cymraeg
Dear Ciara,
Upon the completion of my thesis, I became hungry for a new project. Felt the desire for something new stirring in my stomach. Not that I didn’t already have ongoing projects; I’d been working for much of 2025 on a novel, which I’d abandon and then return to, and I’m always working on bits and pieces for Dear Ciara. But I was looking for something different, perhaps something more academic in nature. I settled on learning a language, as this is something that has been on my mind for quite some time.
I’ve always loved learning languages; however, I have never persisted with my study for more than a few months. During 2017, I became quite insecure about my monolingualism and studied norsk intensely for a few months (instead of doing my university coursework…). By the end of it, I was able to hold simple conversations and read small texts. Unfortunately, I stopped studying when I moved back home to my parents’ place and took my studies more seriously. While I love Nordic languages, the chance of ever actually living in one of those countries and being able to play with the language is slim to none. I am not a European citizen, nor are my qualifications something countries like Norway or Sweden are looking for. For context, I work in English education, and Nordic citizens tend to speak better English than I do!
The other language I’ve dabbled in over the years is Cymraeg. My mother is from South Wales, but she was born during an era where Welsh was heavily discouraged. She attempted to reconnect with her language before she had me, in the hopes she could pass the language on to her children, but found studying Welsh in Australia near impossible. Since then, the Internet has provided avenues for people to learn languages without taking classes, to immerse themselves in a culture without even having to leave their room.
So, I armed myself with a couple of textbooks, Duolingo, Memrise, Anki and other tools, and began the long journey of learning Welsh. I’m not looking for fluency; I’m looking mostly to be able to do a little bit of reading and listening. The Organist and I have spoken about living in Wales for a year or two, as I am a British citizen, but at this stage that won’t be for some time. Here’s hoping this time I persist in my studies. For me, my main goal is just consistently learning. If you have any tips, let me know.
Some of my favourite features of Welsh include:
The VSO sentence order. Grammatically, it is far more challenging than English, but I find the sentence structures poetic.
Initial consonant mutations. Again, a pain, but adds to the flow of the language.
Idiomatic expressions. Welsh is full of idiotic expressions that are creative and oftentimes humorous.
The song for today is:
Frost Bite — Men I Trust
I often listen Equus Asinus when I study, as it a little more mellow than Equus Caballus. Both are fantastic albums.
Love,
The Gardener