Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Lampeter Blog - Part 2

Aaaargh. Bad head. Very bad head...

Today we did mutations - both nasal and soft - and apparently there is going to be a different sort tomorrow. This is where the first letter of a word changes (or sometimes disappears altogether - particularly cunning, I thought) depending on what has come before. So the Welsh word for Chester - 'Caer' - becomes 'Nghaer' and furthermore the 'yr' (meaning from) becomes 'yng'. At the moment feel like I'm wallowing around in thick gooey mud and have no idea what I'm saying. So no change from normal, basically.

I would also like to comment that the other people in my class are clearly either cheating (with a microphone implant and a Welsh expert feeding them information at the other end) or have in fact already got a degree in Welsh and are just pretending to be beginners in order to humiliate real beginners like myself.

Either that or my brain is smaller than I thought.

Finally would just like to point out it is cold, windy and wet and the sheep are keeping thier heads down.

5 Comments:

Blogger Tammy Brierly said...

Hang in there! It will just hit you one day and boom, Welsh!

Tue Jun 20, 05:49:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! Aydin Ă–rstan of Snail's Tails is my uncle and he mentioned your blog, so I came to visit! You're so lucky to be living in England where you can take Welsh courses - I went to the Berlitz here in Montreal, Canada and they said no one wants to learn Cymraeg - so I would need a private tutor, which would costs thousands of dollars!! I tried taking some online courses but it's hard without daily interaction. Bore da!

Tue Jun 20, 06:53:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clare,

Yes, "mutations" is what I was thinking of. And "thick gooey mud" is such a good description! Make it in someone's throat and you have a metaphor for life! (Especially the pronunciation of "ll".)

As for cheats - well hell, they're rife aren't they? Wales is no exception. There's a certain implant, just behind and below the earlobe, that looks like an aid to deafness, but really, if you see a lump there, just scratch it out - they're cheating! LOL!

And yes, I know all about Cardigan, Clare. I have many garments with buttons to prove it!

Looking forward to hearing of more mutations from you Clare, as long as they are not mutations of you yourself!

Enjoy the weather! (OK, I know it's dire, but that's Wales for you! That's why we grabbed production of Dr Who at the BBC!)

Best,
Crimefic

Tue Jun 20, 08:06:00 pm  
Blogger Kay Cooke said...

Hee Hee my word verification spells 'siditaps' - I wonder if that is welsh for something?
I am enjoying your reports about your Wales visit. Nuthin' wrong with sheep and rain! That's almost a mnemonic for my childhood!
Must be fascinating learning Welsh .. hope the head can stand it!

Wed Jun 21, 12:32:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Tammy - it was a little better today.

Hello Deniz: Thanks for the visit. Yes, half the people on the course with me here are from the US. They are really good. Welsh seems to be pretty popular. Bore da to you too!

Crimefic reader: Have definitely seen some of those implants here, so it is true. I think I've seen one WG Bush with a similar model.

Chiefbiscuit: Have you noticed that sheep have evil eyes? If you look carefully I can quite believe they are in contact with some malign master mind. Actually think they would make excellent alien for Dr Who. Maybe I should let Russell Davies know.

Wed Jun 21, 05:40:00 pm  

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