I see.
We rode with some Welsh people on the ski lift and it seems like it has nothing in common with English. They told us it's the oldest language in the world (which I doubt a little but I am sure it's one of the oldest languages out there).
Not a lot in common, no. More in line with Breton or old Cornish.
So I asked them what they do when a new word comes along like "computer" or "vending machine" or "telephone" and they said there was some council that decides what this word should be like in Welsh and then they roll with it. I found this to be very interesting since most languages just adapt the word no matter where it comes from....
Well "telephone" is just "teleffon" (with a tobach ^ over the "o"), but "computer" is the tooth rattling "cyfrifiadur". Some words are just respelled to fit in with the Welsh alphabet and phonetics (no j or z or x amongst other things) so "chocolate" is "siocled" which doesn't look similar at all but does sound quite similar.
There's some words which are whole phrases to translate in English to which tickle me. ("Echddoe" means "the day before yesterday"...!) Some that need a whole phrase to translate their meaning, some words translate to about a dozen meanings depending on context, the spellings of others changes depending on context, grammar and seemingly what time of the month it is, and there's over a dozen words for "yes" and "no" And some great idioms "It's raining old ladies with sticks" where you'd talk of "raining cats and dogs" in English, and "it's no good lifting your petticoat after you've p*ssed" as a far more colourful instruction not to "cry over spilt milk"
It's a "challenging" language to learn, but lovely on the ear.
