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.
All languages have their fair share of weird words and expressions, many of which would make little sense if translated word-for-word. Take, for example, the English idioms “blow someone’s socks off” (to amaze or impress) or “a piece of cake” (to be easy). In any other language, these expressions translated literally would only earn you some very confused looks!
When you first embark on your Welsh language journey, one of the very first things you will learn how to say is the phrase “good morning“.
There are two possible ways to say “police” in Welsh: heddlu and plismyn.
The word heddlu is made up of two parts: hedd (meaning “peace“) and llu (meaning “a large number of people“) whereas the word plismyn is the plural of plismon (policeman) and derives from the English.
In Welsh, there are a few different ways to translate the word “please” depending on factors like your relationship to the other speaker and the formality required by the situation.
There are two possible ways to wish someone Good luck! in Welsh. The first is the widely known expression Pob lwc!
If you are a fan of Welsh sports and often attend games or watch them on television, you may be interested to know how to cheer on your favourite team! đ´ó §ó ˘ó ˇó Źó łó ż
There is no road sign I find more comforting than the one that straddles the border at every point between England and Wales. Those simple words – Croeso i Gymru or Welcome to Wales in English – are a sweet reminder that home is less than a couple of hours away! đ
Are you (literally) having trouble getting your tongue around the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, otherwise known as the dreaded LL sound, in Welsh? If so, you’ve come to the right place! đ
The word for 100 (one hundred) in Welsh is either can or cant depending on what follows. An easy way to remember these two variations is to think of the English words can and can’t! đ
cant
one hundred
The first translation most Welsh to English dictionaries offer for the word green in Welsh is gwyrdd which was borrowed from the Latin viridis.
gwyrdd
green
