Jaz 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @jaz@toot.wales

Today's background playlist:Côr Meibion Treorci

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ysMlIZPoSU&list=PLrzLsHMGwauHfpXmc7DCc9ZMC_wCM0Go4

#welsh #choir #music #np

It's been a rough year in many ways, and somewhere down the list is a rough year for #Welsh #Rugby. So here's 10 of the best tries #Wales have scored in the Rugby World Cup. Glorious torpedo from Ieuan Evans to John Devereux, Shane Williams being Shane Williams, but pay particular attention to Gethin Jenkins' not one but two hilarious dummies. Cheeky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op6MkLE9Cd8

Spending Review: Row over post-EU #Welsh farming cash
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-55073139

#Welsh Music Prize: Rapper Deyah wins award in 'unique' year
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55000597

Donald Trump retweets criticism of #Welsh 'rolling lockdowns'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-54448440

#nicetobenoticed

The SSiW Online #Eisteddfod 2020 is now live and ready for your participation! The aim is to have fun and take part! There is something for everyone, even if you just started learning #Welsh this week!

There are various categories - written, musical and visual - so have a look to see what takes your fancy.

All the information can be found on the forum at - https://forum.saysomethingin.com/t/online-eisteddfod-2020-categories-and-rules/29141

Brazilian takes #Welsh test to become British citizen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54355166

Fundraiser by José Rodolfo da Silva : My Welsh citizenship, fy ninasyddiaeth Gymreig
https://www.gofundme.com/f/my-welsh-citizenship-fy-ninasyddiaeth-gymreig

José is Brazilian, and is the first person ever to take the UK citizenship test in #Welsh, and he's looking for some help covering the application fee.

Storm Francis uncovers more 'sunken' forest in Cardigan Bay
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54089363

Fond memories of #Welsh restaurant Cantre'r Gwaelod in #Brooklyn, now closed, named for this forest

Celtic Christianity: History of #Welsh seat of learning revealed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53678799

My home town of Llanilltud Fawr

This is a fun blog: "Learn Welsh in 88 Years" - https://therockyroadtowelsh.weebly.com/ #ymarfer #cymraeg #welsh

Did you know Thomas Jefferson spoke #Welsh? Or that Lincoln's family home is in Bala? 5 of the first 6 US presidents were of Welsh descent:

https://hisdoryan.co.uk/american-presidents-of-welsh-descent

The #Welsh Alphabet #12

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Here's a few videos to check your pronunciation and see how close you got. Remember, Welsh, like any other language, has regional differences in pronunciation. I'm from South Wales on the Glamorgan coast, so my accent is different than people in Mid Wales or North Wales etc. None of them are right or wrong. Just different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHxO0UdpoxM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCwEztj3g-w

The #Welsh Alphabet #11

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

llan sounds like clan

fair sounds like fire with a v

pwll is pooll with the ll sound

gwyn is gwin

gyll is gill like fish gill but with the ll sound

goger is go geh

y chwyrn = uh ch ooey urn, like quuer with an n at the end - queern

drobwll is dro bwll like pwll above but b

llan - clan

ty silio - tih silly oh

go - go

go - go

goch like loch.

So now you can pronounce the longest place name in Wales!

The #Welsh Alphabet #10

Dipthongs

ae ai au as in eye, aye

aw as how, now, brown, cow

ei as eight

eu as in say, pray

ew is tricky, try e as in bed oo as in moon but just the eh and the oo

iw / i'w as in "ew! (that's disgusting)"

yw / y'w as in yew

oe as in boy, toy

ow as in low, tow, never as in town, clown

wy as in gooey, fluid

ywy as in the ooey of gooey, but a hint of a y sound at the begnninng. Say "fluid" but drop the fl and add a y.

OK, let's break down llanfairpwll...

The #Welsh Alphabet #9

ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th are each considered one letter. If you're doing a Welsh crossword then (a) good luck and (b) these letters fill one box each.

n and r are often doubled. These are not one letter, these are double letters. Tow boxes.

So, hanner (half) is six letters long, gyrru (drive) is five.

So you should now be almost ready to pronounce Welsh placenames like llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - you just need a few dipthongs.

The #Welsh Alphabet #8

You'll note we don't really have a "j" which prompts a lot of people to ask how I got my name. That's a different story, but you'll see "j" borrowed a lot, and it's relatively common to see in Welsh these days.

What we really don't have is K, Q, V, X and Z.

We don't need a K because "c" is always hard. We get Q by using "cw", V for us is one "f", and who needs Z? Well, again, I do because of my silly name. For most uses we just throw the "s" in there, so zero is sero.

The #Welsh Alphabet #7

Long vowels. We add a circumflex to vowels to make them long.

For example this Mastodon server is named "Tŵt".

W as a vowel is somewhere between the u in put and oo in moon. But when we add the circumflex we get the oo sound long and no question, with a w sound at the end. Think of the difference between oo in zoo and oo in spoon. Spoon goes longer, right?

So "twt" (tidy) sounds like "put", short and sweet, but
tŵt sounds like toot. Like a train. Toooooot.

The #Welsh Alphabet #6

T as in turn, time

Th as in think, never as in this (go back and see "dd")

W (when used as a consonant) as in work, well

Back to "Ll".

Make the "el" sound with your mouth. Say "lap" Note how your tongue is pushing the back of your teeth.

Now say "clap".Your tongue pushes your teeth , but now there's air moving around the side of your tongue.

Now push that air from the back toward the front and you'll have a messy, breathy "cl" sound. That's close enough!

The #Welsh Alphabet #5

Ll is a sound with no English equivalent. I will put a toot just for this sound but it's a little bit like cl as in clap but with extra air

M as in more, money

N as in no, never

P as in pie, please

Ph is the same as ff, as in phonetic

R as in right although we usually roll or trill the r sound

Rh is pronounced as HR, try saying "hurray" really quickly, that's the "hr" sound

S as in say, something

(Si is the same as the English Sh as in show, shop)