I saw Ioan Gruffud on the Craig Ferguson Late Night Show here is the USA
last week. I stayed up into the wee hours just to see him. Craig asked him
where he grew up and he said, Cardiff. Craig said, your first language was
Welsh, and he said yes, I was raised in a bilingual home. Ioan is engaged to an
American girl and they will marry in Sept. He pronounced his name as Yo an.
I have heard him say that it is John and Gruffud is Griffith. He said his
parents gave him the Welsh version to make it hard!
I was born and raised in the USA of Welsh born paternal grand parents. I
lived next to them in a double block that was connected through the basement
and I was over at my Grandmother's all of the time. Her cooking was out of
this world!!!! I lived with her from 15 to 18. When I signed the 2000 US
census, they asked if I had been in a bilingual home growing up and I said yes,
Welsh. I actually was because my grandmother spoke fluent Welsh. She would
deny this but the minute one of her Welsh speaking friends or sisters called her
on the telly, she would go off in Welsh for the whole call! She didn't want
any little ease droppers knowing what she said. She refused to teach me
much Welsh, saying "what do you want to know this for, we are in the 'NEW
COUNTRY!' But I did manage to get her to teach me a few words. When I took a few
Welsh lessons, they told me, "you speak like they do in the "Valley's of
Southeast Wales! She also told me that there were no curse words in Welsh!!!
Many years later, my Uncle taught me to say "tooth a deem!" That's
phonetic.
My Dad and great Uncle said that to pronounce the double LL, you put your
tongue on the top of your mouth and blow. Dad said it sounded like Cl when
saying Lloyd (grandma's maiden name). My cousin always wanted to raise the
umbrella's when the family got together and spoke Welsh. She also would say, I
wanna buy a vowel!!!!
Janet
USA
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now
offers free
email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at
http://www.aol.com.