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[dkoert]

There is an old, somewhat arrogant joke. What do you call someone who speaks only one language? An American. Even though I speak enough French to communicate as a tourist in France, I really only speak one language. I want to change before it is too late. Ancestry and family members give me connections to Welsh and Dutch. Both languages are arguably close to English so I want to become fluent in both. One at a time is best I think, so I chose Welsh.

David

[Dee]

Welcome to the forum, David! You've come to the right place - not only will you learn Welsh, but you'll have fun doing it

Any questions, just post here on the forum and someone will be along before you know it.

Dee

[Tahl]

Ancestry and family members give me connections to Welsh and Dutch. Both languages are arguably close to English so want to become fluent in both. One at a time is best I think, so I chose Welsh.

Great, croeso (welcome)! I've never thought that Welsh is all that close to English -- it's very different in grammatical structure -- but that just makes it fun.

[lambiek]

There is an old, somewhat arrogant joke. What do you call someone who speaks only one language? An American. Even though I speak enough French to communicate as a tourist in France, I really only speak one language. I want to change before it is too late. Ancestry and family members give me connections to Welsh and Dutch. Both languages are arguably close to English so want to become fluent in both. One at a time is best I think, so I chose Welsh.

David

Don't hold back, get on to the Dutch lessons, as well!

[AmyJ]

I'm not sure how to insert an image but according to this map thing of lexical distance, Welsh and English are relatively close (in some way that the map thing doesn't really specify but is still interesting!)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f3a8353cc910 ... 1_1280.jpg

[lambiek]

I'm not sure how to insert an image but according to this map thing of lexical distance, Welsh and English are relatively close (in some way that the map thing doesn't really specify but is still interesting!)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f3a8353cc910 ... 1_1280.jpg

A very interesting map, thanks Amy! I think the greater the number, the greater the lexical distance, which is defined as the degree of overall vocabulary divergence (says Wikipedia). It measures how many words are in common. That is why there is a link between English and Welsh (but not, say, Greek), and between French and Breton, and a thicker line between Breton and Welsh..

It does not indicate syntax and grammar differences.

[Lurch2]

The lines seem a bit random. A line between Welsh and English, between Breton and French, and between Irish and... Portuguese?

The line between Welsh and English actually shows the maximum lexical distance which can be marked- equal to or over 71, whatever that may mean. If there are no lines connecting, this presumably means there was no data to be had, rather than there is no connection whatsoever! I mean, there is no line connecting Breton and "Ga"(presumably Scots Gaelic).

However, it is difficult to tell. It seems to come from this site-

http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/

Which doesn't really explain it any better, as far as I can see. The data apparently comes from a paper by a K Tyshchenko, published "in Russian". No further details.

[dkoert]

I'm not sure how to insert an image but according to this map thing of lexical distance, Welsh and English are relatively close (in some way that the map thing doesn't really specify but is still interesting!)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f3a8353cc910 ... 1_1280.jpg

Thank you for the link to the lexical map, Amy.

David