5 books in English about learning Welsh

The SaySomethinginWelsh wiki is a steadily growing resource for Welsh learners.  Built entirely voluntarily by SSiWers, it is rapidly evolving into a brilliant source of information for anyone who is learning or improving their Welsh skills.

The following information was lifted straight from the Books in English page on the 19th February 2011.  There may be different information there now, so go and have a look!

**********

Dysgu Cymraeg / Venturing Into Welsh, Hilda Hunter & Carol Williams

Bilingual book about the process of learning Welsh by two women who’ve done it.  Each gets half of the book, and on each two-page spread, the right-hand page is in English and the left-hand page is the same material in Welsh.  Hilda Hunter learned in her 80s (!) and has published her autobiography in Welsh (Dyfal Donc). Both the Welsh and the advice in her section is rather formal and old-fashioned — she insists on endless repetition of vowel sounds before making words, for instance.  Carol Williams’ section is a bit more relaxed.  Overall a worthy book, but not a lot of fun to read.  –  Tahl

Think Without Limits: You Can Speak Welsh, Lynda Pritchard-Newcombe

A book specifically aimed at the type of learner who gets on fine in lessons and classroom but bottles out when it comes to using Welsh “in the wild”.  Lots of tips and interesting thoughts on why this is.  Also some sections aimed at existing Welsh speakers and how they can help learners, so one to leave strategically placed around friends and family perhaps! – Leia

Information from Gwales.com

Travels in an Old Tongue, Pamela Petro

American learner Pam (who finds it amusing her name means “Why”) takes the rather extreme step of travelling the world to improve her Welsh – deliberately seeking out people in places where Welsh is her only common language.  Enjoyable read even if it’s not an approach most of us can replicate!  The longest and most traditionally “book-like” of the works summarized here.  – Leia, Tahl

Information from Gwales.com

Welsh in a Year, Jen Llywelyn

Small-format book, surprisingly rich in content, organized around the determination of a learner in Wales to speak enough Welsh to have a full lunch conversation with a friend in twelve months’ time.  Each chapter covers one month, and has several pages about her experience that month, some suggested resources (books, websites), a short “Welsh workshop” simulated classroom conversation in mixed Welsh & English to teach a grammar point (with a vocabulary list), a short “coffee time” conversation in English among the learners in the class about their experiences, and a one-page profile of a noteworthy adult learner.  Does the author succeed?  Guess.  – Tahl

Information from amazon.com

You Don’t Speak Welsh!Sandi Thomas

Another hugely enthusiastic American learner — this time going for the Wlpan in Aberystwyth.  Any learner will recognise the sentiments and challenges and delights in here!

(Appears to be out of print but is well worth seeking out in library or second hand)

Information from yLolfa.com

**********

If you have ideas for books or other resources that may be of use to Welsh learners, then come over to the Other Resources section of the SSiW support forum to tell us your thoughts. You’ll find plenty more ideas there and on the wiki as well.

This entry was posted in Resources and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to 5 books in English about learning Welsh

  1. 5 useful books in English for Welsh learners

Leave a comment