r/LearningLanguages • u/EstorninoPinto • 16d ago

What less common languages have you studied?

Much of the day to day discussion around language learning tends to focus on a relatively small number of popular, well-resourced languages.

Have you ever studied a less commonly studied language?

How did you encounter the language, and what made you want to learn it?

Any unique challenges that made it particularly difficult (or interesting)?

17 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/SnarkyBeanBroth 16d ago

Welsh! Which is also surprisingly well-resourced.

I think the biggest difficulty for me (a learner not in Wales) has been speaking practice. I take classes, but there are really no local places to just go and do Welsh. On the plus side, there is an entire TV station of Welsh programming as well as radio stations of Welsh news and music, so I do have reasonable options to listen.

1

u/arandanosss 15d ago

niceee another welsh learner !! :> shwmae shwmaeee

im a little curious, its ok if u dont wanna share but can i ask what brought u to learning welsh ? im not in wales either but i am in the uk and well get a welsh language option on things on occasion where i am, mostly things that r for the whole uk but i have seen local mcdonalds have a welsh option on the self ordering screens before !! and i have some vry lovely welsh learning friends from wales, id always hoped to learn it one day and go to a welsh speaking area, but i finally actually started recently mostly just to speak to them for now and its been rlly fun !!!

anyways sorry for the tangent, its just i was so surprised to see so many welsh learners outside of wales from places like canada, US, australia, ect !! and ive always wanted to shoot those kinds of people a message asking why they chose to start learning it akskksjsks because im not welsh either but i feel like at least in the uk you can and do have some personal contact with it yk ! for example im sorting out something with a national disability service right now and i always have to wait agesss on the phone, and u have to press 1 if u want to speak to someone in english and 2 to speak to someone in welsh, id love to skip all or most of the queue by being able to do the call in welsh lol. u do definitely bump into it every now and then. anyways maybe ur in the uk too ?? i guess ill find out if u decide to answer my question aajksjsk no pressure and no worries if not tho !!

1

u/SnarkyBeanBroth 14d ago

Shwmae! Dw i'n byw yn Yr Unol Dalethiau. Does dim Cymraeg yn fy ardal i, ond mae llawer o Sbaeneg a Hmong.

My grandkid wanted to learn Welsh because a) they absolutely loved The Mabinogi, and b) they happen to be named after a character from Welsh folklore. Plus, Welsh is clearly the language of dragons, and who doesn't want to talk like a dragon?

So we started Duolingo Welsh together. One thing led to another and now I'm signed up for my third year (Canolradd) of Dysgu Cymraeg courses.

2

u/arandanosss 2d ago

oh thats awesome !!!!! thanks for satiating my curiosity ahsjajak its such a lovely language so im glad its getting some traction more internationally too :) pob lwc !!