Welsh language: what's the point?

[Lady Whistledown]

I heard that weedy Glyn bloke talking in his native language to Imogen on BB tonight.

And every other word they used was English. What's the point of speaking a language that seems have a vocabulary of only ten words??

Glyn

"Yeah ichwddlleryn very uwpset at llywder hwlyl bloody head boy at scwl ye know?"

Imogen
"oh yeah, hwlwlllwyndrobcpwll Lea chwldwr massive tits ap f***ing caerdydd bastard cefndruids awesome!"

 

[Scotty Mac]

racist

 

[only1robbiereinalt]

i think thats more something to do with the fact theyve been told they cant speak welsh because BB don't have time to edit it

 

[Starry]

Glyn is my favourite house mate.

I think it's nice to see them speak their native tongue, I didn't notice them using random English words though - just those for names/places/titles, things I guess there are no literal translation.

 

[Gully]

Nope, I think you will find that the Welsh language, like English and many others, is constantly evolving. Our language has taken many words from other languages and uses them as if they were English, capiche, so why shouldn't Welsh take words from English and use them?

 

[Gully]

Oh, and Starry, I am pretty much in agreement with you on Glyn being the best housemate, all the girls are dreadful, even Pete seems to have gone into his shell a bit, meanwhile Glyn is rapidly improving and to be fair is quite funny.

 

[Albion Dan]

Im on Glyn to win the thing @ 8/1. Come on Son.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

My Welsh mate, big gay Dave, says Welsh borrows as many words from English as French does.

Which isn't bad -- considering only about 200,000 people speak it as a first language.

 

[Ccider]

My Welsh mate, big gay Dave, says Welsh borrows as many words from English as French does.

Which isn't bad -- considering only about 200,000 people speak it as a first language.

Only 200,000 speak French as 1st language? Now that's what I call progress!

Le weekend sandwich est OK.

 

[Gwylan]

Nope, I think you will find that the Welsh language, like English and many others, is constantly evolving. Our language has taken many words from other languages and uses them as if they were English, capiche, so why shouldn't Welsh take words from English and use them?

That's right: Welsh never really got round to inventing modern words for modern objects like the French did on the grounds that everyone would just use the English words (as the French found out - who prefers courier electronique to email for example?)

Most modern European languages these days use plenty of English words; the French, obviously, but the Germans too....why should the Welsh be different.

Chwarae teg nawr.

 

[Lammy]

Anyone else playing the Glyn drinking game?

Everytime you see him wearing something that says I'm welsh and you down two fingers.

I was nearly hospitalised!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

That's right: Welsh never really got round to inventing modern words for modern objects like the French did on the grounds that everyone would just use the English words (as the French found out - who prefers courier electronique to email for example?)

Most modern European languages these days use plenty of English words; the French, obviously, but the Germans too....why should the Welsh be different.

Chwarae teg nawr.

Not entirely true. I have a mate in Machynlleth who claims the credit for inventing the Welsh word for brassiere, back in the late sixties. In those days there was a panel of scholars who considered such things very carefully - words, that is, not women's underwear.

Whether his word caught on, I don't know.

 

[Redhead]

Chwarae teg nawr.

What?!? My Mother Was saint

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

What?!? My Mother Was saint

Futurama

 

[On the Left Wing]

Just passed the comments around my Welsh office .... amazing agreement from some quarters and sulking in the others!

 

[Gwylan]

Not entirely true. I have a mate in Machynlleth who claims the credit for inventing the Welsh word for brassiere, back in the late sixties. In those days there was a panel of scholars who considered such things very carefully - words, that is, not women's underwear.

Whether his word caught on, I don't know.

There is a panel of scholars that considers these things and obviously there are new Welsh words (teledu for television for example). I think most people in Wales say 'bra' for bra - it's not something I've ever had to ask for so I don't know if there's a 'proper' word.

If there is such a word, it was odds-on that it was invented by someone from
Machynlleth.

 

[Curious Orange]

I wonder how many people on here can actually pronounce Machynlleth...

 

[Trufflehound]

Adopting words from other tongues adds a certain je ne sais quoi to any language, and captures the zeitgeist. QED.

 

[captainmorganrum]

I wonder how many people on here can actually pronounce Machynlleth...

Aye, I can, and I can also pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, as I was born about 3 miles away.

:welshrulesok:

Twll din pob saes!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Aye, I can, and I can also pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, as I was born about 3 miles away.

Now be honest. When you made that post, did you spell Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch from memory or did you google it up and copy & paste it?