Sooner or later on your Cymraeg adventures, you will notice tafodiaith – that is, regional dialects from around Wales (and beyond) with variations in the use of words.

In 2010 I think there is a greater diversity of tafodieithoedd around Wales than there is of, say, dialects of English in England. I think this can be linked to the comparative recency of proper broadcasting and probably a whole load of other factors.

This might sound daunting for a learner but you will learn to love it I hope. It’s part of life’s rich tapestry (and all that). As Super Furry Animals once sang “dwi’n deud llefrith, ti’n gweud llaeth“. Or roughly: “I say milk (the north Walian way), you say milk (the south Walian way)”. Similar sentiment to “you say tomato” except without the “let’s call the whole thing off” part.

Sometimes a person can predict another person’s precise village of origin from their tafodiaith. Will this always be the case? I don’t know.

The above book, Cymraeg, Cymrâg, Cymrêg, has become an object of fascination for me. I knew it was a gem from the moment I saw the title and cover, referencing slight pronounciation variations in the name of the language itself. (This is a scan from the copy from Carmarthen Library, if you must know – hence the sticker.)

Unfortunately it’s out of print so earlier this year I shared a map of names for sweets on my personal blog.

Huw Waters has added his own thoughts and map scans from the prized book, again a library copy. (He’s looking to borrow a reel-to-reel tape player so he can share an old recording. Anyone?)

And now as it happens Bethan Thomas, one of the original authors, has alerted me to the fact that the newly launched People’s Collection Wales has some elements from the book such as those fascinating maps, with more to come.

The site also have a collection of audio recordings of people speaking, from Llanymawddwy to Llannerch-y-medd to arbitrarily pick two. I’m combing the Rhosllanerchrugog recording to see if I can spot the famous nene.

Meanwhile Siân Tir Du has been blogging pretty extensively about words lately.

Some of the blog posts to which I’m linking will be pretty hardcore if you’re new to the language. Google Translate can be helpful but don’t rely exclusively on it. See if you can grab a fluent speaker to help you.

Dan Rhys is a learner from California, USA who has made rapid progress with the language. Da iawn Dan.

Here’s his original video and here’s an item from BBC Wales Today news.

Here’s the fideobobdydd blog post which originally “broke” Dan’s YouTube video into the collective conscious of the Welsh language web, prompting an encouraging burp of hashtag trend on Twitter for #rhanidan (part for Dan) recently.

It’s well worth subscribing to the fideobobdydd blog – as featured in Lol magazine. (Now if you don’t know what the notorious Lol magazine is, it comes out annually at the National Eisteddfod in August and pokes fun at various happenings and public figures. It was the original source of the name of its publisher, Y Lolfa. The magazine is somewhat akin to Private Eye I suppose you could say, but in Welsh. The word means “nonsense” and predates the internet LOL by many many years. But Y Lolfa means The Lounge so it’s a play on words. And so this hopefully informative digression ends.)

September is an excellent month to start learning Welsh.

Lots of courses start then, in line with the beginning of the academic year in September.

Being August 2010 at the time of writing, that’s around three weeks’ time.

If you’re an absolute beginner and are pretty serious about learning, the wlpan intensive course is a big favourite. It would require some time commitment but to learn and absorb a language that’s probably what it will take.

Welsh for Adults have all corners of Wales fairly well covered. They run classes in the early morning, lunchtime and evening.

Alternatively there are very short taster courses available if you just want to try it and pick up some useful phrases.

As well as Welsh for Adults there are other learning providers. (Feel free to leave a comment below if you have a recommendation.) Your workplace may be able to offer a course through Acen or another company.

If you want to learn in England or Scotland, try contacting the local Welsh society for help – this map or list may give you a clue.

After that the next big time for Welsh courses starting is January. But don’t put it off.

If three to five times a week is not ‘intensive’ enough for you then check out Nant Gwrtheyrn residential courses in stunning Pen Llŷn – or ‘boot camp’ as some people refer to it, in the nicest possible sense.

There’s a lot to be gained from learning Welsh by attending classes in an offline environment – you get to meet other learners face-to-face (who are often just as daunted as you might be) and of course have a tutor to encourage you and correct you.

That said you can also study at home and/or online and some reputable courses are available – these options certainly have their place if your circumstances prevent you enrolling in an offline course. BBC have a free video course online (more of a taster) and SaySomethingInWelsh have had many good reports about their online courses. Another one is Cadw Sŵn. There are others of course – I’m sure other learners would be grateful for any feedback or observations on these so feel free to leave a comment below.

Pob lwc!

Dysgwr y Flwyddyn means ‘learner of the year’.

The winner of the title is chosen every year at the National Eisteddfod.

Here’s a radio item about Julia Hawkins who won last week in Blaenau Gwent. There is also a BBC News article in Welsh about her learning adventures and another about this year’s four finalists.

Here’s an interesting blog post on spoken accents in the Welsh language.

If you’re not fluent (yet) then try Google Translate to get a rough English version – but be careful because it’ll only give you the gist.

Here’s a leaflet about the activities taking place at the BayLingo event in Cardiff Bay tomorrow. It’s a good fun event and open to anyone, even if you have little or no knowledge of the Welsh language.

This is Pererin’s version of the well known traditional folk tune, Ble’r wyt ti’n myned?, with English, Welsh and German subtitles.

And here are some instructions (in Welsh) on how to do YouTube subtitles yourself.

This 23-minute S4C programme about Super Furry Animal’s classical collaboration with Charles Hazlewood is well worth a look. The narration and some of the inter-band dialogue is in Welsh. Click the owl button if you want English subtitles.

You have 34 days till it expires (at the time of writing this post).

Here’s an excellent introduction to Talwrn Y Beirdd, the Welsh language poetry contest.

If you’re in or near Cardiff, you can join the audience of a live recording of the Radio Cymru programme Y Talwrn at the Duke of Clarence pub on 23rd March 2010.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd.

Happy Saint David’s Day!

Do the little things in life.