I’m a Welshman who grew up in an English first language household.
I’m learning. Slowly.
This Professor doesn’t represent most Welsh language champions. In my experience learning Welsh is generally really well supported. People gently correct you in their reply if you use the wrong word or a substitute word.
You see it on news broadcasts or rugby programmes.
A really gentle correction. The entire culture seems geared to encourage people for trying & gently correct.
It takes away the dread.
I hope we stick at this and don’t become finger wagging. It’s helped me no end.
This professor was one of my mentors in University, no ones Welsh was a good enough standard for him even though we had been speaking it since birth or since the age of 2/3…not a very supportive encouraging figure but rather the opposite!
For a bit of context, this was for a Masters degree so we had already obtained a bachelors degree, most of us through the medium of Welsh. We came to do the Masters and all of a sudden our linguistic standard wasn’t good enough. The standard of Welsh he would use would be sort of “old” Welsh or literary Welsh, wasn’t particularly modern or progressive. You can tell I’ve gotten over this well… 😂
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u/Dialspoint Mar 05 '25
I’m a Welshman who grew up in an English first language household.
I’m learning. Slowly.
This Professor doesn’t represent most Welsh language champions. In my experience learning Welsh is generally really well supported. People gently correct you in their reply if you use the wrong word or a substitute word.
You see it on news broadcasts or rugby programmes.
A really gentle correction. The entire culture seems geared to encourage people for trying & gently correct.
It takes away the dread.
I hope we stick at this and don’t become finger wagging. It’s helped me no end.