Same old tropes. Languages are hard to learn shocker. That said, 9yo Natalia has zero problems with /Ch/

Meet Sofiia, Natalia and Danylo – who are new Welsh speakers ????????

The three have been attending a Welsh language immersion unit on Anglesey after fleeing the war in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/pa4oChYdqW

— Newyddion S4C (@NewyddionS4C) December 16, 2022

I teach English, there are sounds that many learners struggle with – even the most common, the schwa, can take years before sounding natural. Welsh has reasonably regular pronunciation if you bother to look into it, but sadly many monoglots on both sides of Offa’s dyke just put their fingers in their ears “It’s ugly/difficult/not a proper language/forced down our throats”. If that’s your level of engagement, you don’t really qualify to opine on what a national park gets to call itself in its own country.

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I do 4 different language variations of Wordle – Welsh is the easiest I think as Cyrdle counts LL RH CH etc as two letters, which they’re not. So there aren’t that many 5 letter words to choose from.

. It feels good, healthy, to have all this linguistic variety.

Completely agree. But here in Euskadi (and likely in Catalunya) if you stubbornly insist on using equivalent Spanish placenames you’re not exactly going to be endearing yourself.

It’s not always politically neutral and largely used in the manner you think IMO

but… “it’s just a name…” like the Brecons XD this politically charged language goes both ways, see? If you insist on using the Saesneg name after this, you’re making a political statement at best, disrespecting a language at worst.

@chevychase you should have a look at Neighbours From Hell.

The closest English comes to the /ch/ is in Scouse, as Squirrelking points out. Liverpool was once dubbed the northern capital of Wales with the biggest concentration of Cymry outside of Cymru at the turn of the 20th C.

You can hear it in fach/bach

Just refer to it in whatever language you want

That’s the gist of my last post, mate. Doesn’t matter what I call it, there will be plenty of people who will insist on calling it the English name. People who are okay with the Anglicisation of Wales, from both sides of the border. Read “Neighbours from Hell” by Mike Parker and by all means keep referring it to the Brecons after that if you like, but you might see it differently.

I don’t know why you’re triggered by Sais. It just comes from the word for Saxon. I thought everyone knew it. Just about every sentence one utters contains a loan word. If I ask for potatoes in a shop, do I need to ask in Spanish?

Didn’t it used to be Saddleback

Doubtful the 12th C Britons knew the 1850s OS name.

So why then are you using a Welsh word when referring to English

Sorry you’re struggling to keep up. FWIW I speak Welsh, but usually just in the pub when the Sais walk in ;)

As said above more eloquently, Brecons will continue to be called Brecons until this reactionary populist generation dies out, henceforward being known by all as y Bannau just like Aotearoa, Uluru, Myanmar, etc.

Or maybe not. An Englishman can live in Betws y Coed for 25 years surrounded by the correct pronunciation, and still call it Betsy Code.

I’m not Welsh though Ernie.

People getting outraged by the Welsh using their own language in their own country, but seemingly not offended by the dozens of Welsh placenames in England. Where’s the campaign to rename Blencathra?

Hwyl,
Robert ap Hafau.

I was missing the updates too!

Missing ZZ as well, I usually get up there at Easter for a couple of days trail running but ended up on the wrong side of the country this time. Will be there in early summer before it gets too hot, although who knows anymore – I was running at 2500m at new year in a t-shirt…

Seems reasonable, why was it ever given a Sais name?

If you have problems pronouncing it, OP, there are handy YT videos. This is the phonetic pronunciation:

“Twll din ydy Mecs coch” ;)

My mum’s got a golliwog, was given to her by her granddad. Does that make her a nazi?

Nobody is calling your mum a nazi, bless her. But if a “young person” told her that kind of toy is considered hurtful caricature in 2023*, would she dig her heels in, or admit that perhaps it was a good point?

*My dad had a moneybox when I was a kid, an awful caricature of a Black man who swallowed the penny you put in his hand. I knew it was racist in 1985, never mind when I found it in the loft after he died in 2019. I remember trying to get rid of it, obviously not hard enough.

Bit niche maybe but a song in Welsh (Llwytha’r Gwn by Candelas) has a chorus that I misheard as “Do you still see chips in the night?” mixing up cysgodion (shadows) with sglodion (chips)…

Same here. My sister lives in central London. Whenever I go down, I arrive clutching a list of ‘stuff I want to do while I’m here’. which will be a list of all the galleries I want to visit and which exhibitions I want to go and see. I’ll have my route around the City mapped out so I can fit it all in. Our kid comes with me, invariably loves it as she always comments ‘we never do anything like this’.

Good job I’m Northern and understand that you don’t actually have a child with your sister….

Fair point made by Winston. I’m in favour (already paying it in most places I go around Spain), but wonder if there should be a cap.

Who goes on holiday to Wales?

We do. We go up in the camper van from the Basque Country. 2400m round trip to Môn or Llyn for a few days, would stay there longer but obliged to visit family in the hen Ogledd…

When we were kids we tried to phone up (Whole Lotta) Rosie using her number helpfully listed in the song. Tried the Australia country code and everything but couldn’t get through. They should’ve fact checked it.

Lovely stuff @Fudd. Didn’t know there was so much to a quartz watch.

I like that it’s on the Japanese day display! I leave my Seiko 5 on Japanese days because I can never be bothered to set the correct weekday on the 1st!

Odd indeed – but I’m thinking most people don’t have 5 or 11 watches. It’s hard to justify a G Shock amongst so many others.

I’d happily have a G Shock for day to day and an Explorer for the weekend. That’d be my two, and done.

But I’ve got the running/biking watch as well. The vintage. The moonswatch, the diver and the chrono. And I feel bad if they don’t all get a run out!

I have two of those – Timemore is used at work for aeropress. 1zpresso lives in the van with a PicoPresso (far fussier about grind consistency) and makes a passable espresso.

The latter is good and repeatable enough to grind coffee for my home machine – expensive but worth it for espresso.

Worth thinking about portability if it’s for camping etc. Neither of mine will fit inside an aeropress, which is a big advantage in some situations

mine’s up next year. I don’t particularly want Spanish citizenship but since my OH and son are on Spanish passorts I might as well look into it. Theirs take about 15 minutes from the local cop shop.

I’d probably rent mine out if it wasn’t a sure fire way to get the water tank filled with diesel, the interior splattered with bacon fat, or the roof mechanism wrecked as they try to lower it with stuff on the bed… etc.

According to this there are 11 non welshborn players in the squad

That’s from 2015. This is more recent:

Foreign-born players in the 2023 Six Nations breakdown by country

Is people’s ire reserved only for VW campers? Seems odd, since the Merc or Ford equivalent is around the same price…

I’ve got a Kelly kettle and a twig stove which are good in certain conditions, but 95% of the time I use the Trang. That’s for backpacking, bikepacking and moto touring. Honestly don’t care about weight bulk or boiling time – I put the kettle on, pack up my stuff or go for a poo or something, and it’s boiling. At work, I use the 27 almost daily to reheat veggie slop.

I use 99% alcohol metílico which I suppose is meths, and can be bought in any small supermarket in Spain – it’s with the cleaning products. It works okay, needs to get properly hot before putting the simmer ring on, otherwise it goes out. Alcool de bruler in France works sufficiently well, but ISTR it worked better on British purple meths, forrin stuff burns cooler, faster, or sootier, depending on what it is.

I was trying to cheer him up for his birthday

LRZ is supposed to be back for the Lloegr game.  Not sure if that’s still going to be the case.  I think he would’ve scored against Eire.

If you’re booking flights, have a plan B. There’s plenty other riding that’ll generally be open by then.
I’ve been riding around La Mongie and Bareges at Easter before, but not to the col. Also ridden over the top in snow on Bastille day.

Never bothered, although I’m LHD. Keep right and go through with the HGVs,contactless. And never, ever go behind a UK reg car (passenger throws coins onto floor, can’t open door, too close to booth, cue reversing etc..)

As said, fit, fit fit. But don’t forget to do your homework – some lids are inherently noisy. I have a Bell that fits like a, erm, glove but is unbearably noisy on long trips, and the visor needs both a 3mm and 8mm (!) allen key to take it off. I’m using a HJC RPHA 70 – I like the drop down dark eyeshade. Well under budget in an unpopular colour.

My pre-run espresso is made once I’m there. Gas stove (you could use a thermos of hot water), grinder and Picopresso. Sounds like a faff but it all lives in the van anyway.

Using the smallest KeepCup in my camping setup. Tbh it’s still a bit big, but can be pressed into service for wine or a decent dram too. There’s an enamel espresso cup kicking around the back of the van (from the Range I think) that’s just right but not insulated obvs.

https://eu.keepcup.com/size-guide

Thinking about it, does it need to be insulated? Surely there’s so little liquid you just down it – it won’t stay hot no matter what you put it in. I just preheat the cup with boiling water.

the photo of the doors reminded me of something, can’t think what

while you’ve got the carbs off, check needles/tubes for wear. Dare say you’d feel it as poor throttle response but if riding it gently you might not.

also, plugs might be due a change.

awesome bike. the GPZ 9 got me into bikes after a lad who worked at Lakeside YMCA gave me a backie around Windermere on his. Riding a ZZR 14 now.

@yokaiser put your name on the list for the next batch of Smiths Air Ministry?

Liked the Murph, I also like the Alpinist, especially the baby version without the compass bezel (istr seeing some video reviews where that bezel wobbled a bit).
Talking of compass bezels, I’ve probably got enough “tool” watches but this caught my eye. 1600€ tho…

OW – M-110 M

I have/had an old Sammy Smith’s bar towel which seems to dry better than anthing else.
The OH left the hob on really low t’other morning, I couldn’t see it was on and my prized Sammy Smiths bar towel went up in flames :(

Xmas itself is looking good. Sunny, temps in 20s, no visiting or weirdness, 9yo getting a new bike so there’ll be fun to had there. All grand.

Then it’s all going pear shaped, flying into MCR on 27th to visit family, using flights I booked pre covid and can’t seem to get refunded. Costs more to stay in a small northern market town than in the centre of Bordeaux,

I bow to their knowledge, obviously. But I still think llwybr was better for the use that I pictured from your OP. Gofod makes me think of a plaza or precinct or something.

Edit: eg

Welsh is written phonetically, for the most part

true. Although, ydy dy dei du di yn dy dŷ du di neu ydy dy dad di yn dy dŷ du di?

Trying to find positives in the census result – the huge decrease in very young speakers is worrying but possibly a pandemic related anomoly, but it seems to be on the up in cities which is where the battle will have to be fought now. Rural Wales is stuffed, as residents get priced out. The future of yr hen iaith is now in good, Welsh-medium urban schools. The boomer generation, huge numbers of largely non-Welsh speaking people, is living longer than ever but as their numbers drop off the ratio will start to look different.
People born in the Welsh language movement of the 60s brought up their kids in the language (hence growth in age 16+ speakers), and there’s no reason not to think that their grandkids in 2031 will also be.

That’s my sprinkle of glitter on the turd anyway.

Disclaimer: Welsh speaker but don’t live there. But can draw certain parallels with how it’s panned out here with the Basque language.

Yea, this is where my limit currently is – very basic! I thought for Yes and No, you could use
Oes/Nagoes if the question begins with oes…
Ydw/Nacydw if the question begins with ydw…

But we need more of that where I live (Powys) – people just piling in + having a go!

Posted 6 minutes ago

Agree. But the mental gymnastics for a new learner to successfully answer a question are quite involved. Eg.
Would you say..? No, I wouldn’t
Faset ti’n deud…? Na, na faswn
Will you help? Yes, I will
Wnei di helpu? Ie, gwna

You’ll be understood with ie and na, and the rest will come naturally later.

Easy to write, yeah. During a conversation as a learner, trying to understand thr gist of the question and still having the capacity to correctly mirror the tense of the question and change the subject and verb ending… Bit more of a “her”

Well it’s a mix – you can conjugate verbs as in romance languages (cerddais i) or use auxiliary verbs like in germanic (Nes i cerdded). I find it a lot easier than learning all the Spanish tenses.

Loads of similarities to English in the way tenses are used, things that you struggle with learning other languages are more, “oh, that’s just like in English ”

Yes and no are just ie and na. Learning to mirror the question tenses takes a while to come in speaking and nobody will care if you just say ie or na, or whether you remember the mutations.

These kids are nailing it in just 12 weeks!

Dyma Sofiia, Natalia a Danylo – siaradwyr Cymraeg newydd ??????? ?

Mae'r tri yn mynychu uned trochi'r Gymraeg ar Ynys Môn ar ôl ffoi o'r rhyfel yn Wcráin.

Mwy yma ? https://t.co/OUOufsLWOv pic.twitter.com/sqEm1QZREL

— Newyddion S4C (@NewyddionS4C) December 15, 2022