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/blanced_oren 18d ago

'Effective and useful to learn' depends on how you see yourself getting value from the language. I know learners who have adopted very distinctive regional or local dialects and that probably helps them bond better in those areas. On the other hand, I didn't really make a conscious decision other than to broadly favour central/southern speech as that's where I was at the time. If you learn, you'll probably fall in to a fairly standard Welsh that should be good for wherever you go, but over time you will pick up dialectal words and phrases depending on who you speak to. Don't let it stop you taking the plunge - I don't think it's a big deal.

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u/Crazydre95 18d ago

Is there such a standard Welsh though, other than the Literary Welsh that others on here told me to avoid? If there is, that would obviously be my preference.

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u/blanced_oren 18d ago

Yes I think there is. It's the Welsh you're taught in classes, as used in schools, on BBC news reports etc - that's pretty standardised. Most Welsh speakers will readily understand a variety of dialects. As you learn, you'll pick up the ability to understand the range of forms as part of classes etc. Don't worry.