"Indigenous: Welsh, Gaelic, Scots, Cornish and More" was an evening event recently held at the British Library here in London. Three creators who work in some of Britain's "other" languages took part. Is it realistic to redefine "Britishness" to include some of the oldest Brits of all? What does it mean to create in these languages? What are the challenges and rewards if you … [Read more...]
Learning all six Celtic languages (with Simon Ager)
If you've ever googled just about any question about languages, the chances are you'll have hit on Omniglot.com, the "Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems & Lanugages". Like me, though, you might not have immediately known who the self-effacing, yet immensely talented, language expert behind the site actually is. I finally met Simon Ager at the first Polyglot Gathering … [Read more...]
How I learned Welsh…and you can too
This is the story of how I got fluent in Welsh. It's the third post in my new “Dr Popkins Method?” series of articles. There posts are very much my personal history....but I'm sure you'll already see instructive parallels - or contrasts - with your own experience. That should already help you get a realistic take on this large - but not insurmountable - undertaking. At the end … [Read more...]
How to remember the gender of Welsh nouns and when it matters
This is the first in a new series: "Gender Mender" in which I'll be helping you master using gender in different languages and showing you tricks to remember the gender of nouns. We're starting with a look at how Welsh noun gender works and how to remember the genders of Welsh nouns. Learning the system can be a real headache for two reasons. First, you just have to clamp the … [Read more...]
Icelandic’s success as an inspiration for Welsh and Europe’s other “lesser used” languages.
There a host of reasons why I was looking forward to going to Iceland and learning some Icelandic for the first time. One of them was to compare the Icelandic and Welsh linguistic situations. The two languages are not closely related. Icelandic is a Germanic language and Welsh a Celtic one. They do both share the characteristic of having a relatively small number of … [Read more...]
Ten ways to support Welsh, even if you don’t speak the language
You may not speak Welsh yourself, but you want to support Welsh speakers. Maybe you have a child or grandchild in a Welsh-medium school, maybe you feel Welsh and the language matters as part of your family's history or your personal identity. Maybe you're not Welsh but you've moved to Wales and want to show support. Maybe you simply love Wales and its unique culture from … [Read more...]
Why learn Welsh? Ten reasons
Why learn Welsh in 2025? This is for you if you're thinking of learning Cymraeg - the Welsh language - yourself or just interested in finding out more about it. Even if the language you're eyeing up isn't Welsh, this post my well help you get clear on your underlying "whys". It's an important step when you're thinking of taking on a new lingo. Clarity of purpose will help … [Read more...]