Thank you for the wonderful article (Where Duolingo falls down: how I learned to speak Welsh with my mother, 12 March). Dan Fox’s Welsh language learning journey is beautifully described, with excellent context of the struggles to keep the language alive over the last two centuries.
In fact, Dan’s experience is exactly what we, the Duolingo Welsh course writers, aimed for. We created a resource on the largest language learning platform in the world that is available at the click of a mouse, and which gives people using it the confidence that it is indeed possible to learn Welsh. We never intended it to be a standalone course, but to support people using the methods described in the article in addition to formal lessons.
The Welsh used in the course is the most recent spoken Welsh standard approved by the Welsh government for courses throughout Wales. The fact that Dan’s mother considered it erroneous reflects the lack of a universally accepted standard for spoken Welsh. This is one of the factors holding back the revival of the language.
The more than 700,000 learners who regularly use Duolingo Welsh to support their learning journeys is a vindication of the success of our approach. Dalier ati! Keep it up!
Richard Morse
Duolingo Welsh course designer and writer
• Dan Fox’s long read filled me with joy, tears, wonderful memories and frustration. Nain and Taid for grandmother and grandfather are terms used in north Wales; Mam-gu and Dad-cu are terms used for grandparents in south Wales. Sir Gaerfyrddin is and always has been very Cymraeg. I have been asked on more than one occasion if I am a Nain. No! I’m a Mam-gu, brought up in a Welsh-speaking village, Tumble, in south Wales. I left Tumble more than 50 years ago and now live in Oxfordshire.
Thank you for such a moving article. The description of Cwm Rhondda sung in Cymraeg in a small chapel sent shivers down my spine.
Sian O’Neill
Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire
• I enjoyed Dan Fox’s article about his experience of learning Welsh in order to understand the culture and heritage of his family more fully. As a fellow student of the Welsh language, I can both empathise with the challenges he has faced and appreciate the benefits that he has gained. It’s a shame, therefore, that the bilingual road sign in one of the photographs chosen to illustrate the print article misspells the Welsh for speed as cyfymder, rather than the correct cyflymder.
Martin Pennington
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
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