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Irish or Welsh?

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sean kilduff
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 3183 days ago

1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 1 of 5
10 August 2015 at 10:29am | IP Logged 
Hello , I was wondering which of these Celtic languages to study. I am from both these
countries , so that is makey reason for being interested.
My language experience so far is anglo saxon/ old English , hebrew and a bit of french. So
nothing relevant.

If anybody knows which of these languages is more approachable in terms of grammar ,
pronunciation and familiarity to an English speaker. I would be grateful.

Thankyou.
1 person has voted this message useful



Josquin
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4631 days ago

2266 posts - 3992 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish
Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian

 
 Message 2 of 5
10 August 2015 at 12:33pm | IP Logged 
They are both equally distant from English, so it's really up to you in which one you're more interested. Welsh might be a little bit easier to pronounce, because it doesn't distinguish between velarized ("broad") and palatalized ("slender") consonants, as Irish does.

I like Irish better, but if Welsh is what floats your boat, go for it.
1 person has voted this message useful





jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
Moderator
SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6696 days ago

4250 posts - 5710 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 3 of 5
10 August 2015 at 3:36pm | IP Logged 
If you want to use the language and happen to live in the area where it is spoken (conversation group/local community/living language/etc.), I'd choose that one. It's just a matter of interest and possible usage.
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ExRN
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3182 days ago

61 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 4 of 5
14 August 2015 at 1:07am | IP Logged 
Welsh. It does have some mad grammar rules though. The roots of words change depending what word
proceeds it. Mutations are really confusing. There is some good resources on the BBC website for Welsh.
They did a series called the big Welsh challenge where they got celebrities, I use the term loosely, and they
made them learn welsh from scratch. They had to do a challenge in Welsh at the end which involved their
actual real life skill. Rhod Gilbert had to do a stand up gig in Welsh, some "actress" had to do a scene in
pobol y cwm or Rwnd y Rwnd.... One of the two, can't really remember. It was good though. If you venture
up to North Wales, at least when I lived there, no one would give you the time of day unless you spoke a bit
of Welsh. Immersion up north would not be hard to come by. There are different dialects spoken as well so
make sure you pick the most dominant one which is northern. I am a bit biased though as my only
experience of Irish is from a fuzzy TV picture that I used to pick up on good days. I did read that Welsh is
declining though, so if you learn welsh you can think of yourself as saving a language :-D
1 person has voted this message useful



akkadboy
Triglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5195 days ago

264 posts - 497 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Yiddish
Studies: Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Welsh

 
 Message 5 of 5
14 August 2015 at 11:45am | IP Logged 
I only dabbled in Irish but I'd say that Welsh has quite a few pros :

- prononciation is easier
- there are still enough Welsh speakers to use the language on a daily basis and in a natural way

Of course, if you have even a slight preference for one of the two, I'd say go for it regardless of any other criteria.

On a side note, Welsh also benefits from having a great audio course Say Something in Welsh.

Edited by akkadboy on 14 August 2015 at 11:58am



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