On Friday, October 4, 2013 1:25:56 AM UTC-10, Steve Freides wrote:
> dsi1 wrote:
>
> > On 10/3/2013 11:22 PM, Janet wrote:
>
> >> In article >, gravesend10
>
> >> @verizon.net says...
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> >>
>
> >>>> My wife's mother was Welsh,
>
> >>>
>
> >>> How TF could she be WAS Welch???
>
> >>
>
> >> Advanced Grammar Tutorial
>
> >>
>
> >> In Wales, the natives are Welsh not Welch, and use the past tense
>
> >> of verbs when speaking of dead people or past events.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> Janet UK
>
> >>
>
> >
>
> > So in Wales, some people speak the Celtic language which is Welsh.
>
> > Would this be the correct usage? Thanks.
>
> >
>
> > Who speaks Welsh in Wales? Would the average young person speak it to
>
> > his peers? Is it the language of the old people? Thanks again.
>
>
>
> Welsh children are given the choice (at least last time I heard) of
>
> going to school up to the 6th grade in Welsh, or in English. Many, many
>
> young people speak Welsh fluently, including a young man in his 20's I
>
> ran into here in the US about a year ago. There was a significant
>
> separtist movement in Wales, and the option to go to school in Welsh was
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> one of the results.
>
>
>
> My wife's mother's family came from the North, from the island of
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> Anglesey, near the town with the longest name in the world, usually
>
> referred to as Llanfair P.G. My wife's grandmother barely spoke
>
> English, and my wife's mother's and Aunt's first language was Welsh.
>
> Being from Anglesey is at least somewhat like being a hillbilly here in
>
> the US - my wife's grandmother had such a thick, country Welsh accent
>
> that when my wife first opened her mouth in a Welsh language class she
>
> took in NYC in the 1980's, the teacher laughed out loud and asked her
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> where she's gotten that accent from - very sing-songy.
>
>
>
> When we visited the house her grandmother had lived in before moving to
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> the US in 1984, the house still had no electricity or running water.
>
> When we visited again in 2005, it had only just been given those things
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> about a year or two prior - it was a magical visit. The owners were
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> nice enough to let us in and show us what they'd done, and they also
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> showed us and asked us about a picture they'd found, which was a family
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> photo that included my wife's grandmother that no one in the family knew
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> existed.
>
>
>
> The average young person would likely not speak Welsh to his peers, but
>
> there's 50/50 chance or so that he'd be able to.
>
>
>
> -S-

Thanks for the info. Will move that to my brain files.