Wales?
I was finally able to do some revision today (adolygais i Gymraeg heddiw, which is actually a more basic, straightforward sentence, I revised some Welsh today), after being kept from doing so for several days by, well, real life. Don’t get over-excited, though (‘Who, me? Why on earth would I…?’ - you’ve got a point there, sorry, lol): I’m still on the present tense (actually, not exactly, I did ‘going to’ today - oh, for goodness' sake, Bruna, who cares?!), taking my time, the time one doesn’t have on a super intensive course such as the one I very gladly did last June-July-August at Cardiff University. I was finally going to tell you more about it (or was I?) when a friend (from the course as well - helo, Genia!) shared this on my Facebook wall or whatever it’s called:
It’s a much better story than mine anyway, one about someone who spent many years ‘feeling chippy with that uncomfortable sense of always being on the linguistic margins in [her] own country.’ It reminded me, with its mention to Patagonia, of the similarly embarrassing fact that most of us, Brazilians, still seem to believe we can always get away with our (many times hilarious - un cuepo de cueca cuela, anyone?) version of the Spanish language. BTW, a vital piece of information here: we speak Portuguese in Brazil. :D And, yes, it’s Portuguese, or it still is, at least, not Brazilian. Brazilian Portuguese, that’s it. We won’t (we shouldn’t, IMHO) get annoyed if you call it ‘Brazilian’, don’t worry (the French do, as far as I know: to them, we speak brésilien - awnnn!... lol). Some (many?) might if you say we speak Spanish, though. Better not, then. :D Also, the same friend who recommended that article to me once asked me about our native languages - and noted that I’d just dedicated two months (and, I’d add, many thousands of reais, or a few thousands of pounds - here’s me talking about money again!! Stopping right now) to learning a so-called minority language from the other side of the world instead of trying to learn a local one. :D She wasn’t being judgmental: ‘sounds like something I’d do myself, lol,’ she added. If I can remember correctly, I had a professor who specialised in that field. I was just too young to care at the time. They aren’t languages one will hear (I don’t mean this will never happen, as more and more indigenous people [is this even the right term to use?...] are - or should I say, after the recent presidential impeachment imposed on us, were? - encouraged to go to university, controversy-alert!!, including in these regions, in the very city where I used to live a couple of years ago) in the southeast (where I was born, raised and live) or the south of the country, as these areas are considerably far from major indigenous territories (thanks, Wikipedia, for your help with this). Anyway, one of my favourite actresses did make an effort to learn some of one of such languages and here’s the (beautiful!) result (the lyrics start at about 1:35):
But I thought this was a blog about Wales?... Sorry. Or, sori. So, that article. It’s a very good story - still, it’s not one that would explain why someone like me would want to learn Welsh. I’ll have to tell that one myself, sooner or later, I know. That said, there may be something here:
Well, at least in the part where she refers to her guide as someone ‘with not a drop of Cymric blood’ - yes, that also applies to me, as you already know. Oh, and someone else’s learning Welsh at Cardiff University, then (obviously - just let me finish my sentence, please) - and writing about it (and getting paid for that, oh!... lol) too. There go all of my (Carol - aka 'the other Brazilian girl at the hostel' - said they aren’t only imaginary!) readers. :( Oh, well.
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