Britain's Celtic languages explained

The Celtic languages have been in Britain since long before the English language even existed. In this video I speak to speakers of 5 different Celtic languages: Cornish, Welsh, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Irish (because it would be silly to leave Irish out).

Learn all about the fascinating quirks of the Celtic languages, find out which words English has borrowed from them, and discover a useful phrase or two!

LINKS
#celtic #linguistics #italki

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==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Introduction
0:34 The Celtic languages
1:42 Celtic language tree
4:05 Understanding eachother
5:15 italki
6:50 No “yes” or “no”
7:43 Crazy counting
8:30 Sound changes
10:20 Place names
12:04 Words we borrowed
12:58 Influence on English
14:05 Extinction
16:14 How are they doing?
19:25 Handy phrases

[Niinsa]

I had a classmate a long time ago here in Sweden, who was from Brittany in France. And she could speak Breton, as her grandparents, but her parents couldn't. But she wanted to preserve the language, so she picked it up from her grandparents. She was cool. Way to go, Brianne! Hope you are well, wherever you are!

[randalmayeux]

When I was a kid in central Louisiana I remember my great grandparents speaking in a language I couldn't understand. I knew it wasn't French because my dad and all of my relatives on his side of the family were from south Louisiana, and spoke 1720s French. I found out they were speaking Irish. They had come from County Offaly years before the Potato Famine along with several other Irish families and settled near Natchitoches. They learned English, but continued speaking Irish among themselves.

[brianmsahin]

As an Irish man I'm not offended ! I would have been if you left Irish out !😂 I'm not living in Ireland for more than 20 years now, but I am hearing that Irish is beginning to make a significant comeback over the past number of years. I hope it continues. Go raibh maith agat for the excellent video!

[AnonymousFreakYT]

On the "English oppression of Welsh" I enjoy the story (who knows if true or not) about a person on a train being accosted by an Englishman for speaking "not English" with a "You're in England, speak English!" to which the person speaking replied "actually, we're in Wales at the moment, and I'm speaking Welsh."

[MenelionFR]

Dear speakers of Celtic languages! Please, please, please protect your languages, teach them, speak them, promote them, cherish them! They are so beautiful and it would be a horrible disaster if we as the Human race, lost them. Thank you so much, Rob!

[dafyddlloyd]

south african here....and we indeed have shebeens. in fact, hooligans galore frequently drink to smithereens in our plentiful shebeens! i may, or may not, have been one myself at a long ago time. i think its usage is fading, though....the word, not the establishments.

[teedoification]

Think we need an episode on the Breton language now! Would be great to link it to some of the common words between Cornish and Welsh too!

[mauvegrail]

I am Welsh, although I don't speak Cymraeg, but I must take issue with Marian about the use of the prefix 'aber'. I come from Mountain Ash in the Cynon valley, 25 km from Cardiff. The Welsh name for Mountain Ash is Aberpennar, Five kilometres further up the valley is Aberdare, and even further north is Brecon, whose Welsh name is Aberhonddu. So, while it is true that the prefix 'Aber' means 'mouth of' it isn't necessary that the waterway drains into the sea.

[MrFearDubh]

In Irish, go leor (from which we get galore) changes meaning depending on where it's place with respect to the noun it's modifying. "X go leor" means "enough X" whereas "go leor X" means "an abundance of X." But it came into the English language where "X galore" means "an abundance of X."

[saracomerford]

My secondary school Irish teacher once told us that the word "smashing" comes from the Irish "is maith é sin", (iss mah ay shin) which literally means "that is good". It blew my mind!
Love the video, really interesting! ❤️🇮🇪

[NoahSpurrier]

There are a couple Welsh speaking communities in Argentina.

[SiusaidhMac]

Scottish Gaidhlig isn't just spoken in Scotland. It's spoken in Canada as well. In Atlantic Canada, Gaidlig is spoken by at least 1, 500 people. The Nova Scotia Gaelic College was founded in 1939, and St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish is the only such university department outside Scotland to offer four full years of Scottish Gaelic instruction.

[coolbrotherf]

11:54 I could not say "I want to go to the Brown Willy" with a straight face. Rob's face says it all.

[KrisHughes]

I've learned a few language, including Gàidhlig, but I have never encountered a language with such consistent orthography as Welsh. It might look intimidating, but once you understand the relationship between letters and sounds, its extremely dependable.

[ferncat]

My favourite part of the video was your expressions of absolute linguistic joy at how the words mutate and how word order is different, very wholesome

[samlangdon]

S'mae o Gymru! On the similarities, I'm fluent Welsh, and my friend from uni is Cornish. He showed me a kids book in Cornish and I could read it perfectly! Was really powerful realising how closely linked our histories are

[RichardDCook]

At 10:22 a fascinating thing in Scotland is the existence of hybrid place names, generally with the first element P-Celtic (Brythonic) and the second element Q-Celtic (Goidelic) said to be a legacy of the merging of Pictish and Gaelic peoples. At 11:20 note that Aber- also appears in Scottish place names.

[PippetWhippet]

I was in the Black mountains in Wales and went into a village hamlet. The owner called his son to translate to English but when I complemented him on his passable Cornish, in Cornish, suddenly he spoke fluent English!!

[Cazzy]

Manxie here! I grew up with Manx lessons in primary school but in secondary school it wasn't really offered. I feel bad that I don't do enough to learn the language but I am keen for my children to go to the Manx speaking school.

[Vegplot]

I've lived in North Wales for 29 years and am a (slow) Welsh learner. My German wife and a German neighbour are both fluent Welsh speakers (their professional working daily life involves speaking Welsh as part of their work). It's often said, here at least, that when a language dies a culture dies with it. I now consider myself to be Welsh in mind at least.