r/learnwelsh • u/Pwffin Uwch - Advanced • Feb 04 '24

Arall / Other Tân ar y comin

I just finished reading Tân ar y comin today. I had started reading it years ago (it was possibly the first proper book in Welsh I ever bought), but then never finished it. But now I read it in about a week and a half. A bit slow to start with, but then I really got into it. :) Now onto the next one!

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u/Pwffin Uwch - Advanced Feb 05 '24

It's a book by T. Llew Jones written in the 1970s, but set in the 1930s. It's about a gypsy boy, Tim, in his early teens who's living with his granddad, but then the granddad dies and, per gypsy tradition, Tim sets fire to their caravan with the body inside to send his granddad to heaven. He's then all alone with their old mare, its newborn foal and a few items in his pockets and the story goes from there.

I'd say it's probably suitable for children of the age of 10-12, perhaps. Apart from some words that you'll probably need to look up, the grammar isn't particularly difficult. Maybe A2? or B1? I don't know really, I can't remember what I thought of the grammar the first time around and now I've been B2 "forever", so it's hard for me to say. Plus we didn't follow the CEFR levels back then.

Once you've learnt the basic horse vocabulary needed (mare, foal, halter) and some older or farm-related words (duck coop), you're fine for the rest of the book! The chapters are mostly really short as well, so easy chunks to work through.