Talk:Welsh

This is definitely one we need to get going! I think we need to take out the useful phrases section and put that on a different page, it's too heavy to put straight in at the start. Kijog 19:37, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Right - here goes... A vague lessonplan to teach welsh...

I think each lesson should include the following:


 * Introduce topic and what is to be learnt
 * Short Vocab list (20words?
 * Dialogue (we could get this recorded as a finishing touch and add a sound file)
 * Grammar explanation and Tricky bits
 * Exercises and Answers
 * Recap

So:

Lesson 1

 * Introductions, Verb to be.
 * Dialogue (a few lines)
 * How to say I am, you are, he is etc. (Note: Also say about the copula (ydw i etc.) AledJames 11:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Mae stays the same for plural nouns.
 * Exercise: Construct simple sentences: I am John, He is a teacher. (link to vocab list of occupations)
 * Answers Kijog 11:31, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

add as and when...

Sound
Note about sound files: They have to be encoded in .ogg, right? I'm not entirely sure how you would go about doing this AledJames 11:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, i suppose that's a bridge we are going to have to cross when we get there. I have seen them before (.ogg) on other pages but I don't even know what software you need to play them with.... Kijog 12:32, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Numbers
I've found a table on the Wikipedia article Welsh language which has the base-20 and base-10 numbers set out next to each other. I've requested it comes over through transwiki, AledJames - would you mind if we replace the non-table list we have? Kijog 12:07, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Very well, do it AledJames 11:38, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Just wondering: do you really want to suggest people should "complete" the material on numbers before beginning the first lesson? People usually find the base-20 system both difficult and annoying. It isn't something I'd expect to see covered before learning how to ask somebody's name, for example. How do I add a signature to this without a button? Will it happen automatically...?

Proposed Lesson Layout
Hey everyone, I'm quite new to wikibooks and all the standard conventions, so please forgive me if I completely do something wrong. I'd quite like to contribute to this book and still trying to figure out naming conventions/creating templates/etc. so we can make this book featured! Please bear with me while I learn the wikicode.

I'm working on a proposed lesson layout based on the teaching conventions adopted by the WJEC. I'll include my thoughts below, although they need to be organised better and perhaps subdivided more, but this gives a rough idea of my idea for the flow of the book.

So this rough type of page hierarchy and restructure:
 * Lessons
 * Introductory Lessons
 * Brief History of the Welsh Language
 * The Alphabet
 * Brief Preview of Mutations and Other Grammatical Features
 * Greetings
 * Numbers 1-10
 * Mynediad
 * Basic conversation and present tense (First and second person pronouns)
 * Expanding present tense (all pronouns), more verbs, definite article
 * Negative present tense
 * 'Mynd' present tense to go, introduction to soft mutation
 * Possession using 'Oes' and 'Mae' patterns
 * Expanding numbers
 * Telling the time
 * Dealing with money
 * The Perfect Tense (Dwi wedi siarad)
 * Past tense of 'go'
 * Past tense of 'do'
 * Past tense of 'cael'
 * Past tense patterns, the stem
 * Asking for things
 * Expressing necessity
 * Soft Mutation
 * Telling Time
 * Possessive pronoun 'his' and 'her' (introduction to aspirate mutation)
 * Possessive pronoun 'my' (introduction to nasal mutation)
 * Describing, using adjectives
 * Basic commands
 * Sylfaen
 * The Imperfect Tense (Roeddwn i)
 * The Future Tense (Byddaf i)
 * The Future Tense - Short Form (Tala i)
 * The Conditional (Baswn i)
 * Hoffwn/Gallwn/Dylwn
 * The Passive Voice (Dwi'n cael fy nhalu)
 * Comparisons (mor a, yn fwy, y fwya, etc.)
 * Irregular Comparisons (gwaeth, gwell, etc.)
 * Canolradd
 * Irregular commands
 * Concise impersonal (Agorir yr ysgol, talwyd y plant)
 * Verbs and preposition combinations (anfon at, ymweld a, etc.)
 * Personal prepositions (iddo fe, iddi hi, etc.)
 * Uwch
 * Points of Formal Welsh (Rywf, etc.)
 * More on prepositions
 * Noun clauses
 * Examining word patterns and spellings (plural endings
 * Grammar References
 * Mutations
 * Gender
 * Verb Tables
 * Preposition Tables
 * Resources
 * Links
 * Computing in Welsh (typing accents, etc.)
 * Vocabulary Lists

Brenin yr elyrch (talk) 19:40, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good to me! I'd offer to help, but I'm just a learner, so I can only do so much.  Jade Knight (talk) 21:21, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Lessons we don't have yet
I feel like I'm shopping around for attention, but anyway I'm trying to write up the lessons 4-10 here. I am also a learner, so any help, corrections or anything would be appreciated. Cathfolant (discuss • contribs) 19:55, 20 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I moved lesson 4 to here. I hope this is okay. Cath  folant  22:37, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Text
I don't think it makes sense to call Welsh "One of the oldest European languages surviving", as it's really no older than any other (and has changed more than some – cf the "q" to "p" shift). It has one of the longest-surviving literary heritages (though a good deal less than Greek or Latin) – is that what is meant? Deipnosophista (discuss • contribs) 13:44, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Removed
"One of the oldest European languages surviving..." this article said. I removed that on the grounds that there is no oldest language; all extant languages evolved gradually from earlier languages; e.g. Welsh from Proto-Brythonic, English from Old English, Romance languages from Latin, etc. Thus Welsh has no specific age. Okay?--Solomonfromfinland (discuss • contribs) 07:12, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I'd never thought too deeply before about what constitutes an "old" language, honestly. I can see how one might be uncomfortable with that phrase.  On the other hand, there seems to be something to it; perhaps there's another way to phrase a related thought.  True, all living languages evolve slowly over time.  Yet individual languages tend to have a traceable identity, and language extinction tends to be more of a discrete event &mdash; at least if you stand back from it a little (which you have to do anyway in order to say there is such a thing as a language at all, rather than thousands or millions of idiolects).  Basque is, in a sense, a very old language, though one doesn't have to put it that way (saying it's an isolate, not known to be related to any other language on Earth, will suffice). --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 13:30, 16 November 2019 (UTC)