MAES-E
A new forum for Welsh speakers. It's probably of interest only to fairly fluent learners, but you'll find a few interesting weblinks (e.g. Welsh mp3s) by looking through the messages.
CLWBMALUCACHU
Describing itself as an online Welsh pub for learners, CMC is one of the busiest, most welcoming communities for learners. As the blurb says, it's "a fun and friendly place for you to practice your Welsh and to make as many mistakes as you like."
WELSHLEARNERS
Another web-based Yahoo!Groups discussion group. Begun in February 2001, they say "..all Welsh learners and speakers are welcome, from those just starting to those fluent."
WRITEWELSH
This board's for learners who've reached a fairly high level and want somewhere to get practice in writing Welsh. A fairly serious board. Mostly phrase- and grammar-related talk.
LANGUAGE LAB
Message board hosted by our very own bonafide Welsh tutor, Meic Gilby. Meic helps Welsh learners struggling with their diction, grammar and vocabulary.
WELCOME TO WELSH
Friendly messageboard dedicated to Welsh learners where people can practice, ask questions and chat in Welsh.
ICWALES EXPAT CLUB
The website icWales has a newsletter and a message board for Welsh expats. You can click on a map of the world to see where club members live. Some have given their contact details too.
CYMUNED
The Welsh-language message board of the action group Cymuned. Not much talk of Welsh grammar here. Expect lively political discussion with some fiery language and nationalistic views. (Dec '02-URL changed).
KNOWHERE
Nothing much to do with language at all. This is just a great set of unmoderated messageboards based on towns around the UK. The Knowhere Boards (bulletin boards) are awash with people searching for old friends from their home towns.
If you're tracing your family tree, for example, this is a good way of getting help from the people who live there. Warning: the tone's very 'alternative' and much of the user-generated content on this site may well cause offence.OTHERS
The Welsh copyright-free online e-text library, Llyfrgell Owen, has a discussion board:
Welsh placenames:
Geiriau - to discuss Welsh words:
A new group for Welsh people living in Brittany and for Breton Welsh learners:
Email discussion groups
There's more to the Internet than the web and here are some details of key email discussion lists about Wales and the language. We also let you know how to sign up for each one. When you're learning Welsh all alone, email discussion lists are just about the best way of getting a quick response to your language questions:
WELSH-L
This popular and long-standing discussion list was created "to facilitate the exchange of news, opinion, and information in Welsh, Breton, and Cornish."
Messages to this list must be in one of these three languages. To subscribe, send a mail to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.HEA.IE
with this message as the first line in the note:
SUBSCRIBE WELSH-L your name
WELSH-L archives:
WELSH-L FAQs:
CYMRAEG-L
This group says it's happy to accept messages in either English or Welsh. A word list at the end of Welsh-only messages is apparently appreciated though. Read the FAQs at:
To subscribe to CYMRAEG-L, send a mail to
listproc@lists.missouri.edu
with the following in the message body:
subscribe CYMRAEG-L your name
WEL-L
A good list for new learners to join, as the welcome message states:
"This list was established for new learners of the Welsh language. I hope that everyone can join in the discussion here without embarrassment. There is a Welcome in Well for everyone who is learning Welsh and also those whoare fluent in the language."
To subscribe to WELL, send an email to listproc@hawaii.edu with the following in the message body:
subscribe WELL your name
There's a comprehensive archive, stretching way back to 1993, on the web at:
LOLFA
This is Menter Iaith y W锚's list. To subscribe to LOLFA, send a blank message to:
lolfa-subscribe@gwebost.cymraeg.org
CELTIC-T
If you're a Welsh teacher, you may like to join celtic-t which zooms in on teaching resources and conference, but not grammatical points. To subscribe to CELTIC-T, send email to:
LISTSERV@tc.umn.edu
and in the body of the message, put:
subscribe celtic-t
TESTUNAU
Testunau@jiscmail.ac.uk is a specialist email discussion list for people publishing online texts in Welsh.
CELTLING
Celtling is "...dedicated to the linguistic structure of the Celtic languages including syntax, phonology, morphology, acquisition, semantics, historical linguistics and other related issues. Membership is open to linguists and other people sharing those interests." You can find out more and access the archive at the list's website.
TRAFOD-CAERDYDD-L
One to join if you happen to live in Cardiff. It's "a bulletin board for Welsh-speaking lecturers and students to provide a forum for the use of the language and serve as a focal point for related issues."
To subscribe to TRAFOD-CAERDYDD-L send an email to
Majordomo@Cardiff.ac.uk
with the following command in the body of your email message:
subscribe trafod-caerdydd-l
Each of these groups has its own policy on language and topics. A good tip is to subscribe then lurk (read-only) for a while before making your first posting.
Usenet newsgroups
Newsgroups are often neglected now that the WWW rules the internet Here are a few newsgroups about Wales. The first two might be a good place to start if you'd like to ask questions about language and grammar:
soc.culture.welsh
wales.cymraeg
These uk.local groups are mainly about geographically-centred discussion, rather than language:
uk.local.north-wales
uk.local.mid-wales
uk.local.south-wales
You'll need newsreader software if you'd like to access Newsgroups on Usenet. You can however browse newsgroups via the web at sites like Google:
(Google acquired the Deja.com newsgroup archive.)
Chatrooms and other communities
We've been told about an ICQ site for Welsh chats:
I've never tried this, so I'm not recommending it.
RHESTR GYMRAEG ICQ
Fewer than 20 members in December 2001 - and in October 2002.
TAFOD Y DDRAIG
The Welsh-language chatroom of the action group Tafod y Ddraig. Expect lively political discussion with some fiery language and nationalistic views.
Also, Emyr Wyn Morris wrote to CYMRAEG-L to say he uses #Wales or #cymru sometimes on IRCnet (they also exist on EFnet and DALnet too), but that not many people use them.
