Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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 pri > 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