British Culture Alphabet: L

il y a 5 ans

 
Hi all!
I'm writing about British culture.
I thought a cool way to introduce some British culture into the Verbling community would be to work through the alphabet and talk about a topic for each letter.

So for L we are focusing on...

Languages. 

Many people think of the UK and immediately think of the English language. What people may not know is that there are a lot of other languages which are also indigeous to the UK. In fact, an article from the Guardian (see below) states that there are in fact 10 languages which are indigeous to the UK which are still spoken today. These languages are English, Scots, British Sign Language, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Angloromani and Shelta.
Let’s take the Welsh language and Scots as examples. 

The Welsh language is very different from the English language. This is because the Welsh language originates from the Celtic language spoken by ancient Britons perhaps as many as 4,000 years ago. English, on the other hand, is a Germanic language and has over time adopted a lot of words from other languages. 

Here’s a little bit of Welsh:
My name is…      -     Fy enw i yw …
Here’s how you pronounce that:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfj_9ASZYu8

I like…                -    Rydw i’n hoffi …    
So for example if you want to say “I like coffee” you would say “Rydw i’n hoffi coffi”. Here’s a song to teach you how to say it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xngTjnM3bc

If you’re interested in learning a little bit more about the history of the language you should check out this article:
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/wales/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-welsh-language/

Here are some examples of Scots Gaelic:
Slainte! (slan-juh) - Cheers!
Madainn mhath (mateen va) - Good morning
Chan eil (chan yayl) - No
Tha (ha) - Yes
Salinte mhath! (slan-juh va) - Good health
Halo (hello) - Hello

So next time you find yourself in Wales and see another language on the road signs don’t be alarmed - it’s just Welsh!

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/29/dont-neglect-uks-indigenous-languages