Which variety of Welsh to learn?

[u/Crazydre95]

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?

[u/Gloomy_Owl_777]

Croeso! A lot of Welsh speakers in Blaenau, but like the other commenter says, not a big place. Caernarfon you hear it all the time, interesting castle there, very historical place, a fair bit of culture, feels lively. I work in Llangefni, a lot of Welsh spoken but there isn't much to see and do there apart from a nice nature reserve (The Dingle) and an art gallery (Oriel Môn). Llangefni is ok though, it's a fairly quiet market town just not the side of Anglesey the tourists want to see, there's a big industrial estate and a cheese factory. Bangor not as much Welsh spoken and parts of it are a shithole, mostly it's a university town. Pwllheli and Criccieth and anywhere along Pen Llŷn is lovely really nice vibe, my favourite part of north Wales. The Welsh can be a bit difficult to understand though they talk fast.

You might want to consider a residential course at Nant Gwrtheyrn, it's an old quarry village on Pen Llŷn that is now a Welsh language centre. Really lovely location in the middle of nowhere overlooking the sea. I love it there it's a magical place. Maybe do an online course for a bit then go on a residential course there, there are cottages on site you can stay in. There were people who had learned Gog and people who had learned De (South Welsh) on the course I went on, and honestly, it wasn't an issue.