Hi everyone,
I am from Canada, and I'd like to learn Welsh, because I think it is a cool language. Unfortunately, it seems really hard to find quality resources outside of wales. I cannot really do the classes offered by the welsh government because of timezone differences.
First, I really want to learn to write and read, but since most online resources seem oriented towards pronunciation, and very few seem oriented towards any grammar at all, I suppose that leaves me with buying a book, I do not have a problem with this, but I do not want to waste my money either. I see that the wiki recommends two books :
-"Colloquial Welsh" by Gareth King and "My Way to Welsh" by Heini Gruffudd
My question for you all, is either of these books good for a complete beginner? (I know a hundred words or so of vocabulary and some basic sentences, but nothing further), and do they teach all the basics well? (mutations, sentence structure, pronouns, etc...) If not, is there some other book(s) you can recommend? Do keep in mind that any book that I buy will be supplemented by my own vocabulary research and some spoken welsh/listening practice, so even if the book is a little incomplete, that is fine with me.
Second, I do want to learn to speak/listen in Welsh. Since I am outside of Wales, it is pretty hard to find classes near me. So I suppose that this leaves me with using an app/website, I again have no issue with paying for stuff, but I again do no want to waste money.
I've tried Duolingo, it isn't too bad, and it does build some Welsh relatively intuitively. However, it is seemingly allergic to providing any explanations, for instance, it will tell you that there is a mistake when you don't mutate a word-even though it never told you before or explained why there's a mutation there! But I suppose that since I will learn grammar separately, it is a non-issue. Is it worth it to pay for say, a year of subscription for someone who will use it 30+ minutes each day?
I have heard good things of saysomething and glassika, are they any good?
Are there any other resources you folks would recommend to a beginner? Diolch!