Hey, everyone! I have some slightly sad news: I had hoped to post a video today, but due to technical difficulties (which I won't deny might involve user error), I was unable to upload any footage today. I must say you all are really missing out. There were some amazing special effects, a car chase, Ewoks, lasers, Hugh Grant...I really outdid myself with this one. I hope to be up and running by week's end, because I really want to get more videos up!
In the meantime, I'll have to update you guys the way our ancestors did: a plain old written blog post! Ooooh, the Dark Ages! (Cue the spooky music!)
So here's all the info from the video (sans car chases and all that other stuff). Hold on tight! (Ignore that last part. There's no way I can live up to that level of expectation.)
OK, so you know the drill: new month, new endangered language. This month's language is....
WELSH
Why Welsh? I'm glad you asked! Well, today (July 1st) happens to be the birthday of a friend of mine who introduced me to the langauge a long time ago and got me curious about learning it some time in the future. Anyway, partially in honor to celebrate her birthday, I'm going to study Welsh for the next 12 months. But there's another reason why Welsh is on the list...
I'm going to Europe this summer! I'm off to Paris to meet some friends and celebrate another birthday, but I decided to tack on a trip to the Isle of Man--home of the Manx language! I'll be going there for three days to see if I can learn more about the Manx revitalization efforts there, and I'm going to try my hand at actually getting by in a conversation or two! I'm actually really excited about this, and I feel like I have a decent handle on some Manx basics. Plus, there's a music festival going on at the same time I'll be on the Isle. Plus, where else am I going to be around so many Manx cats? So there will be three days of my kind of excitement.
No, I don't get out much. Why do you ask?
So back to Welsh. Depending on my schedule, I'm hoping to make a quick detour through Wales. At first, I was hoping to see a friend in Snowdonia, if only to say I'd been to Snowdonia. (You say it. Feels pretty cool, right?) But the more realistic option will be to visit Cardiff for a few hours. If I can pull that off, I'm hoping to get a glimpse of Welsh in action and speak a little as well. So I have a few weeks to cram in some Welsh before the trip. I'm shooting for a hundred words/phrases. We'll see how well that works out.
Of course, I'm hoping to get some of this on video when I return. This way I can triple my non-uploadable videos! Quantity if not quality!
No, I'm not drunk. Why do you ask?
So thanks to the mystery birthday woman for the inspiration, and for the use of some Welsh materials. You know who you are!
But that's not all, folks! One of my favorite websites, Languages Around The Globe (www.latg.org) has announced a 3-week Esperanto challenge and I'm going to try it out. Sadly, I can't commit to just Esperanto for that time, since I've got the (now seven!) endangered languages...plus French and Italian for the Europe trip. But I'll see how much I can pick up. (In all fairness, I've dabbled in Esperanto, so I know a lot of the rules, but I haven't retained much. Let's see if I can retain anything by the time I reach the airport...)
Anyway, if you have any interest in Esperanto, head on over to LATG's site and check out the list of Esperanto resources!
(My favorite resources are Hippocrene's Beginner's Esperanto, Teach Yourself Esperanto as well as lernu.net, the Intense Esperanto app (for iPhone) and two (free) Kindle books, A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed and The Esperanto Teacher: A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians by Helen Fryer.)
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to learn how to say "Those aren't my high heels" in Manx, just in case airport security pulls me aside for a random security check. More soon!
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