Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On the Welsh language, I was involved with the Irish team for the Snowdon International mountain race in the eighties and early nineties. In Llanberis, where it started and finished, I only heard Welsh being spoken. Gywnedd is the home of the Sons of Glyndwr and when you were in the pubs back then you could see these bright eyed, dark little Welshmen flicking their Zippos and thinking about an English holiday home to burn down. They liked us as we were the risen subjects of a former English domination :-) Douglas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Dernie" <Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2013 11:59 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] Two Cardiff windows > My eldest daughter settled in on the isle of Anglesey in North Wales after > doing her PhD there. My 2 grandsons will do Welsh in school. We take all > our holidays there now, to see them. We went to the Anglesey show a few > weeks ago and pretty well everybody in the crowd seemed to be speaking > Welsh. Back in the 60s I was camping in Snowdonia and went to the farm to > get milk. The farmer did not speak English. We chatted about sheep with > his daughter as interpreter. > > I think the urge to be nationalist comes in waves in Wales. There is a > chapel on Church Island in the Menai Strait which has been a Christian > site since the 7th century (though the present tiny church is newer, 15th > century) It is interesting to see how the gravestones are sometimes in > Welsh, sometimes in English and it seemed to me more by date than family > preference. > > My wife is a conductor of the South Wales male voice choir, so at least > has a smattering of Welsh, and picks me up on pronunciation all the > time... > > I Know what Larry means about by the time you get to the english bit you > have over shot the turning. It takes a lot of practice to read the last > bit first. > > Frank D > > On 1 Sep, 2013, at 06:43, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote: > >> Thanks for looking, Larry. I rather enjoy the Welsh, it adds local color >> for me. And I am used to reading bilingual signs from my years living >> just outside Brussels, and my many frequent visits there now. >> >> Cheers, >> Nathan >> >> On 1 Sep 2013, at 02:21, lrzeitlin at aol.com wrote: >> >>> And a rather more grand "window" near my hotel in Cardiff Bay: >>> http://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/4253606_kdsZ6C#!i=2734312892&k=MRh6XmL&lb=1&s=O >>> Nathan >>> >>> >>> - - - - >>> >>> >>> I noticed that half the words on the sign in front of the theater were >>> in Welsh even though fewer than 10% of the people in Cardiff are fluent >>> in the language. There is a big nationalist effort in Wales to revive >>> the Welsh language. Officially it is co-equal with English. Public signs >>> and government documents must be written in both Welsh and English. Even >>> in North Wales (Gwynedd), the epicenter of Welsh language revival, most >>> of the people speak English when they have to conduct business with >>> those foreigners from England. There is little problem in conversation. >>> It's just those damned highway signs. Every direction is written in >>> Welsh first, then in English. By the time you read the English wording, >>> it's too late. You have missed the turn and have to drive miles down the >>> narrow lane before you can find a space wide enough to reverse >>> directions. Welsh is taught in schools as a required language and in >>> North Wales many locals speak it in their homes. This is a matter of pr > i >> de >>> rather than necessity. It is symbolic of the fact that the Welsh feel >>> that they are a sovereign nation and that the British conquest in 1300 >>> was only a temporary inconvenience. >>> Larry Z >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >> >> Nathan Wajsman >> Alicante, Spain >> http://www.frozenlight.eu >> http://www.greatpix.eu >> >> Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 >> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >> Image licensing: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman >> Blog: >> http://www.nathansmusings.eu/ >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >