Thinking about how our blogs are generally about how we use language, predominantly in our case to bring stories and situations to life, I thought it would be interesting to write about my experiences and musings about other languages.
My
first girlfriend was Welsh and when it began to look as though our association
was going to become serious, she decided that she would like me to learn her
mother tongue. At the time, back in the early 80s, a series of books, a precursor
to the [Difficult subject you want to
learn about] – for dummies (who aren’t really dummies) range, called [So and so] made simple, such as Einstein made simple or Genetics made simple, seemed to be very
popular. All of these tomes alleged to make the complex comprehensible and were
of a reassuringly consistent length – or outer thickness at any rate. (I
certainly never read the contents other than a few pages of the forthcoming
example.) They were all just under an inch wide. The only exception was Welsh made simple, which was nearly two
inches thick. Einstein eat your heart out.
Despite
the daunting thickness of the tome I volunteered to master this apparently straightforward
language. I sat outside her parents’ house on a sunny afternoon (it wasn’t
raining!) and began wrestling with Welsh.
As
luck would have it the first chapter taught how to say, 'I like coffee' or for
the truly ambitious, 'I like tea'. Despite the wrestling match taking a couple
of hours or so, with the Welsh language definitely winning, I did manage to
absorb the knowledge, made simple in this beginning chapter – the only one I
was ever to read. Just as my head had stopped spinning, by remarkably
brilliantly timing, my girlfriend came out and asked if I might like a cup of
tea.
Dramatically
I slammed the book shut as though I had fully absorbed the contents of Welsh made simple and boldly declared, ‘Rwy’n
hoffi te’. She nearly fainted.
I
learned a few more words and phrases, such a ‘good morning’ (‘bore da’) etc but
the only other sentence I acquired from my book was, ‘Rwy’n siarad Cymraeg’
i.e. ‘I speak Welsh’. It occurred to me that on its own this is a profoundly
useless sentence to learn in virtual isolation from the main body of the
language.
Imagine
the scene.
An
accident has occurred; several of us rush over to the injured party. The first
to reach the victim looks up at us and declares, ‘I think he’s Welsh. I think
he’s trying to tell us something… does anyone speak Welsh?’ Instinctively I cry
out, ‘Rwy’s siarad Cymraeg!’ Everyone turns to me hopefully, even the injured party
raises his head a little. I back off slightly… perhaps the only useful
contributions I can make at this point is tell the victim that I like tea… and
possibly, though not completely truthfully, that I also like coffee. Let’s hope
the accident occurs in the morning or conversation will soon run dry…
~~~~~
A
couple of times we visited the ancient welsh capital proudly bearing the name Machynlleth.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the ancient warriors of Wales, so often at odds
with the English, created this name in an act of genius. It’s pretty much as
sword in the stone scenario. Unless you are truly Welsh – and even then, it’s
not a guarantee – you definitely
cannot pronounce that name.
Imagine
another scene.
The
English King’s tent on the border of Wales. Inside, the king and his generals are
pouring over a map of Wales.
King:
So where be the capital of this rebellious nation?
Norfolk:
(Pointing) It be here my lord…
King:
Situated where it be, it should be an easy target. What name have the revolting
natives given the place?
Norfolk:
I believe it be called ‘Mac on Leith’ M’Lord.
Northumberland:
No, I was told it be ‘Mick un Luff’.
Essex:
My noble lords ye both be in error, it be ‘Mick in Leaf’ I believe.
The
king’s generals begin quarrelling.
King:
Forget it we’ll invade Wrexham.
Norfolk:
Be that not ‘Wrecks ‘em’ M’Lord?
King:
Shut up and raise the army!
~~~~~
Happy
New Year everyone!
Or
as Google Translator would have it (I definitely wouldn’t know) Blwyddyn Newydd
Hapus pawb!
~~~~~
Recent
publication ‘I’m going to be a Computer
Programmer (Careers in STEM)’ One of a series of books for children
exploring careers in STEM subjects
ISBN
1910828904
How are you doing with the .......... gogogoth pronunciation ?
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ReplyDeleteIt's not easy of course but I still think Machynlleth is more difficult! With the Llanfair...gogogoth it seems you have to break it down into individual words, as the name is really a description of where the place is. Llan for example means church - one more word that I learnt!!
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