Heather is passionate about everything language-related. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, she holds a TEFL certification from Aberystwyth University and a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. Along with her native English, she speaks Italian, Welsh, and a smattering of Japanese and French.
Whether your child passes his exam with flying colours, or your best friend manages to get that long-desired promotion, there are many situations where it’s appropriate to praise someone for a job well done. In English, we have a range of encouraging phrases to choose between but what about in Welsh? Well, it turns out …
Have you ever wanted to apologise to somebody in Welsh but weren’t quite sure how? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In North Wales where I live, the expression you’ll generally hear is Mae’n ddrwg gen i which literally translates as “It is bad with me” in English. In the South, you will come …
The English have come up with their fair share of nicknames for the humble toilet over the years, and so, too, have the Welsh! Some are commonly heard across the country whereas others are limited to certain regions. And while many derive from the various English words for toilet, an equal number are original Welsh …
Let’s face it – no one really enjoys being impolite but sometimes you have no choice but to tell someone to be quiet. This may be because they are being too loud, as anyone with rambunctious children will understand, or because they are being offensive. Whatever the reason, it is useful to know how to …
In English, we have things pretty easy. If you want to confirm a statement, you say “Yes!” and if you want to negate a statement, you say “No!” It doesn’t get much more straightforward than that! In Welsh, however, the type of yes or no you need to use ultimately depends on the tense of …
If you stop and think about how many ways there are of saying “goodbye” in English – from the standard “bye” and “see you later” to the more niche expressions like “cheerio” to “toodle-loo” – it should come as no surprise that Welsh has a wide range of phrases too. Let’s take a look at …
When you sign up for a Welsh course, one of the very first survival phrases you’ll learn is “How are you?”. This cyfarchiad (greeting) can be expressed in two different ways: Sut wyt ti? How are you? Another casual greeting you’ll certainly encounter is Sut mae? (Hello, how are things?) which is pronounced as Shwmae? …
We’re almost at the end of another November, so what better time to talk about this common word? The Welsh word for November is ‘Tachwedd’, which is the eleventh month of the Gregorian calendar. Gweiadur states that the original definition of ‘Tachwedd’ was probably ‘Tynnu tua’r diwedd’, which means the end is near, i.e. the …
When October 31st arrives, much of the world celebrates Halloween these days. But in Wales, the night and day that follows are steeped in traditions much older than pumpkins and trick-or-treating. These are Noson Galan Gaeaf (“the night before the first day of winter”) and Calan Gaeaf (“the first day of winter”), marking the transition …
It might not be the most thrilling word in Welsh, but haearn (iron) played a truly important role in shaping Wales during the Chwyldro Diwydiannol (Industrial Revolution). Let’s explore its etymology, uses and how it helped forge a nation! haearn iron According to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, the word comes from the Celtic form isarnon, …
