as they arrived here and I thought wtf? I'm weldh and I don't have access to free welsh tutoring which again fuels the fear of replacement. Why not teach the Syrians English when we all speak English here anyway unless they really are replacing us or at the very least rubbing it in our faces. When ever I'm searching for welsh learning videos I'm met with African faces, it's actively discouraging me. I know why they're doing it, so in a few years they'll be like why don't you want immigrants here? They learned the language, they're more welsh than you. I know full well how this government works. They pretend they want to save welsh but the work against it, destroying place names. Being forceful in schools and discouraging the kids from learning it. My niece was so excited to learn welsh but her teacher was so aggressive that it took the fun out now she wants nothing to do with it. All by design.
Gwych da iawn
You still in Wales? And sty dying Welsh?
@@Poweroftouch Ie! Dw i dal yng nhgmyru. Dw i'n dysgu Cymraeg.
@@yizhou5903 I forgot my welsh when I moved schools when I accidentally spelt English words with welsh letters I was told it was wrong and I would be upset because it was my native language they fired or the welsh teacher left I can’t remember but I’m angry and upset that I can’t remember most of my welsh I understood what you said a little bit I am re learning also my family has been welsh for as long as I know I am related to somone called sir Rhys ap Thomas who killed king Richard the 3rd at the battle of bosworth also ap means in welsh son of so his dads name was Thomas
As a Welsh speaker I can’t say that Welsh towns have weird names at all, they’re almost always descriptive which helps out place where I am. For instance if I’m in Aberystwyth, I know that I’m at “The Mouth of the River Ystwyth”, or if I’m in Pontypridd I must be near the “Bridge of Earth” (or would have once upon a time but you get the idea!). It helps connect you with where you are. Interestingly, Welsh has 2 words for landscape: tirwedd, which would be more or less the same in English, but also tirlun, which means more like “picture of the land,” how it lies - it’s this that I think of when it comes to Welsh place names, as they can indeed be very poetic.
Interestingly Pontypridd is a contraction of Pont-tŷ-pridd which means the bridge [by] the earthen house, probably a ‘clom’ house typical in Wales for hundreds of years.
The local abbreviation to “Ponty” preserves this meaning.
@@Knappa22 ha, I love that even more than what I thought it was!
Irish place names are the same
@@Knappa22 Dwi'n hoff iawn o enw lle sy'n agos i Ponty; Craigiau.
I'm Welsh but I live in Finland and Finnish placenames are the same, I love how descriptive place names are.
I'm not from Cymru but it's important that the language is preserved. You pointed out so many reasons why in this video. Your research and genuine passion for the subjects you cover come through so much and that's why I love this channel. Cymraeg is a beautiful language just to listen to, even if you don't understand a word of what is being said
It's worth mentioning that Cymraeg isn't the only language that's at risk in the UK. There's also Gaelic in Alba (Scotland) and Cornish in Kernow. As an English speaker, I will always try at least, to learn and pronounce the places names I visit outside of England. The way I see it, we wouldn't like it if people came to England and started making up different names for places or purposely mispronouncing them, so why should we do that to the places we visit? It's just respect for the places you visit at the end of the day!
Cornish hardly counts as at risk, saying it already has gone extinct as a native language
I'm a welsh person, never felt connected to my country or my language. School ruined welsh lessons, made them boring and uninspired! Fast forward to age 36 and I am deeply immersed in welsh myth and folklore, the mabinogi and the book of taliesin. The ancient books of wales are rich and varied and permeate the lands of wales, myths run through the veins. The welsh place names tell a story, they connect the land to the history and connect us to the land and the history. They tell the stories that are part of who we are. The idea of stripping society of their individual identity is a big agenda right now.
It's not one I am willing to indulge in.
I do not speak welsh yet but I am learning.
Every time I go to a new place I immediately feel drawn to want to understand what the name means. It's truly magical and feels really exciting to have a deeper understanding of the land.
I tell you what is also a huge shame is that in schools in south wales no one teaches the kids about the myths and folklore! No one ever teaches you about the magical and myth and the beauty of the language. No one ever tells you about the connection to the land and your own identity.
It's something I am passionate about and I am making changes to this with my own children! They are definitely aware of their deeply immersive and magical culture.
Also the census. Maybe a lot of people just didnt fill it in this time? It could reflect the lower numbers in the census.
I didn't learn Welsh until I was an adult (albeit a very young adult), but one of the delights I found was that with just basic Welsh you can read and understand large sections of the Mabinogion (compiled ~1350, using material a century or two earlier). Very few English speakers can read Chaucer at sight, and even fewer can manage Gawain and the Green Knight or the Ancrene Wysse. I can even manage nearly half of Pais Dinogad (composed around 660, and possibly the oldest nursery rime in Europe). Also I can talk with my grandchildren, who are at an Ysgol Gymraeg. Dal ati, it's well worth it.
Wishful thinking.
@@Joanna-il2urWhat is wishful thinking
@@OscarOSullivan Are you aware of what we call sarcasm? The idea that people forgot to do the census just selected by the fact that they can speak Welsh is insulting to the millions of anglophone Welsh. You won’t win an Oscar that way.
@@Joanna-il2ur Well sarcasm translates poorly online
Very well presented, I think you covered the issue really well, and your pronunciation is really good!
It’s a really important issue, as you mentioned it’s possible to erase the history of the entire place, both known and undiscovered.
Cae’r Gastell (field of the castle), for example, inadvertently preserved the location of a Roman fort that was only uncovered a few decades ago, and replacing actual names with alternatives for the lazy just dampens the already threatened language. Diolch!
I’ve visited Wales almost every summer (from the US) the past 30 years. When I’m visiting a new place, I work ahead of time to learn to pronounce.
I’ve also loved watching the Welsh channel in hotel rooms in the mornings. The kids programs help to learn (even a little bit) of the language
Yes they do. After retiring I spent some time volunteering with Menter Iaith (Language Venture) a Welsh language organisation. I would bring children's Welsh books along much to the learners' amusement but they (all adults) quickly realised that they could cope with this level. It gave them confidence. Sadly the Covid Plague put paid to these informal sessions which were Known as "Sgwrs Dros Paned" Talk/Chat over a Cuppa.
I find it ridiculous that people move somewhere, won't bother to learn the language, and then need to change a place name because of their laziness.
I think it is a bit more than laziness. I would consider it is a form of linguistic and cultural colonialism
Britain did this throughout its empire. Sometimes most unimaginately e.g. New York, New South Wales.and several towns simply given the same name as British ones.
I’m from Perranzabuloe in Cornwall and I hope, like Wales, that such places retain their distinctive names and culture, indeed, it would be sad if they all sounded English because our collective history says otherwise.
This is sometimes presented as a new problem, but it has its roots in Victorian times and the early days of mass tourism. The railways were responsible for the loss of a lot of names: for example, the village of Llansanffraid Glyndyfrdwy (which translates to the Church of St. Brigit in the Dee Valley) was evidently too much of a mouthful for GWR, so they named their new station for the nearby Carrog Hall instead. Now, the village itself is known as Carrog to practically everyone.
Tourist hotspots often gained twee Victorian monikers which were copy-pasted from elsewhere in the UK. I'm sure viewers who live here will all know of a Fairy Glen or two, or perhaps a Happy Valley, or a Constitution Hill. They probably don't know the names these places used to have: Ffos Anoddun, Cwm Maethlon or Craig-Glais.
The Cable Bays, Happy Donkey Hills and Lake Australias of this world are just the latest phase in a two-century long assault on Welsh place names.
Ireland uses the Gaelic language for everyday administration and legal documentation. If the Welsh government increase the amount of fluent speakers, they may be able to preserve the identity through everyday use in government, legal documents, and conversations. For policy on language preservation, Ireland may be an excellent example to see what have to offer that Wales can implement.
I think you'll find that there are way more Welsh speakers in Wales than Gaelic speakers in Ireland.
Don't base it on Irish, that's having a worse time!
@@simonh6371 Yes. Despite the Irish government's supreme efforts to promote the language, I think one could fit all the native Irish speakers in a large tent.
@@caeruleusvm7621I get the impression that the Irish teaching methods have been a bit staid. Eg based on books not conversation. So students haven't been gaining fluency.
By extension Breton language is also recovering from extensive centuries of culture erasing from the french govt (voluntary). But recent years have seen the birth of schools and so on trying to keep it alive :p
As an Australian who loved visiting Wales, I enjoyed looking at the bilingual signs. What did annoy me was that when driving you need to read the signs quickly. Most of the signs had the English in the same place (I don’t remember if they were on top or bottom) but when you need the sign most, some were the other way around. Good on Wales for having these signs but please be consistent. I loved Wales and the people we met. The Welsh were friendly and even the English living in Wales were friendlier than the English in England.
Next time you visit NZ you will see the road sign thing happening here. Maori words first, and English below, probable in smaller letters. They are even changing the town and city names to Maori if they were not Maori originally. Should be a lot of lost tourists resulting from it, because, as you have stated, you only have a finite time to read a road sign if you are driving. They are not even indigenous to NZ!!!
I’ve been living in North Wales for a while now and it’s amazing to hear Welsh spoken everywhere I go, although there is a growing problem though, as so many properties are AirBNB style holiday lets meaning some communities are dying out as there’s barely anyone there during the Autumn/Winter months - it’s a vicious cycle of tourists keeping the areas going, leaving little room for local affordability for properties, meaning people move away, leading to fewer non-tourist related jobs available, cycling back to the reliance on tourism!
Sounds like Cornwall
Wales deserves independence!!!
You would've thought that having placenames in Welsh/ Cymraeg would be a draw for tourism by making them stand out from England next door
Also greetings from a fellow half-Welsh Bristolian!
people don't like feeling dumb, and not being able to pronounce words makes people feel dumb. you see how often in these videos people apologize for not knowing how to pronounce words. the problem with Welsh is that English speakers have no idea how to say the words, and that makes them feel dumb, so they'll go somewhere else, like Spain, where they can't really pronounce things properly but at least there is a standard "English" way to mispronounce Spanish words that they know.
@@perfectallycromulent The remedy for that ignorant attitude is better teaching in England. Americans love all the foreignness.
@@653j521 And we're not Americans, and don't want to be.
They don’t, Welsh place names have hundreds of years of history and mean something, from Battles, People, Treaties etc. The Weird names in Wales comes from certain colonists who were unwilling to learn the native names and in doing so they replaced them with names that have no direct meaning to anything in the immediate area, or the country on the whole.
I can guarantee the Happy Donkey Hill woman is not Welsh. Owned the property for 6 months before changing it. Would be outraged if someone not from England changed an English name to a different language.
This deserves so many more views and thumbs-ups than it has. This is better than most network broadcast programming and equal to, or above, the standards of other TH-camrs producing similar content. So glad I stumbled upon this channel.
Da iawn, good video. I've just returned from travelling through 12 nations on continental Europe, and every single one of them had everything either totally in their one national language or in the two or more languages housed within their borders. That's all the adverts, press, product labels, street signage and official information as well as other media. Wales needs to assert itself more. Some of this has been happening, especially since the 60s, but we have a long way to go.
(Anyone learning Welsh - gwych, dwi wedi, a dyna un o'r penderfyniadau gorau i mi wneud yn fy mywyd.)
Once you learn a few rules, Welsh names aren't that difficult to pronounce. This is coming from someone who doesn't speak Welsh but lived in Llanelli and had relatives in Pwll etc. It was also the only coded language during the war that the Germans never broke.
I thought that was one of the more obscure native American languages. There were plenty of German textbooks on the Celtic languages, even going back into the 19th century so I doubt the Germans were stumped by coded messages in Welsh for very long.
@@egbront1506 Think that's the Navajo as used by the US military. I did hear that secret messages were left (and not discovered) in somewhat obscure Welsh newspapers during WW2 though.
Hindustani was also used by British officers during the war for the same reason.
@@egbront1506Welsh was was used for non - vital messages in the Yugoslav wars (1991 - 2001)
Chickasaw Nation ❤ 😊
Spent 2 months working close to Llanberis, which is the town closest to yr wyddfa. Was kind of a last minute opportunity so I wasn't around long enough to learn anything beyond how to read/pronounce things. The two things that struck me were
1) How many locals were passionate about the Welsh language and how encouraging they were to learn it
2) How often you would hear the language used by strangers just in everyday life (on the bus, at the shops etc)
Oh, and BTW, that Welsh channel S4C is pronounced "Ess Pedwar Eck" in Welsh. ;-)
Native languages should not go extinct, they make life interesting 😊
Interesting vs Useful
They sure do but the trend is for languages to merge... And that is probably for the better.
Here in Germany there was a time where a man from Sylt could not have spoken a word with a man from Schwaben but thanks to the languages merging and mixing we now all speak German.
A lot of languages were lost... but I'd lie if I said I regret it.
@@underarmbowlingincidentof1981 I agree, nice observation
@@underarmbowlingincidentof1981 Can you imagine the English incorporating Scottish, Irish and Welsh into their language? Germany is different because all the languages are Germanic based, it wouldn't work with English and Celtic languages. In fact English is far closer to German and bear little to no similarity to the Celtics
@@McConnachy I mean... There was a big shift in english language when a bunch of french words got added. So big that a bunch of english writers were angry at the "youth bastardizing the good english tounge" and thats how the english we speak now came into existence (or into being if one wants to stay english in their language).
Incorporating languages together into a single tounge has to be slow and natural. Just how cultures and people mix. So doing it now forcibly wouldn't work. I think the biggest barrier against mixing the languages succesfully isn't their different language roots but the history of the languages, the fact gaellic for example has always been a bit of a supressed language. They are at odds.
One issue that always faces Welsh and the perception of the language is the historic lack of an independent print media and the dismissive attitude by the English media of any attempt to expand Welsh usage (even by the Guardian/Independent who like to champion diversity/minorities). When Welsh and English readers regularly see columns written by someone with a disdain for Welsh or even just questioning the validity of expanding its usage (in good or bad faith) it does enter the subconscious and filter through opinions of the general population.
A similar problem exist here in the Republic of Ireland when people call Irish schools and speakers all sorts of defamatory statements.
Agreed on the Guardian longsighted when it comes to London’s wrongs.
@@OscarOSullivan also with gàidhlig in scotland, people will unironically say that adding gàidhlig under english on road signs will cause fatal car crashes. people will come up with the most out of pocket ideas and claims to justify their bigotry towards minority languages.
@@necromeme Agreed just really spiteful plenty places in the world have multiple languages on signs no bother
So the owner of Happy Donkey Hill is English anyway, where are Plaid Cymraeg when you need them?
Seriously though it's incredibly hypocritical that nowadays in the UK we are being told we have to be more diverse and multicultural, but our regional, and in the case of Wales national diversity is being eroded and erased. It's as if the whole country has to turn itno a drab homogenous place, somewhere with no regional character. The UK already has way less regional diversity than most European countries, even small ones, as it is.
My dad is Welsh and I was born in Hereford .. as I got older I asked him why I wasnt taught my own fathers tongue and even he said that it wasnt worth it as we lived in England .. I do sorta regret not getting to learn my fathers language i't would have been nice as much as I dont get to see my Welsh family as they fget older and one by one they start to pass on .. but my heart does belong on Welsh soil. Its funny the push for native Cornish and Scottish but not Welsh :(
You could still learn welsh! It’s not perfect, but duolingo has a course for it, and there’s plenty of other resources online
@@VantaDraws I am thoroughly enjoying Duolingo, more fun that school Welsh lessons.
Linguistically at least ,Welsh is _way_ ahead Scots Gaelic or Cornish
@@cymro6537shw - sut mae. Siaradwr Cymraeg o Lydaw yma ...
a lot of welsh people can speak it but arent as fluent as theyd like so they regard themselves as non welsh speakers which impacts the census.
I don't believe that is so. The census asks - IN ENGLISH - do you speak, understand, read or write any Welsh and, consequentially, many people say yes and are thus categorised as Welsh speakers when actually they can speak, read or understand a few wrods of Welsh. I studied Welsh in school and as an adult but have never had the opportunity to speak it as it is so rarely spoken except in a few small areas. The Welsh government is pushing an agenda to revive the Welsh language SOLELY because the Welsh Labour party has a pact with Plaid Cymru to assure their majority in the Welsh government and for NO other reason.
@@jeffhalbo96 Get that huge chip of your shoulder Jeff. You can live your like through Welsh in about eighty percent of the country. At the moment close on 25 percent of the Welsh population speak fluent Welsh, A quarter of the population are taught totally through the medium of Welsh. Many of these children come from English speaking homes
I'm from England and I don't speak any welsh, but I think it's a beautiful language when I hear it. I hope it can be preserved. Shame that lady from "Happy Donkey Hill" seemed so sour about it.
Yes, that lady didn't sound so enthusiastic...
I'm surpised. When I visited north Wales ariund Caernarfon and Bagor, people around were all speaking welsh, chatting in welsh, when they came to me, welsh was the language they addressed me first, church was in welsh, the local library I visited had most books in welsh. Sad to learn thats not the rule the case everywhere.
North Wales generally has more speakers than the South
I lived in Bangor for 4years, and my reaction here to the numbers in this video is the same.😮 I also lived in Cwmbrân 2years though, and, well... Let's just say there's a major contrast.😅
North West Wales (Gwynedd and Anglesey) is Welsh-speaking but North East Wales (Denbigh and Flint) generally is not.
@@cpkingadam5 proportionally more I think, but there are numerically more Welsh speakers in southern Wales.
*Carnarvon :D
Preserving minority languages is important. As a native Frisian speaker, I think more needs to be done to keep languages like Frisian or Welsh alive.
Agreed
I think the Frisian language is doing better than Welsh and is not considered vulnerable by Unesco. But all of the Celtic languages are in some way vulnerable with Cornish and Manx in critical condition. The Basque language in Spain is doing well and in a slightly better position than welsh.
@@annabelholland Yes West Frisian is doing alright for now but the Celtic languages are definately a cautionary tale of what will happen if we don't spend more effort teaching Frisian in schools and encouraging it's use in daily life because west Frisian is still on a slow decline. Saterfries and many North Frisian dialects are definately in danger of disappearing in a couple of generations.
@@annabelholland Manx first died out in 1974 as a first language with the death of Ned Maddrell but who had taught the language to others and who was recorded by the Irish folk commission Leslie Quirk was taught it by an elder relative
We moved to Cymru 10 years ago to a village near Aberaeron. The house name is Bryn Yr Afon and it never occurred to us to change it. No, I haven't learnt Welsh but being born in Bristol and living most of my life in the middle of Dorset English is difficult enough. We have good friends in the village and help when we have needed it.
Thank you , you wouldn’t believe the amount house names that have disappeared over the years,
So again thank you Diolch yn fawr iawn am beidio newid enw’r Ty !!!
I'm only just learning, but I think Yr afon is the river. I don't know Bryn yet, though.
@@mitchellbarton7915 "Bryn" means "[a] hill" and "Bryn yr Afon" means "The Hill of the River" or "The River's Hill".
@@lothariobazaroff3333 Thanks!
A very well produced documentary. I am an emigrant from Cymru now living in Costa Rica. It saddens me to see the decline in the language and the dilution of its culture by immigration from across the border. My paternal grandmother was the last native speaker and my father never passed the language on because the valleys were full of foreign industrial workers. I discovered Cymraeg when I worked and lived in another part of the country and I embraced it fully and loved learning to speak it. It felt that I had become whole, a complete welshman. It would seem that neighbours across the border once they settle in an area they behave linguistically superior and become domineering. There is little respect for the values and language of that area. Diolch am dynnu sylw at y problemau hyn o ran yr iaith Gymraeg, gadewch i ni obeithio y bydd cynlluniau llywodraeth cymru yn llwyddiannus. Des Curtis
Interesting as my paternal great great grandparents emigrated to South Wales from West Cork
A really cool book is by Dewi Davies : Welsh place named and their meanings.
Such a good book if you want to delve in to the deeper meaning of the land.
It connects me to the places I visit and weaves together the threads that make the rich tapestry of the stories that belong to the people and the land.
Change the stories and you change the picture, you change the identity and you undermine the connection or people to their history and culture.
I am from Wales and this really hurts me. Every name in Wales has a meaning or story behind it. And just by reading the name you can tell something about the history of the place.
In my experience it is mostly down to lazy English people (and I really hate saying that but it's the truth) that just say 'its too difficult.', and they don't even make an effort to try, even when someone is showing them how to say it.
I understand we have difficult sounds in Welsh, but at least make an effort.
I used to live close to Bermo (Barmouth) and all the people I worked with (mostly English) said that 'Bermo' was too difficult to say. Really?
Cytuno'n llwyr! I completely agree with you on your points. There's a general ignorance whereby people know we speak English so the majority have the attitude 'I don't need to make an effort to learn Welsh because you speak English' but this only fuels the growing concern that we're loosing our identity and culture. I'm always impressed by anyone who makes an effort to speak the native language and you get my respect - and this is what we need to encourage!
I've also seen an example where a local village sign was changed over night from Rhyd-Ddu to Roodi do - bonkers! Needless to say that sign was swiftly removed but this is something you wouldn't see anywhere else - if we moved to France for example, do you think they'd allow for a French place name/house name to be changed to English or another language? I think not, so why do we put up with it here? In my opinion, education plays a massive part - in Welsh schools our history lessons are based on the history of the Romans, why do we not educate our own people on the right history and culture of Wales and the Welsh?
I'm English, and I agree with you. It really isn't difficult to find out how to pronounce Welsh. The spelling is consistent, so there are only a few rules to learn. It's not just laziness, it's the attitude that any foreign language is impossible, which is, of course, ridiculous.
Bermo, even easier than the older / litterary / more correct form Abermaw
That surprises me as in Australia and New Zealand the opposite is happening where indigenous names are being adopted.
Why? Because the names have meanings, sometimes descriptive of features like mountains, rivers, etc; but also places were named to commemorate important people or events. The place names of Wales preserve the history of Wales. Erasing the place names is tantamount to erasing Welsh history, and I don't think this is accidental. Wales and England are next door neighbours, it's not as if we're floating somewhere out in the Atlantic. Respecting our culture, history and language should come more readily to our English neighbours, due to proximity, and would go a long way to atoning for the centuries of abuse of the same.
Thank you for saying "replace with" instead of "replace by" - so many incorrectly use the latter
I really think you should've mentioned the 'Welsh Not' as an important part of how English overtook Welsh. This piece of history is so important. Great video 🏴
Also, nice to see Port Talbot on a video hahaha! 🏴
I was waiting and wondering would the WN come up. Essential to mention it.
You'd be surprised how little is known about it even amongst the Welsh.
It's the same with the word itself.
A proud 'welsh' man, really??
Devonian who knows a little Welsh (Brython yn Nyfnaint). I get kind of sick of the long railway station name. It's played out as a meme, but it also makes Welsh seem to be more difficult than it is. Just call it Llanfair. Meanwhile there's a thread that English people seem proud not to know other languages which is kind of a supremacist thing. There's a lack of curiosity. But then they'll show off their limited French, Spanish or Italian if they've been on holiday.
l
Llanfair P G, actually. That's what it says on the signposts, road signs etc. I, too am sick of the 58-letter version. It's a 19th century publicity-inspired corny joke name and nobody uses it.
In Quebec almost everything is named about a Saint. It says nothing about the place. But well, we are very young.
As a potential tourist, I'd be much more interested in visiting an exotic place called Faerdre Fach than a Happy Donkey Hill. That owner's approach is sad and misguided.
Japan's tourism industry is booming even though their towns retain their descriptive Japanese names instead of anglicizing them for the benefit of tourists.
Honestly think Welsh, Scot’s or Irish needs to be taught as languages in whole of the UK there needs to be more investment needs to had in wales said this for a long time “levelling up” was a start but it needs to be on a bigger scale especially north wales certain areas Uk we need to come together more understand each other’s cultures more
@@liam1561 that to maybe yeah
Yes, a great idea and crucial. All the languages should be taught at basic level within our lands in schools throughout the UK.
awesome video, love the perspective and the idea for the video seems really thoughtful and purposeful not just some easy clickbait video that every channel can copy
I'm fairly sure that the lengthened name of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll or "Llanfair PG" was itself devised as a tourist novelty...
He did say that in the video
It was created in Victorian times to promote tourism to the area, so it's not a great example of using original Welsh place names.
14:46 "Welsh is too hard to pronounce for tourists and it's not marketable" Welcome to dystopia ladies and gentlemen, where culture and language is treated as just a consumer product
For the longest place name is _“Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit”_ a.k.a “Bangkok”
True, but are more than one word !
I always hated the way Barmouth isn't called Abermaw, it's proper Welsh name. I'd have thought that now both names would be on signs but I haven't been there for decades. Same with Welshpool, but I do recall in the 80s it was signed as Y Trallwng too, as I can remember and spell that name without looking it up. Dozens of villages in Shropshire have only Welsh names as well as a few in Herefordshire and a couple in Worcs, and many other places in Shropshire have other names in Welsh, some like Clun being anglicised spellings of Welsh words (from Colunwy). Also there are historical places in England like Caer Caradoc (the hillfort where Caracatus made his stand against the Romans) which only have Welsh names. The river Avon is a Welsh word, but actually afon itself means river in Welsh.
I still see signs using Y Trallwng!
The modern Welsh name for Barmouth is Y Bermo. This is much more in line with the natural stress in Welsh which is on the penultimate syllable whereas the name Abermaw, which is linguistically correct, is slightly awkward. There is a place in Anglesey called Aberffraw and locals call it Berffro.
@@VantaDraws So they should do, I remember seeing them as a kid. Why is that strange or rare? Welshpool is not a Welsh name and sounds wrong.
Da i awn! Diolch yn fawr! Very informed.
i ive moved away to Portugal and speak Portuguese, a language i,ve learned for over a decade. I come from Wales but was attacked just because of my very light Welsh accent recently.
Now i avoid English people in Portugal because of the instant put downs i have received for decades, only because of my accent
One of the physical attacks- is on one of my earlier videos,- this happened in 2019 !!
I really have never understood this and never believed it would ever happen until it happened whilst working in a busy place in England- i was BORN in England, I certainly feel Welsh but my passport says England.
I was Born in England!- but i was attacked in England because of my Welsh accent by a man i had never met before whilst doing my job!
Why the Hatred for such a small country. Thank you for your educated view.
.
You need to live it for it to continue. Create situations where welsh is either beneficial to use or the only method of communication allowed. Once people start using it regularly it’ll just seep into their every day lives. And then one day they’ll wake up in a sweat realizing they dreamt in Welsh. Then it’s pretty part of them from then on
I do rather regret not learning more Welsh in my uni days there - I only ever really managed the basics, alas - but the place names were always part of the draw of Wales, I think. And most of Welsh is very phonetic, so once you've got how the various letters are supposed to sound it generally isn't that hard to pronounce most things/places (I do fall over the long version of Llanfair if I don't go slowly though!).
Here is another perspective on new names for places. The White Horse pub in Aberystwyth wanted to get a new sign recently. The town council blocked it because they said it had to be in Welsh eventhough it always had that name historically and there wasn't great support for the change. The only way it could be resolved was if pub withdrew the application... so it did and now they won't have a new sign.
Welsh logic for you
@@ekvedrekLike the English understand logic
CEFFYL GWYN looks and sounds way more cool.
Thank you for putting this out and helping to educate people about Welsh language and culture.The front picture had the desired effect to get me raging about Happy Donkey Hill! So important to keep the language alive as without culture we are all impoverished - I say this in particular to those who cite convenience or publicity etc. In my county for example the current owners of Gelli Aur insist on calling it by the English name Golden Grove - in my view there is firstly no need and secondly a pity to try to expurgate the Welshness. Fortunately there are many trying to push back. Diolch am y fideo!!
Quite sad indeed
I am Swedish.
I lived in Ireland in the late 90’s.
When i wrote letters home i always made sure to write the return address in both English and Irish.
To me it was just a sign of respect.
Language is a big and important part of culture.
And that’s why the English have tried to kill the Welsh language and culture. They want us to become English
It is really hard when the language replacing your national/minority language is English. Its the language of globalization, business, technology, etc. At least, if you're a small country with a national language, you can protect it and give it more importance. Wales doesn't have that power.
Wow, what a beautiful video on unarguably one of the most interesting part of the UK, Wales!
They also have to do a lot more to keep the irish language alive
Please bring back the original names... as an English speaker I want the culture and the challenge of learning the real names for the places I visit.
This is not the first;Irish place names were mangled by English translations,and then again by the Irish themselves, it is an attack of which has never been fulfilled..I was so proud that the Welsh and Scots kept their language on their mountains..
Agreed very few place names in English are the actual English translation. Baile Manach-Monkstown, Chnoc an tSalainn Salthill, Carraig an tSionnaigh-Fox rock.
funfact: the really long place name was designed in the 20th century to be a really long name to attract tourists. particularly they wanted to have the longest name of a train station in the UK.
I’m Norwegian and I know how to pronounce the long name. Because I’m interested and took the trouble for 10 minutes with a Welsh speaker. I notice that English speakers are almost proud of not being able to pronounce non-English names and words, often with a fake apologetic grin.
Congratulations. A good Welsh word for you is ansbaradigaethus. It is my current favourite word. I try to use it daily currently. It is makes the day a bit more fun/interesting.
I've purposely not given the translation, if you look it up then you are worthy of the compliment.
Cheers / Iechyd Da 🥂🥂
Noone is talking about the Cornish language and how it's dying.😢
Specific to Wales? Have you not heard of Ireland, same story! Dubh Linn, pronounced Dove Lynn (It means Black Pool), you probably know it by the English name Dublin. Corcaigh meaning Marsh, called a tree bark instead (Cork).
Anglicised Irish names are atrocious my last name has nothing with a certain type of vehicle
Unfortunately, the demise of the language often lies within Wales itself. Many Welsh - speaking prospective parents don't pass the language on to their children - a common occurrence - especially if only one parent speaks Welsh.
I've also witnessed on more than one occasion when _both_ parents speak Welsh - but converse in English only - including to their children - who are then monoglot English - speaking...
It happened here in the USA diasporas too :(
And why is that? Because the English have systematically tried to kill Welsh culture and the language for nearly 800 yearsZ
This is why we need an independent Wales, a sovereign nation within the European Union. Support Yes Cymru!
🤓
Independence from the UK would achieve what exactly. The Welsh voted to leave the EU.
Break the UK from the EU as well as the UK from being a United Kingdom?
Except North Eastern Wales voted remain
I get it that the English are crap at languages - in fact I'd call us linguaphobes - foreign words do actually scare a lot of people. But giving in to fear and ignorance does seem rather sad and pathetic. If places and businesses feel the need to have English names, they could at least have the two names alongside each other. There are still many visitors who aren't linguaphobes and find the local culture fascinating.
The big four of CAMRA thought nobody in Krugers bar would understand them speaking in English
Thank you from Hungary! Just started to learn Welsh...:)😀
4:22 as far as i remember the language is on its way back to becoming a first language in north wales as my kids had to learn welsh when they were at school having been born in Brazil and two of them couldnt speak english even so learning welsh in english must have been fun 😊
I think I remember seeing something about either the Welsh language or culture having migrated to a few towns in Argentina?
Patagonian Welsh, found in the province of Chubut, from migrants in 1865. They now hold an Eisteddfod in Welsh and Spanish.
Dude, I love your videos so much! These are so great keep it up!
I’m very very happy Cymru has decided to promote and their language, culture and history. I would go as far to say, the language should be mandatory taught in schools.
14:47 The Irish also call Lady bugs "The Little Red Cow" in Irish Gaelic.
Very informative video. The Welsh government should pass a law that keeps the traditional place names. It's a beautiful language.
I agree, they won’t however because it comes across as being anti-English, or at east that’s how it’s perceived. Which is a ridiculous notion!
what's a "traditional place name"? do 19th century inventions to attract tourists count? many of these Welsh place names are not old or traditional.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons The English are THAT insecure? Wow.
I don’t honestly agree with that. Time moves on and always has done. It has been so since the dawn of human civilisation. To state right now that it can’t move on any further is just small minded really through our desires that grow ever stronger to try and preserve the past as it is easier now to keep records of what was. The Welsh language one day Will go extinct, and there are many reasons for this, but really the main two are both because of convenience now and relevance. Most languages eventually, give away to more efficient or relevant ones as time goes on, which is an ever happening battle of the languages throughout the ages for both complexity, detail and efficiency. A language shouldn’t just be preserved in the end, just for the sake of preservation when it is no longer relevant. These aren’t just my words. These are academics words. The Welsh language (just like Cornish as well) should be preserved in some form, but in the long term, I don’t think it should be preserved in every day speaking society forced upon the people just for preservation’s sake, just to try and stem the tide.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons Well, I wouldn’t say that is entirely true. Sadly, in my experience, when I’ve gotten down to the root of many of these people I have spoken to or heard about, the majority of them both in Wales, Ireland and some in Scotland that have wanted to preserve, or even use every day what’s left of the regional languages have harboured more nationalistic views with the language being a cover symbol of it, and then others having deeper anti-English views. It’s a tale as old as time really, and it is usually doomed to failure with a lot of hurt happening in the process on all sides.
I really appreciate you taking the time to make this video, you clearly spent a lot of time on production. If the Welsh language is lost along with the other celtic languages. We don't lose out,, the whole world loses out. We are the last remnants of a culture that once spanned most of modern Europe. More people have Welsh and other Celtic DNA than they realise. I'm a second language Welsh speaker and I learned almost all of my Welsh in school. I don't speak it everyday, but I can speak it to a very competent standard when needed. And as a self employed man. I do my best to encourage people to use it.
One thing I think you ought to be aware of though, I actually worked as a field officer for the 2021 census, and as I was the only Welsh speaker in my team I was sent to the Welsh speaking areas. And I can tell you, a LARGE amount of people did not fill out the forms. But I guess they can only report what they can report
Interesting story of a sad loss of language and culture. I hope the Welsh people can retain much of it.
There is an very interesting side note on the story of Gelert: the noble dog mentioned about 7:00 minutes in. This story is not from Wales. It is actually from ancient India in a collection of stories called the Panchatantra. There the story is called the "the noble mongoose" and is essentially the same story. Apparently, these Panchatantra stories made it to western Europe and the animals were changed to match the local animals. So the good news is that Gelert never died. It is amazing that they named a region after a fictitious dog.
I would love to see pronunciation guides on welsh place names! As a Brit with no welsh heritage (living in North America no less), I have so little exposure to welsh that I would love to be able to have a guide :)
You can easily google it... really
Awesome vid! Its a really interesting video, I love wales ive been a couple of times and travelled the whole south coast! Even in England its sad to see welsh/gaelic/celtic and my native suffolk speak slowly being dwindled away, in suffolk we use alot of "Vs" in our words "Avgstv" (August) for example n its been on a real decline to see heritage wittled away, wales is one of the most forgotten examples i think... What a beautiful country, i hope people of the future and yourself preserve your welshness!🏴🏴🏴
What is Suffolk speak?
The second element of the name Caerdydd is a corruption of taf. So it would mean fort on the river Taf(Taff in English).
Any last words?
Me: "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"
This has already happened in my home Guernsey. Guernesiaise has only a couple hundred speakers left, mainly killed off from the evacuation in WWII, migration from england and English being a "prestige" language. Most you'll hear of Guernesiaise is the place names and a some words in our dialect. I live in Aberystwyth now for university, and I plan on staying in Wales further; I fully support the Senedd and their actions to preserve Welsh, it's an important and Beautiful language. Dw i'n caru cymraeg, j'oimai la laongue de ma p'tite ile. J'saogne triste quand j'regardai a la conditiaon de Guernesiaise.
I can see the influence of Johnny Harris all over your videos and I am 100% here for it. Not to mention that your channel is stilll fairly new! Keep making content, this channel is going places.
I think Welsh should be taught in schools. Or at least in Welsh schools. As an Englishman, it’s shameful that Welsh history is being lost.
The Senedd should be responsible for stopping this nonsense. The language is very cool amongst children and young people. 🏴🏴🏴
I live in a village where nobody speaks English (Bala) when the visitors have left for the season.
Welsh placenames disappearing is a symptom of a problem not the problem itself.
The problem is that of native depopulation, second home onwership, and mass immigration of English people into rural west Wales.
And how on earth do you solve all that?
By Wales and England being like every other nation on earth and having a hard border and controlling immigration.
Economic insensitives to stay and work in Wales, a big fat tax second homes.
@@WalesTheTrueBritonsSo, independent Welsh state then?
Independence
Bro became a dad and now is a Welsh nationalist.
Im not even welsh and im a welsh nationalist
Based
Yeah seems like that happens a lot.😆
@@danielwhyatt3278it just sounds that good/interesting . Pity to loose that part of the country’s culture
Don’t have to be a nationalist just have be a staunch advocate for keeping the history, culture and what makes each of the nation’s individually unique and keeping those things councils and governments changing things across the Uk removing buildings, names, history and it’s our job to to stand up that it’s not the rest of the country’s fault that these are being changed it’s down to local governments
There are a number of reasons other than those you've already mentioned that also have and are still affecting the decline of the Welsh Language =Yr Iaith Gymraeg. Education has a great deal to answer for. When I attended school in the 1950s we had at most five monoglot English pupils who to be fair did learn some Welsh but all our lessons apart from the language itself were most of the time conducted through the medium of English by a headmaster who actually preached in Welsh on the weekends. If we dared to answer in Welsh in any other lesson we were criticised, mocked or sometimes caned. Playing with any of our English speaking classmates in the yard we spoke English so they could understand the rules. Some family members and teachers would tell us " Welsh is no use to you once you've crossed the Menai Bridge to the mainland." We lived in Anglesey =Ynys Mon.
Great video...although the some of the figures maybe wrong...according to the national survey, its more 29 percent of people across Wales who can speak Welsh not 17 percent.
As a side note In the west of Wales this increases to 60 + percent
I’m learning Welsh and I’m an Australian
Me too!
I loved seeing town names in Welsh when i was in Wales . The more Welsh the better ( im from Australia)
Save Welsh names. Preserve this wonderful Language and it's significance to the Welsh landscape. Diolch yn fawr iawn.👍🏴
They shouldn't change the names. I'm American, but I grew up in a city and State that have Ojibwe names. I can't think of anyone who would propose changing the names of either to English.
Its interesting that Henry VIII was so brutal to wales given that the tudor family was welsh and he even had people killed or imprisoned for mentioning that.
He despised his homeland thats why, it was also the price he had to pay in order to be allowed more wives. The Vatican also ordered him to tie Wales to England so that the English could pass themselves of As British, and effectively replace the Britons of Wales as such.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons there's so many incorrect statements in your statement, it's insane.
First, it wasn't his homeland, he was born in England to mostly English parents and grew up there, I said they were Welsh because they originate from Wales (grandfather I believe). The reason why he has to hide his Welsh origin was because his father usurped the throne of England and to appear like a legitimate ruling family you wouldn't be screaming "I'm actually a foreigner" to everybody, so he silenced everyone that said he was of Welsh origin to appear legitimate.
And he didn't need to attach Wales to England to be able to marry more wife's 😭.
And the English didn't need to pass themselves of as British they already were 😂 every single nation in the island of great Britain is British, guess where England is?
1. It’s self evident by saying homeland I meant ancestral homeland. 2. His father didn’t usurp anything, he won the throne of England in battle, By the ancient custom of Conquest. And 3. Yes, he did have to prove his loyalty to the Vatican so he could marry more wives….his loyalty was tested by destroying the British church that had been around since the first century AD. Hence why he went around all of Wales destroying Every Abbey he could find. England graciously gave Wales back the church, but cheekily calls it “Church in Wales”. Even though the British one predates the Anglican.
As for passing themselves off as British, guess who the English are? Anglo Saxon, the literal opposite of The British. No Englishman between 410 and 1650 would have called themselves British. This is a fact! Geographically British, yes! Culturally British? No! The distinction is night and day.
Even J.R.R Tolkien lamented the fact that his people called themselves British. As he saw it as cultural theft. He did a lecture at Oxford or Cambridge where he provided evidence to prove everything I have commented on, in regards to who the English are, the Welsh are, and when the English adopted Britishness. But I guess someone as esteemed as Tolkien is also incorrect huh?
Thank you for this. My mother’s great grandparents were Welsh and didn’t speak English when they immigrated to the US in the early 1900s… but obviously they HAD to learn. I’m now the immigrant but in the opposite direction of my great grandparents , however my husband and our kids live in southern England; our daughter will be attending uni at Aberystwyth in September and in digging through family history, dealing with uni stuff, etc., all at the same time made this upload hit especially hard (and close).
As an angloscots Irish IE every country in British isles, except Wales.
Why can't the anglicisation on place names be rolled back or pushed forward with Welsh name first or above bigger or bolder font. With a 'poetic' English equivalent of meaning below or after?
Thank you so much for this video! In Hong Kong we are going through a similar cultural cleansing where property developers and the government(yes) erase toponyms for the sake of convenience. Toponyms, just like other forms of heritage, connects us to our land and must be preserved.
I'm a Yank, but a good bit significantly Welsh through ancestry. The Welsh language has always been intriguing to me though honestly complicated and so far removed from English that learning it is difficult. The same could be said about all Gaelic languages, like Irish.
I see a similar parallel with the Native American languages here in the United States fighting a battle with the more mainstream English, and the fear of the Natives losing their thousands year old culture. I live about 2 hours away from a Cherokee reservation. The Cherokee developed their own syllabary for their language through their leader and educator Sequoyah in the early 1800's. Cherokee syllabary can commonly be seen in the Cherokee village, but English still dominates. Pretty much every Cherokee person I meet is fluent in English, and it has me worried about the future of the Cherokee language. It lent itself plenty of place names in part of the Southeastern United States, but as a viable language, it sadly may be dying.
I guess in a way, the Welsh are the "Native Britons" trying to save their culture from a dominant colonizer if we go back in history far enough. English isn't necessarily "indigenous" to Britain as the Anglo-Saxons that spoke it came from the modern day Netherlands and Denmark, yet settled in what became "England" after much fighting with the native Celtic Britons. Welsh and Cornish in Southwest England (an even more endangered language) are the last remaining remnants of the old pre-Anglo-Saxon Brythonic language.
'o bydded ir hen iaith barhau'
I know that a lot of young people who were Welsh 1st language educated, but when asked say they don't speak Welsh anymore they have forgotten, but when you speak to them in Welsh the reply in Welsh and carry on a conversation. But according to them they can't speak Welsh, also most non Welsh speaking Welsh people know more Welsh than they think as it is picked up by osmosis and signage they know and read.
That is interesting