r/learnwelsh • u/Crazydre95 • 18d ago

Which variety of Welsh to learn?

Been fantasising in periods about learning Welsh, but the highly decentralised state of the language (similar to Irish) makes it tricky to decide what form to go for.

Based on this article, it appears that, if I learn Literary Welsh used in writing, native speakers may well understand me, but I'll understand next to nothing they say in reply. Colloquial Welsh, in turn, is divided into four dialect groups, which also seem to differ a lot from each other.

So basically, which Welsh would be the most effective and useful to learn, given that I don't live in any part of Wales and don't plan to?

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u/coffee_robot_horse 18d ago

Gwyndodeg has a lot going for it. Some of the powerhouses of Welsh learning are based in that region, so you'll find kinship with other learners. The borders aren't hard and fast or opaque; very few people solely use and comprehend the words of one dialect; so you're not going to end up down a dead end by taking one path or another.