I would just like to say

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derwendolly said:
Do you 'murder' French in the same way as you do Welsh?:eek:
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This was a joke, my Welsh girlfriend of the time laughed! Saw it when driving into Wales to visit her family in Abertillery.:)
And yes, I do make jokes in French, puns etc etc. But I "murder" it less than the French do themselves.;)
Without language-based jokes, humour would be much poorer. Especially on fora! (As I don't want to murder Latin either!):D:D:D:D:D
 
Stanleysteamer said:
This was a joke, my Welsh girlfriend of the time laughed! Saw it when driving into Wales to visit her family in Abertillery.:)
And yes, I do make jokes in French, puns etc etc. But I "murder" it less than the French do themselves.;)
Without language-based jokes, humour would be much poorer. Especially on fora! (As I don't want to murder Latin either!):D:D:D:D:D
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Good to hear but the difference is that the Welsh highly value their language and fight very hard to keep it in existence so they do not appreciate it being 'turned into a joke.:)
 
derwendolly said:
Good to hear but the difference is that the Welsh highly value their language and fight very hard to keep it in existence so they do not appreciate it being 'turned into a joke.:)
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I seem to be crashing into peeps' sensitivities at the mo.
As I said, she and her family, (after SHE laughingly told them about it) just thought it was funny. It was not making fun of a language, rather using the language to make a joke, but the subtlety is lost on some.
As for them fighting hard to keep it alive, as far as I can tell they are doing bloody well. Not employing a teacher unless he/she can speak Welsh for instance, as a Brit who can't that meant I could never have worked in Wales although I could have worked anywhere else in the UK. I actually felt discriminated against, but then who would care? I also believe there are compulsory Welsh lessons in Welsh schools. And I did know some who resented this, much like English kids resenting having to do an MFL. And of course I came across a lot of that, from both kids and parents.

In France where they have the same battles to preserve Occitan, Breton, etc, they have no such drastic measures. And yes I do wish I spoke Occitan, which used to be spoken far more commonly than I ever knew, only a generation or two ago. Neighbours of ours spoke it a lot, especially at work.:)
 
Stanleysteamer said:
I seem to be crashing into peeps' sensitivities at the mo.
As I said, she and her family, (after SHE laughingly told them about it) just thought it was funny. It was not making fun of a language, rather using the language to make a joke, but the subtlety is lost on some.
As for them fighting hard to keep it alive, as far as I can tell they are doing bloody well. Not employing a teacher unless he/she can speak Welsh for instance, as a Brit who can't that meant I could never have worked in Wales although I could have worked anywhere else in the UK. I actually felt discriminated against, but then who would care? I also believe there are compulsory Welsh lessons in Welsh schools. And I did know some who resented this, much like English kids resenting having to do an MFL. And of course I came across a lot of that, from both kids and parents.

In France where they have the same battles to preserve Occitan, Breton, etc, they have no such drastic measures. And yes I do wish I spoke Occitan, which used to be spoken far more commonly than I ever knew, only a generation or two ago. Neighbours of ours spoke it a lot, especially at work.:)
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It's not sensitivities, it's unnecessary thoughtlessness. There is a marked difference between people of one nationality making jokes about their own language to another of the same nationality and, although I am not a Welsh speaker ( can only just about manage my own!), I am sure they do exactly the same, but a huge effort is made in Wales to make every sign, everywhere, bi-lingual in order to help the much appreciated visitors feel 'at home'.

It is not only teachers who need to speak Welsh, it is many professions, including doctors. They are not excluded but are expected to take advantage of the many 'free' Welsh languages on offer to them and to reach a good spoken standard. I do not see this as discrimination in any way. When you think about it, it makes sense that you are able to speak the language of the country you want to work in, especially when there are many, especially older, people who do not speak English with any fluency! I am sure you would be expected to speak the language of the children you are going to teach in any country! When it comes to schools, it is not that it is compulsory to attend Welsh lessons, the whole school is taught in the language of the country - Welsh Medium Schools. For parents who do want English to be the language of teaching, there are some English Medium Schools and Welsh is taught as a second language in the same way that may English schools teach a 'foreign' language but the interesting thing is that it is the incoming English people who fight hard to get their English speaking children into the Welsh medium Schools!! I do believe that in England it is a requirement for English to be the language of necessity for many of the professions that come into contact with people. Even those people applying for naturalisation have to be reasonable proficient in English and to know something of British culture. We could discuss at length the problems of not being able to speak the language of your chosen country of residence to make a new life in!

Between ourselves, my husband and I used to have some laughs about the limitations of the Welsh language compared to our native language! It certainly wasn't joking or ridicule but simply the 'strangeness of the linguistic differences. eg. The Welsh use 'green' to describe many different colours including 'blue', all according to context - I could never understand this but then I am not Welsh speaking. Another is a 'ginger' cat is an 'orange' cat. I could go on at length … but I won't.

The one thing that still intrigues me is that, in conversation, both English and Welsh words are all used together!! It does have the advantage that I can usually get the gist of what they are talking about.
 
Hicap phill said:
I hope your on about Breton language & not the pudding/cake
I see they are doing the Tour de France through Brest next year ;)
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Looks alright to me,
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/far-breton
But I have to be careful as Breton is a Celtic language, and I am in trouble for this already!:(
As for the Tour de France, not a keen cyclist, me, though I do appreciate that the peeps who do it are phenomenal athletes.:)
 
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