August 24, 2003
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
While we were in Barry, we wandered into a local bookshop twice. The first time, Mrs Holford was stocking up on her supply of fiction (she is a fan of the John Grisham sort of stuff) and I was looking at the local interest collection.
During the second visit, she found several books on teaching your children Welsh. Aidie is at that stage where he can absorb two languages at the same time and be functionally bilingual from the start. The only problem is that I speak no Welsh and Mrs H hasn't studied it since she was about 12 or 13. She's really good at road signs and place names (all the road signs in Wales are bilingual), and can remember basic phrases, but that's about it.
She is now seriously considering taking an adult education class in the language so she can pass it on to Aidie. Wanting to be as involved as possible I bought Welsh in Three Months. However, as my schedule is about to get very busy learning other things, I'm not sure how much time I will have for a new language.
If I'm lucky soon I will be able to have such important conversations as:
Sut dych chi'n hoffi eich te, yn gryf neu yn wan?
Fel mae'n dod, Mrs Jones.
Oes digon o laeth yn hwn?
Oes, diolch, eitha digon.
Gymerwch chi fisgien?
Diolch yn fawr. Oes te ar ol?
Oes, llond tebot.
This is translated as:
How do you like your tea, strong or weak?
As it comes, Mrs Jones.
Is there enough milk in it?
Yes thanks, quite enough.
Will you have a biscuit?
Thanks very much. Is there any tea left?
Yes, a potful.
Aidie, on the other hand, will be able to get a job with the government in Wales, where any position advertised that requires working with the public invariably states that Welsh speakers are preferred. This is because there is an outside chance that the post holder could be required to meet with one of the half-dozen Welsh monoglots left.
He could also appear in any one of several Welsh-language soap operas on the Welsh-language TV station. From what I can tell from the little bit that I have watched, acting ability isn't essential.