Cwtch, hiraeth or Cymru? What’s your favourite Welsh word?

Local TV

With an aim to get a million speaking Welsh in Wales by 2050, we’re asking people across Cardiff if they’ve got a favourite Welsh word, and if they want to see the language grow in the future.

Transcript

00:00Welsh is of this soil, this island, the senior language of the men of Britain, and Welsh is beautiful.

00:07Those are the immortal words of the legendary Lords of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien,

00:11and it's a sentiment that still holds strong today.

00:14Welsh genuinely is a beautiful language.

00:16It's centuries old, and given Wales' musical and poetic history,

00:19it's a language that captures people's feelings and imaginations like no other.

00:23So I'm here today in Cardiff, asking people what their favourite Welsh words are.

00:27I don't know what my favourite Welsh word is, actually, that's a big question.

00:30I'd like to say mine is hiraith.

00:33Yeah, hiraith's a nice one, or like catcher or putsch, something like that.

00:37Yeah.

00:38Do you mind explaining what hiraith means?

00:41It's a feeling of home, wanting to...

00:48It's like warmth inside when you think about, like, when you're going home at Christmas,

00:52the house of Christmas, or whenever you go back to the family,

00:55your hiraith is what you're longing for.

00:58Wedi blino.

00:59Wedi blino.

01:00Toll, yeah.

01:01Plug an owl.

01:02All I know is...

01:03Brida.

01:04Brida.

01:05Good morning.

01:06Not star.

01:07Pronounsar.

01:08I'm Cymru.

01:09I don't even know her.

01:11I used to know a bit when I was in school, but I don't know her.

01:14Erm, cuch.

01:15That's my favourite.

01:17No one else says cuch in the world except for us Welsh.

01:20But I don't speak Welsh.

01:22I only know a few words from what my children have learned over the years.

01:26Do you mind explaining what cuch means?

01:29Er, it's the Welsh word for cuddle, hug.

01:33So I just prefer cuch.

01:35We don't ask for hugs or cuddles in my house, only a cuch.

01:39The Welsh Government have been making efforts to have a million Welsh speakers in Wales by the year 2050.

01:44And despite recent plateaus and the number of those speaking the language, it's an achievable goal if people across Wales get on board.

01:51More and more kids are learning Welsh and education in both English and Welsh language schools.

01:55And it's those future generations that will need to carry the Welsh baton on into the future.

02:00I 100% support it and I suppose for a few reasons.

02:03I think really acknowledging, like, the, being, like, I was born in Wales, raised in England, my grandfather was Welsh,

02:08so I had it hammered into me, the importance of Welsh cultural heritage my entire life.

02:12But also, erm, I teach English overseas and the earlier children become bilingual the better it is for them.

02:19So it's not just a gift of cultural heritage, it's a cult, it's an investment in their future linguistically.

02:23So, I think on, I just don't see a single drawback to it. I don't understand why people fight it.

02:29Yeah, yeah, I went to Welsh school, so I did all my exams and stuff in Welsh, erm, even though we don't really not Welsh at home.

02:35No, we don't, though.

02:36I think it's a really good way of learning Welsh and, like, teaching a lot of, like,

02:40so, starting a lot of, like, first-generation Welsh speakers. I think it's a good way of, like, spreading the language.

02:44And I wish I had learned it, but I was taken away to England when I was a kid and they don't teach it there.

02:49So, yeah, I wish I could speak Welsh. Maybe one day I will follow up and learn the language fully.

02:56But for now, I need to know a few basics.

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