The Welsh Joint Education committee has published a pamphlet called "Dysgu Cymraeg? - All you need to know about Learning Welsh" which has a lot of addresses. Write to:

The Welsh Books Council/Cyngor Llyfrau Cymraeg has a couple of leaflets on materials for learning Welsh: "Select list of materials for learning Welsh" by Miranda Morton & "A select list of books for Welsh learners" by Jo Knell. Write to:

'Llais Llyfrau' (The voice of books) is a quarterly magazine for keeping in touch with both Welsh language and English language books of Welsh interest. It is available from the above address.

There is a multimedia course called "Now you're talking", produced partly by S4C (the Welsh TV channel). This is a series of TV programmes, some of which are available on video (both UK and USA format), together with an accompanying workbook, audio tapes, a basic dictionary containing all the words used plus some, and various other publications (including Welsh Christmas cards!). There are packages for both beginners and improvers. The address to write to is:

The first-year package recently cost (in pounds) 27.95 for a work-file set, 14.95 for each of 2 sets of audio cassettes, and 17.95 for the video pack.

Comments: The course teaches both North Welsh and South Welsh variations on vocabulary (though English-speaking learners generally find South Welsh easier - it has fewer vowels). It concentrates on conversational spoken Welsh, rather than the literary language, and aims to get people talking as soon as possible. The videos provide an excellent introduction to the language, culture and history of Wales; each episode is set in a different town and discusses the local dialect, history and legends.

"Catchphrase" course (books and audio tapes), published by the BBC and Sain. In the USA, this is available from Waldenbooks, around $125 (US) for the first set in the series.

To obtain it by post, try contacting the Welsh books council at: Y Cyngor Llyfrau Cymraeg, Castell Brychan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23 2JB, WALES. They would also be able to recommend other things.

Comment: I have the Catchphrase books and cassettes. They are helpful, but I can't understand why one must listen to Englishmen learning Welsh. I'd much rather have it all spoken by native Welsh speakers. I've seen "Catchphrase" but it didn't impress me; I've heard a tremendous amount of good press for "The A B C of Welsh", a book-and-tapes set, though.

'Teach Yourself Welsh', 1991 by T. Rhys Jones (book and audio tape).

There are now three versions of "Teach Yourself Welsh." The oldest (now almost impossible to find) teaches literary Welsh. The next edition was 'Teach Yourself Living Welsh', by T. Rhys Jones. This is the version you can still find in America. The very latest (the 1991 book) is only out in Britain, but comes with an audio cassette.

Comments I found it to be very good. The grammar lessons are very light and are followed up immediately by dialogues and practical examples. Very rewarding, understanding the 1st dialogue after the 1st grammar lesson! The audio cassette is very helpful. [Of the newest edition:] Its only problem is that it doesn't translate the dialogues anymore, which can be very frustrating.

NB: No Welsh dictionary has any indication of pronunciation.

Ar y we/On the web

'Spurrell's Welsh-English Dictionary', 1991 edn pub HarperCollins Publishers. Welsh/English, English/Welsh. ISBN 0-00-433549-X

Small, cheap, handy size, limited number of words. Comment: Not very good. It's about all you can find in your local mall bookstore, though.

Not everyone agrees - here is the opinion of Theo Brueton:

It's not perfect, but it's:

• quite small - it fits the pocket of a jacket or coat.
• Cheap enough to throw out when the pages get dog-eared.
• Number of words. Although "Y Geiriadur Bach, with its synonyms, is more useful for crosswords and creative activities, very few "general reading" words are missing from the Collins-Spurrell.
• Clearly printed.

'Y Geiriadur Mawr' (The Large Dictionary), ed. H.M. Evans & W.O. Thomas, pub. Christopher Davies, Swansea. (7th edn. 1976 - there may be more recent ones). [No ISBN given] Welsh/English, English/Welsh. Large, detailed, contains many archaic words.

Comment: Definitely the best dictionary, though a bit unwieldy. I find it rather old-fashioned and written more for Welsh speakers than English speakers.

Geiriadur Termau (Dictionary of terms) Cymraeg-Saesneg, English-Welsh. 544 pages. Golygydd/Editor: Jac L. Williams Publisher: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd (University of Wales Press, Cardiff), 1973. ISBN: 0-7083-0999-2

From the Introduction: 'This dictionary reflects the effort of many people engaged in education in Wales to produce lists of terms required for the teaching of a number of school subjects through the medium of Welsh.'

Comment: Seems quite comprehensive, but is probably more use to intermediate or advanced learners than to beginners.

'Y Geiriadur Newydd' (The new dictionary), pub. Christopher Davies, Swansea. A more compact version of Y Geiriadur Mawr.

Comment: I use Y Geiriadur Newydd, as it consists essentially of the modern Welsh part of Y Geiriadur Mawr (all the obsolete words removed).

'Y Geiriadur Bach' (The small dictionary), pub. Christopher Davies, Swansea. Welsh/English, English/Welsh. Small, genuinely pocket-sized, tiny type, limited number of words.

Comment: Y Geiriadur Bach is my favourite dictionary - easy to carry around, good info etc.

'Y Geiriadur Cyfoes' (The contemporary dictionary)

Comment: This is nothing more than a word-list and doesn't deserve the name "dictionary".

'Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru' (The Welsh university dictionary)

Comment: This is the only good dictionary in Welsh - unfortunately, it weighs a ton, and only covers words from "a" to "obo" at the present time (new parts arrive regularly). One day they promise to publish a complete CD-ROM version, but I don't see it happening before the next century.

Comment: Those in the know may have heard about the Great Dictionary being produced at UCNW [University College of North Wales] Bangor. It is primarily English-to-Welsh, but it will have a Welsh-to-English cross-reference. It is a truly complete dictionary, with every possible expression or word-use in English painstakingly reproduced and explained in Welsh. It's huge. Unfortunately, it's been in production for about eighteen years, which is 15 years longer than anybody thought it would take. The good news is that it looks to be coming out some time in 1993! Save up your pennies, dysgwyr [learners], it is sure to be indispensable. And expensive. As I said, it's huge. Bigger than the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru.

To be published early in 1996: Heini Gruffudd The Welsh Learner's Dictionary

"At last, a full, no-gimmick dictionary that has what learners really need: plenty of examples of words and phrases in context. Learn Welsh usage as well as words! 320pp in narrow A5 format." Price: 5.95; ISBN: 0 86243 363 0

NB: These books are all in English.

Gramadeg Cymraeg Cyfoes (Contemporary Welsh Grammar), published by D. Brown a'i Feibion Cyf., Y Bontfaen, Morgannwg (D. Brown and Sons Ltd., Y Bontfaen, Glamorgan). 1976. Produced by the National Language Unit of Wales. [No ISBN number given in book].

From the Foreword: 'This grammar of standardised colloquial Welsh first appeared as part of an 'O' level text book Cymraeg Cyfoes III intended for use in schools. Demand for a similar description of spoken Welsh grammar resulted in the publication of this book.'

Comment: Clearly presented, deals with the actual spoken language rather than the literary form, seems comprehensive enough. A very good reference book for Welsh grammar. I second this recommendation. I found this grammar much more useful than the others recommended.

Y Geiriau Bach: Idioms for Welsh learners Author: Cennard Davies Publisher: J. D. Lewis a'i Feibion Cyf. (J. D. Lewis and Sons Ltd.), Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul, Dyfed, Cymru/Wales. 1987 ISBN: 0-86383-332-2

Contains Welsh idiomatic expressions with English translations. Each idiom has an example of usage in Welsh, with an English translation.

Comment: Fascinating! More for intermediate learners than for beginners. It covers the more subtle meanings of common prepositions and particles.

A Guide to Correct Welsh Author: Morgan D. Jones Publisher: J. D. Lewis a'i Feibion Cyf. (J. D. Lewis and Sons Ltd.), Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul, Dyfed, Cymru/Wales. 1976, 1990 (Two printings). ISBN: 85088-441-1

Grammar-book in English giving both the new colloquial and the traditional literary usage. More detail than Gramadeg Cymraeg Cyfoes.

Comment: Tends towards the more formal use of the language. May have more detail than a learner wants at his/her stage, so it's more for intermediate or advanced learners than for beginners.

The Welsh Joint Education committee has published a pamphlet called "Dysgu Cymraeg? - All you need to know about Learning Welsh" which has a lot of addresses. Write to:

Another address for the WJEC, for information on Welsh classes in Wales:

This is one of the most famous residential Welsh language learning centres.

Comment:They are quite cheap, and open all the year round (I spent 20 days there in February a couple of years back, and got individual tutorship for much of the time, being one of the few people there at that time of year). Their Prospectus 1992-93 contains info on their own courses and a lot of info on other courses in Wales (also correspondance-courses).

There are courses for learners of Welsh at all levels at the Hill College, Abergavenny, Wales. Courses are the weekends of 16-18 Oct 92 and 29-31 Jan 93 Cost is approx 70 pounds for the weekend, fully residential. For more details, contact:

The Extramural Studies Department at Bangor offers "wlpan" (intensive Welsh-learning courses). Try Aberystwyth's Welsh department if you want to do a university course on Welsh as a non-Welsh speaker.

If there are others in the San Francisco Bay Area interested in out of the ordinary books on Celtic themes, I would suggest Alicorn Books in The City.

Lots of events happen there, including a Welsh choir which regularly has attendences of over 80 people! I don't know if it's mixed voices or just men. The London Welsh Centre is at:

Plaid Cymru [the Welsh Nationalist Party] has a London branch (contact via Plaid Cymru's head office at:

The London Welsh school (day school for children aged 4-11, nursery school)

Craig Cockburn (cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com) has details on various Welsh classes in London.

Prof. Ian Press may be able to assist with Breton

There is a Breton correspondence course available through:

The Cornish Language board:

There is a London Cornish Association, and an active Cornish society based at:

Grateful thanks are due to the following for their contributions to the Welsh Learners' Section:

From: Briony Williams <briony@CSTR.ED.AC.UK>

Subject: Re: Welsh Language Courses

There are details of various Welsh courses, with comments from past users of them, in the file CU_STUDY BIBL, available from IRLEARN (along with various other files of interest to Welsh learners). Details follow:

For learning Welsh:

CU_STUDY BIBL (Welsh learning materials, self-study courses, etc.)
CU_CWRS1 BIBL (Residential Welsh language courses)
CU_GRAM1 BIBL (Welsh grammars)
CU_DICTS BIBL (Welsh dictionaries)

Backup material for learners and others:

CU_BOOKS BIBL (Welsh bookshops doing mail order - not only in Wales)
CU_JOURN BIBL (Welsh newspapers and magazines (some in USA) - can be mailed)

Background material for anyone:

CU_INFO1 BIBL (General info on Welsh)
CU_MISC1 BIBL (Welsh miscellanea)
CU_CULT1 BIBL (Welsh history and culture)

Networking information

NETINFO1 HELP (Misc. advice on way s of gaining access on the net)
LANGLIST INDX (Language BBSs, per B.Comrie & M.Everson)
CELTWIND HELP (Info on Windows Celtic character set input)

Lists of penpals

BZPENPAL TYBZ (List of people wanting to correspond in Breton)
CUPENPAL TYCU (List of people wanting to correspond in Welsh)

To retrieve a file, send the following command, as text of a MAIL or TELL message, to LISTSERV@IRLEARN.UCD.IE:

GET filename filetype

For example: GET CU_INFO1 BIBLM

From: Kiyota Hashimoto <hash@x.age.or.jp>

Subject: FYI: Some Textbooks for beginners

Hi, Lin has suggest "Colloquial Welsh" for a beginner's textbook on Welsh. As 'For Your Information', here is a brief list on such books.

Welsh in Three Months", Phylip Brake & Mair ap Myrddin, Hugo's Language Books Limited, 1994. (with two cassettes) This is one of the Hugo Simplified Language Course. Rather simple and easy. (I'm now learning with this.)

"Teach yourself Welsh", 1993. (with two cassettes) Great emphasis on Colloquial Welsh Also, in the "Teach Yourself" series is a Welsh dictionary.

"Colloquial Welsh", Gareth King, 1994, London: Routledge. (with cassettes)

"Welsh for Beginners", London: Usborne House. (with a cassette) A beautiful picture book. Solely for Colloquial Welsh. The narration of the cassette may be rather fast for beginners.

"Basic Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook", Gareth King, 1996, London: Routledge. (without cassettes)
"Intermediate Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook", Gareth King, to appear, London: Routledge. (without cassettes)
"Modern Welsh: a Comprehensive Grammar", Gareth King, 1993, London: Routledge. (without cassettes)
"Business Welsh: A User's Manual", Robert Dery, London: Routledge.

The above books will be easy to obtain.

Kiyota Hashimoto

Does any one know of any books that might help me learn Welsh or other Gaelic languages.

answer from Leslie Sitek:

Irish, Scottish and Manx are Gaelic languages, Welsh, Cornish and Breton are Brythonic languages. All these six languages are called Celtic languages. To start learning these languages you could use:

Welsh: "Welsh is fun!. A new course in spoken Welsh for beginners" by Heini Gruffudd, published by Y Lolfa. ISBN 0 9500178 4 1

Cornish: "Kernewek mar plek!" by Crysten Fudge and Graham Sandercock, Published by Dyllansow Truran (Trewolsta, Trewirgie, Redruth, Cornwall; phon: +44 1209216796) + sound casettes

Breton: "Brezhoneg ... buan hag aes [Breton ... quick and easy], le cours de Breton pour tous" by Per Denez, published by Omnivox; ISDN 2-85294-018-3 + sound casettes.