Hello

[abitquackers]

Hello, I'm in a village in South Wales. My husband and I moved here last year from South London with our son, it was a big change but we're loving it! Our son's school is Welsh speaking, so one difference is we're attempting (not brilliantly) to get to grips with basic Welsh, which is slightly hilarious during this home schooling Covid-19 period as I'm trying to teach a language I'm not experienced in at all. One of the reasons we moved was wanting land to start keeping some animals and enjoying a more outdoorsy lifestyle. The previous owners hadn't been able to care for the land attached to the house for a long while, so it's full of wood piles head-height brambles and so on. We haven't kept ducks before, but have just bought our first duck pen and house ready and are really excited! We've cleared a space, dug it out, turfed it and are just in the process of getting the other bits and pieces. I've had other animals and used to breed/show Dwarf Lop rabbits when younger. I found those involved in breeding/showing often have brilliant advice and are really experienced in the animal, so thought joining this forum would be a good idea. We're not planning on breeding the ducks, just keeping them for eggs (when laying) and general pleasure. I'll probably have some questions that make you roll your eyes a bit, so I apologise in advance for that!

 

[Marigold]

Hi abitquackers and welcome. What a strange situation to be in - a big change for you from London and all the issues of adapting to a new language and an outdoor life in the teeth of the lockdown as well. We would love pics of your home and plot and I really hop0e you'll keep posting and telling us about your journey to a new life.

 

[abitquackers]

Hello Marigold! I'll definitely upload some pictures. It looks pretty wild right now because of being left for so long, plus broken things scattered and buried everywhere (think bricks, whole fences, wellies, you name it!) and tree branches lopped off and left where they fell, but we'd love to show the progress we make! It means we can't use bigger machinery to help, just strimmers and smaller things, so it's all a by hand job and very slow. We're loving it though! We're hoping to move towards a more self-sustainable lifestyle over the coming years. I've wanted ducks for a long time, but it was never possible back in London as we rented, so it's all very exciting. I've been reading the forum posts for a while trying to get to grips with things and they've got such useful information.

 

[Marigold]

How old is your son? Once he gets back into a Welsh-speaking community I expect he’ll be fluent very fast. It’s great to be bilingual and Welsh is such a beautiful language. Much better for him than growing up in London - even if, like our granddaughter living in deepest Dorset, he may not think so for a while as a teenager!
Margaid, one of our regulars on here, is ‘proper Welsh’ so you’re not entirely alone!

 

[Margaid]

Not a proper Welsh speaker though Marigold. I wouldn't mind betting there are people on here who are though.
I try and keep up my fluency by reading the Glaslyn and Dyfi osprey groups FaceBook posts in Welsh.

Well done abitquackers for learning Welsh with your son. All you need to remember is that Welsh is phonetic, that is letters and combination of letters always sound the same (not like English bough, cough and through!) and you need to move your tongue and lips to make the sounds - no room for stiff upper lips here! :lol:

 

[bigyetiman]

Hi and welcome to the forum, we hail from Upminster. Children seem to pick up languages easily when surrounded by it.
OH tries to decipher the Glaslyn forum in Welsh, and every so often she points at something and says the Welsh word, She is getting good at place names, and after you telling the proper pronunciation of Betws Y Coed Margaid, she is always correcting people who call it Betsy. I love the beautiful lilt and flow of the language

 

[abitquackers]

Haha, thanks Margaid! I can do the rolled 'r' in most words and the 'ch', but some longer words are so tricky for my stiff upper lip! It's a beautiful language, we love it. He was doing brilliantly and was one of the more confident speakers in class, but I'm just a tad nervous trying to help him out while he's off school (he's just turned 5, missed birthday party due to Covid). His teacher's been super helpful though. I find that any Welsh I get like the second half of a letter or the place signs I always try to read as practice.

Yes, he may well find it annoying as a teen! Still, we've got good train links to Cardiff and Swansea once you get to the station, so that's something at least. I think I'm going to encourage him learning to drive once he's an old enough teen to provide some independence and ability to get around more easily. I got so confused on buses when I first arrived here as in London the driver shouts at you if you try to pay in cash. It's Oyster Card, Freedom Pass or Touch-Pad Debit Card, whereas here it's back to cash and no announcements/board to say where you are. Attempting to guess in the dark with a (then 4 year old) child chatting away and headlights providing the glimpse of the bottom of a hedge or tree stump was an interesting experience!

 

[bigyetiman]

My bus company just outside the TFL area still takes cash or credit cards, and we get people confused when they can't use their Oyster card.
Well done to your son for doing so well at Welsh and sorry he missed his birthday, he will have to be like royalty and have an official one later in the year.