Ces i lawer o lyfre ffuglen Cymraeg am ddim o'm prifysgol yr wthnos 'ma. Ma'n well 'da fi lyfre ffeithiol ond fi isie trial darllen mwy o ffuglen, ac fi meddwl bydd yr ymarfer Cymraeg ychwanegol yn dda i fi.
Do Fantasy Writers Think Irish is Discount Elvish? - Orla Ní Dhúill, naturallyorla.com
Giant black dogs as ill-omens, the idea that the ancients were giants or at least bigger and stronger than the present generation, and the idea of fae folk hiding in stone circles or hill mounds. If a lot of this sounds familiar, it is probably because these tropes form the backbone of half of modern fantasy. This is not a problem by itself, but they are usually removed from all context and multiple cultures are used as inter-changeable for each other, which shows a disinterest in the source material. At some point it become lazy narrative carrion.
Our culture isn't fantasy - so stop misusing it for mystical books - Catriona Aitken, bbc.co.uk
A Court of Thorn and Roses, also known as ACOTAR, is the TikTok-viral fantasy book series which took the genre by storm in 2024.
But with character names including Rhysand, Gwyneth, Alis and Morrigan, it seems American author Sarah J Maas drew inspiration far from home.
Dubbed “the Tolkien effect”, after the author of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who was influenced by the Welsh language and literature, Wales has undeniably influenced fantasy writing, both old and new.
But while some applaud the spread of Welsh culture and language, others fear its misuse could have a detrimental impact.
English fragility, shame, and the Welsh language debate - James Downs, nation.cymru
When posts about the Welsh language appear online, they often provoke a strikingly visceral response from English speakers.
A particularly contentious example is the decision to revert the name of Snowdonia National Park to Eryri, its original Welsh name.
This restoration was met with outcry: “It’s always been called Snowdonia!” some claimed, despite the fact that the English name is a relatively recent imposition.
The rise of social media has amplified these tensions. Posts celebrating Welsh linguistic milestones or calling for more energy to be invested in Welsh language and culture often attract negative comments from English speakers who perceive them as exclusionary.
Is Romantasy Ruining Welsh (and Scottish and Irish) Culture? - The Welsh Viking, www.youtube.com/@TheWelshViking
Romantasy (or 'romantic fantasy' - go figure) has been all over the internet this month, especially over on TikTok, where BookTok has been debating whether the genre is ruining fantasy (it's not). But a wider discussion has appeared too, asking if romantasy authors have a responsibility to be sensitive and aware of the real life cultures they're borrowing from, be they Scottish, Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Gaeilge, Manx, Breton, or otherwise.
Well this "Celt" has opinions and thoughts, and he decided to stick some of them in a YouTube video to get them across.
I only read five books in 2024, but that's probably more books than I finished in 2023 (I'm not sure if Llyfr Glas Nebo and Fierce Appetites should actually count since I started them in 2023/2022, and didn't read the entirety in 2024).
I don't really do New Year's resolutions, but I definitely want to try and read more this year. I really struggle with reading longer things, like books, because of concentration/comprehension issues caused by my autism and fibromyalgia, and although most of these books are very thin, I still think I did well to read them. My main goals are to read more in Welsh, and to read more of my Celtic studies books (which are mostly in English), and I want to try and read something in Irish. I have the Irish translation of The War of the Worlds which I'm considering, although I've had a flick through and I'm not sure if it would be too hard for me. I also have the Cornish translation, and, although my Cornish is worse than my Irish, I might find it easier to read in Cornish, due to Cornish's similarity to Welsh. Or at least to muddle my way through. I'm also doing a short Breton course in a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll look for something short in Breton to read as well.
Currently I'm mainly worried about all the snow and ice warnings, which might mean I can't travel back to university for my Irish exam next week. And also exams just make me stressed anyway. But at least it's a written exam this time, and not a spoken one which I struggle with a lot more.
One last post to end the year - Blwyddyn newydd dda! / Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh!
Saying Gaelic / Gaeilic is ok - irishlanguage.ie
Saying ‘Gaelic’ for Irish is ok. That in itself doesn’t seem like a controversial statement but say it in Ireland or especially online, no doubt you will get comments saying ‘um actually it’s Gaeilge’ not ‘Gaelic’ or ‘Gaelic means GAA not the Irish language’ or ‘Gaelic is a family of languages, it’s like calling English, Germanic’.
This is one of the biggest hangups when it comes to the Irish language.
I used to be this person but I was wrong.
Insular R - Caoimhe, oakreef.ie
When printing came to Ireland, which took a while, most things were printed in English. Gaeilgeoirí didn’t have much to read (but most of them couldn’t, anyway). The first book printed with an Irish type was Aibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma in 1571, using a font which had been commissioned by Elizabeth Tudor, though it was actually a bit of a hodgepodge of Gaelic, Roman and Italic, with the new Gaelic letters resembling the Anglo-Saxon type made by John Day.
Dublin Irish - I've been reading a number of posts on this blog, since I'm interested in dialects, and specifically Irish in Dublin/Leinster, since that's where my granny is from and where most of my Irish family still are. I'm very interested in places like Dublin (and Cardiff/south east Wales) where the local dialect is assumed by many to have died due to anglicisation, and in the efforts to research, record, and revitalise these dialects.
Overview with where I am with my language books:
As you can see from this entry, I've only completed one more unit of Basic Irish and one more unit of Gaeilge Gan Stró this month.
Bora Brav has sort of been put on hold while I focus on my Welsh, Irish, and Chinese for university. I'll have my fourth (and final) Chinese exam in less than a week, so I'm going to mostly focus on that and Irish, as I have an Irish speaking exam in the next two weeks.
I had hoped to finish Basic Irish by the end of 2024, but I'm not sure how realistic that goal is now considering I've still got 10 units left, and the next two weeks at university are going to be spent focusing on my speaking exam, rather than a lot of grammar-based material. I suppose it depends how much I get done over the Christmas holiday. I have an Irish written exam in January to revise for, so maybe I can work on Basic Irish to help me revise for that. I could adjust my goal to finish Basic Irish by the time I start back in lessons at the end of January, rather than by the end of December.
I think our lecturer wanted to finish Gaeilge Gan Stró unit 7 before Christmas, but I think we'll only do maybe some of unit 6. I'm not doing (modern) Irish in university after Christmas so I'm not sure if I'll continue with the book on my own; it doesn't hold my attention as much as Basic Irish. But I might go and sit in on other Irish classes that are going on (depending on my energy levels), so it depends on what their progress is with the book.
Intermediate Welsh is also being put on hold for now, since I don't have any Welsh exams this semester to worry about, and I'm half way through my only home assignment.
For Chinese, I might start looking at my HSK1 workbooks, and/or maybe Chinese For Dummies. I'm hoping to do the Beginners Part 2 class next semester, so I don't want to forget it all over the holiday.
For Welsh and Irish, I'm going to focus on transferring my rough class notes from my notebooks into my neater, better-organised revision notebook. Especially for Irish, since that'll help with the written exam revision. I also want to make some sort of study challenge for over the holidays, since I won't have my usual university timetable to stick to, and I find it quite difficult to manage without some sort of schedule.
i think i'm going to finally bite the bullet and actually do things for my welsh skills to push me out of my intermediate plateau and into C1. my listening skills and vocabulary are definitely what need the most work. i can hold a conversation quite easily, but when it comes to watching things or reading more complicated stuff then i struggle a bit.
i need to find more welsh music to listen to, which might be a pain because i'm not a massive fan of a lot of welsh bands i've listened to - most welsh music seems to be pop which isn't my favourite genre, but i guess i'll see what else i can find. i am a fan of welsh male-voice choirs, so maybe some traditional music would suit me better.
i'm also going to try and watch at least one short video in welsh per day. i'm always being recommended welsh stuff on youtube, but i unfortunately mostly end up watching english-language content instead.
i should pick up a good amount of vocabulary from doing both of those, i hope.
at some point i also need to try to tackle reading academic articles in welsh, because that's basically essential in my field of study, and also i'll probably have to write academic essays in welsh at some point. maybe i'll look through my folders and on JSTOR to see if i can find anything that seems interesting and fairly short to start with.
Tybed beth ydi y rhan isaf 茶 (chá, "te"), achos mod i'n meddwl fod fe'n edrych fel cyfuniad 木 (mù, "coed(en)") a 小 (xiǎo, "bach"). Gan fod te'n blanhigyn llai, sef coeden fach, bysai hynny'n gwneud synnwyr i fi.
Rwy'n deall bod y rhai uwch yn 草 (cǎo, "glaswellt") a 人 (rén, "person"), ac mae Writtenchinese.com yn gweud wrtho fi dim ond 木 ydi'r rhan isaf, ond mae hi'n edrych fel 小 hefyd.
Diolch i bawb am ddioddef fy mhostiadau Tsieinëeg ar y blog ieithoedd Celtaidd tybiedig hwn!
My original plan had been to finish Basic Irish before university started, but obviously that hasn't happened, so my new plan is to try and finish it before the end of 2024. I'm not sure where I'll be with Gaeilge Gan Stró - we're doing it in our classes and I'm not sure where the tutor is aiming to be at before Christmas. At least unit 8 I'm assuming?
And I think I want to maybe finish Intermediate Welsh too? But I think that's less likely to happen. I think I'll aim for at least 20 units, because then that'll be half of the book.
For Cornish, I'll try and complete the next Bora Brav unit.
For Mandarin, I think I want to start my HSK1 workbook and/or Chinese For Dummies before Christmas. I've also been looking at the apps LingoDeer and Memrise, so I think I'll start committing to doing those more often and actually start writing down the notes for them.
Beir ar - Dal / Gafael
Rug sí cúpla - Rhoddodd hi genedigaeth i efeilliaid
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carisma_senseitimeasmymeasure
