Let's Talk Briefly About Gaelic. As I Intend To Talk In It From Now On

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So then you will ask. Why have I chosen Gaelic to be the next language I will try and learn alongside French and Welsh? Surely ( as I know some of you will claim) it's a "dead language" ?

Well part of the reason, and I expect a factor in a lot of my decision making this year is Brexit. If travel is going to become more difficult then I might as well pick a language relatively close enough to appreciate given it's spoken in Scotland as well as Ireland.

The plan is to visit one of these two countries later in the year and cause laughter and merriment amongst the locals as I completely muck it up Allo Allo style. Though for the reason I explained in my previous post whatever happens re Brexit I might not be able to do that.

Gaelic is not a dead language. To my knowledge already I can access two BBC radio stations as well as the RTE one as well,watch BBC ALBA live and watch through catchup TG4 from the Irish Republic. So access is there and relatively easy. Why put all of these resources to "a dead language" .

A short post (I'm writing this at 4:15am in the morning before going to work) but a marker for my progress. Will, like French and Welsh, start to give regular updates from now on.

Until the next time.

How Renting Is Making Me Start To Learn French

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes I know. Those who read this blog yesterday will be reminded how constantly I say that I'm going to be learning languages mainly but circumstances (aka life) appear to conspire in my way.....well that's my excuse anyway.

But it occurred to me that since as a family it would be a renting we will go on moving from Bridgend to Penarth/surrounding area until the right place comes along then there will be moments where I'm going to be bored. Much as I like books you cannot read all the time, or watch sports, or even go out when the weather is bad.

There will moments of "family time". But shift work means that it might not actually exist to any extent than those ships that pass through the night. Also in daughter's case she has her "Bridgend" friends that she can speak to online as well as those ones she'll hopefully make in her new school. Also I am at that stage where the word "embarrassing" comes before "dad" in every other statement from her lips about me.

The point about renting though, is that things I could have done have been boxed/crated and will soon be warehoused. Opportunities to pass the time short of taking longer naps are actually limited. It then hit me.......learn French.

Now before you can say why not Welsh/Italian/any of the other languages I've been mentioning in the blog previously. Well French has the advantage that I've some residual knowledge dredged up from school as well as, crucially, that the Teach Yourself book I've got is in my Kindle (unlike for example all the Welsh books/papers which are crated in what was the dining room and now a storeroom as I speak).

Having already got the ebook, all I needed was to buy a binder, some lined paper,index tabs and it's just a case of allez.

As much as will be possible I'm going to try and get a French ambiance to get me in the mood. Listen to French radio, watch French TV/Films on Walter Presents/Netflix, take continental breakfasts, drink more coffee (though will never discard tea.....there are limits).

And it won't be the only language I will learn either. My new, even more revised, hopefully lifeproof plan is this. When we (eventually) move into somewhere more permanent will immediately learn Welsh as well and concentrate on these two until the beginning of 2019 when, adding on a yearly basis Gaelic, Italian, Polish and one other (not sure which one here). The aim is to gradually be fluent in six languages.

This is more than just brain food. As I mentioned when talking about Welsh but it applies to any European language you care to name learning a different tongue has become a political statement in the UK. Though in my case I've no wish to leave Britain (Wales....and preferably an independent Wales is my home) learning a language post Brexit means that you are saying there's a world beyond "the British way of life". Showing an interest beyond the right wing clichés marks you out as different. Someone who thinks that your mind should not be satisfied with .....insert reality TV show here.......until you die.

Until the next time.

In Which Learning French Begins....

So the Kindle yesterday is opened. I've half an hour before lunch and the afternoon/evening shift at work. Teach Yourself French by Gaelle Graham begins. Even though this nation is moving towards little Englander status I refuse to follow this trend I won't go into the comforting arms of the femme fatale that is splendid isolation. I won't go à la mode. Au Contraire. Instead of going Bon Voyage to Europe I've become more Bonjour.It's a fait accompli.

I've tried to get into the mood. In the early morning I watched another episode of the political drama Spin (Les Hommes de L'Ombre). I like it. though it's really what you would expect from similar political dramas,intense looks,backstabbing,dark cars with security detail moving fast...just with added Gallic.

I drink black coffee, no café au lait for me. Carte Noire to be precise. I've seen the ads. Stylish French people do stylish things (including drinking coffee of course) in the stylish backdrop of Paris in black and white film. Of course real life is different. I'm drinking it whilst cajoling my daughter to move herself in time to catch the school bus. No style involved here, just slowly rising annoyance mixed with panic.

I've got my list of French radio stations ready. Yesterday it was France Culture. Hardly understand a word but that's not the point for the moment. For now the point is just to absorb.

So the e book is opened. In the beginning Ms Graham makes points I already understand and remember from school. A sense of  déjà vu overwhelms me but then I stop when she makes the point that there are a number of words that have transferred from French to English and gives us examples. This is the moment I start writing it on a notepad. Words I know the meaning of and how to spell. Seems like a good first step.

So far nothing has seemed avant-garde. No liguistic art déco or art nouveau here. Which is fine by me. I want rules. Carte Blanche worries me

Soon the half hour was up. Time for lunch. No apéritif or après ski. Just a sandwich and a hot drink before work. That drink of course being black coffee. Work next....well.... c'est la vie. 

Monday will be the next time I'll be learning French. I know I'm not deserving an encore yet but let's see what the future will bring.

And as I'm sure you've guessed now the words I've put in italics (apart from Bonjour) are the ones I've written down.

Until the next time.

in Which I Take French Lessons, The First Viewing Of The House And Buying Presents

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes,yes I know. I've resuscitated my old Welsh textbooks, starting to learn Polish and now on a Monday learning French?

Well.....yes.

But racist crime has got worse even since I last posted about it. I read an article that a car was attacked because it had French number plates. As I have said before the dark ages have begun.

So decided to add two more languages to the list. Picked because I've a petit knowledge of either. French which is of a sub O level standard and Italian of whose remote vocabulary gleaned almost organically. They've been taken off the remote bookshelves of my mind, the dust blown off and so Je vais.

And gradually my intention is to be more French than French, Polish than the Polish etc. It seems to me that if I want to listen to Verdi rather than Elgar then I should without nobody questioning my choice because it's not British, and more specifically English.

Because that is the insular society we are potentially facing now. Particularly if the Labour party keeps looking at its navel and then begins to cut itself open. Leaving Britain at the mercy of the right wing. In the meantime the cleverest politician in the Conservative party Theresa May has about to become Prime Minister simply by staying relatively quiet as her opponents blunder their way out of the race.

I have a timetable for learning these languages.....oh yes I do.

Monday/Tuesday: French
Wednesday/Thursday: Polish
Friday/Saturday: Welsh
Sunday: Italian

So I start watching online the French drama Spin on the Channel 4 strand Walter Presents. The same strand that showed the Polish series The Border I mentioned in an earlier post. Watched the first series before but now am on it again to listen as well as see. Actually it's French title is Les Hommes De L'Ombre or Shadow Men, Things sound better in French or Italian than they do in English. For example there is a Ligue 1 football team, I can't remember which, that is sponsored by Mutuelle Du Soleil which even the most ardent Brexiteer must admit sounds better than Sun Mutual.

The book I'm starting with is Teach Yourself French by Gaelle Graham. A woman who is not only a teacher and linguist but works for a trade union and is a commentator for French radio about English education (!!). Clearly a lady who takes multitasking to the next level.She's from Brittany originally though with talents like that perhaps she's Britainiche,

More French chat tomorrow.

So the first viewing of the house. I was in the car parked at the opposite side of the road like a private eye having given the estate agent the keys. It was early afternoon so no danger of schoolkids invading the street.

I saw a couple, late twenties/early thirties being led into the house. There they stayed for about forty minutes. In between gazing at my front door I started reading Michael Palin's diaries. The length of time made me feel rather nervous,not sure with excitement or fear. Surely I thought they must be interested?

Well perhaps,or perhaps not. Apparently the couple loved the upstairs but not the downstairs, Too small for a family of two children apparently. That surprised me. Their ultimate view, according to the estate agent was a maybe. I'm going to assume a no unless proved otherwise.

Final proper thing I've done today is to go  with my daughter to buy proper birthday presents at Macarthur Glen (a retail outlet complex just outside Bridgend) for my mother, who's coming down this weekend.

Daughter picked a Yankee Candle and a fancy holder. Personally the popularity of scented candles is something that has just passed me by as I'm always on the slow lane to fashionable. I get them when the smells are simple, say orange or strawberry. But it's when they get all descriptive, for example I remember a Yankee Candle called Christmas Eve. Since when did Christmas Eve have a smell ?

I played it safe present wise. Bought a Marks and Spencer gift voucher......and this

I know you want one

It's a cheese grater. Probably the oddest looking cheese grater that you will ever see. And come the weekend it will be my mother's. It's Marks and Spencer also. And you wonder why they're in trouble.

Until the next time,