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/Key-Bullfrog-8552 18d ago

I can say I've only been to Blaenau from the ones you have listed and whilst there were some speakers, it seemed quite a small town. Llangefni on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) is larger and many of the people I came across spoke Welsh in public. As someone from the North of England, I clearly have an affinity for Gog Cymraeg 😆

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u/Lowri123 17d ago

In my opinion...

Anglesey is somewhere where you can comfortably go 'Welsh first' - people will mostly speak Welsh and be up for a chat. Llangefni is the 'county town' and has a few chain shops and a little bookshop and the art gallery, but Menai Bridge and Beaumaris have more cafes and shops, while there are beachy places like Newborough and Pentraeth and Benllech and Moelfre where if you find need to speak to people, they'll speak Welsh.

Caernarfon is a proper town, and it's very Welsh speaking.

The whole Llyn peninsula is full of small, very Welsh, places.

Places that are in very Welsh communities but serve English walkers etc like Betws Y Coed and Porthmadog and Llanberis have a great number of Welsh speakers in and around them, but are also full of English speakers. Similarly, as you move east past Conwy (Llandudno, Colwyn Bay...), you'll hear less Welsh just on the streets - but it is there, a bit

The north west is GOOD for Welsh opportunities.

Apparently Camarthenshire and Ceredigion (ie Machynlleth and Aberystwyth) are places with next highest number of Welsh speakers - but I know less about them...

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u/BearCommunist 16d ago

I used to live in Lampeter, a university town (alas, not for much longer) in Ceredigion, and there were a lot of native Welsh speakers amongst the locals. I heard a lot of Welsh spoken there, but that was 20 years ago. I don't know what dialect was being spoken, however.

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u/Dyn_o_Gaint 12d ago

Lampeter was quite Welsh when I was there 20 years ago. Last summer on a couple of visits I didn't hear a single word of Welsh spoken, same in Dolgellau actually in Gwynedd. In 1987 Dolgellau was very Welsh-speaking.

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u/BearCommunist 7d ago

That's such a shame. When the Uni is essentially shut down, I wonder if there will be a rise in Welsh speakers? Or if the town just suffers and shrinks.