The Celtic words roll out of your mouth

Over 650 people in Wales speak Welsh. This Celtic language is also used by the Welsh colony in Patagonia and Argentina. Welsh is also spoken in parts of England, Canada, Australia, USA, Scotland and New Zealand. The language has regular and phonetic spelling. The names of certain locations may confuse a foreigner unless you know how to read and pronounce them. It is one of the oldest languages in Europe that are still being used. Modern day Welsh is believed to have originated from the sixth century. There are over six thousand languages in the world but there is something unique about the Celtic language. Unlike most languages it follows a Verb-Subject-Object sentence structure. English speakers have a hard time learning Welsh since they have to use a different sentence structure than the one that they are used to. In addition to that, you modify a word at the beginning and not its end.

There is no exotic feel to the language since a good percentage of its words are English. However, the manner in which they spell their words has an exotic touch. Since there is no ‘yes’ word in Welsh you have to answer a question with a statement. In order to interact with Welsh speakers you can visit the urban centers such as Swansea and Cardiff. Welsh is the only Celtic language with an official status in UK. It is protected by the government and registered as an endangered minority language. In Wales, things are not so gloomy, high school students are taught the language as a compulsory subject. People who are interested in Welsh just need to attend the available classes.

Everything that you learn in class is completely phonetic. Each consonant has its own sound value. The vowels have their won sound values as well except for y, it has two. The Welsh alphabet has 29 letters. Consonants such as j, k, q, v, x and z are omitted from the alphabet. When saying ‘hello’ to friends you say ‘Helo.’ ‘Bore da’ is Good Morning while Good Evening is ‘Noswaith dda’. Welsh may sound lyrical to a native while an outsider finds it a bit of a tongue twister.

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