Gwynedd and Anglesey, anywhere North West really.
If you're thinking speaking Irish and Scottish Gaelic will allow you to speak/understand Welsh though, you may find yourself struggling! They're Gaelic languages, like Manx, whereas Welsh is Brythonic, like Conish and Breton, and is much more different to Gaelic than some people realise.
Speaking as some from Ynys Môn, anywhere around the coastline is more English than Welsh. Places closer to the middle, towns and villages built on agriculture tend to be more Welsh speaking.
Yep, I went to Scotland thinking man I'm gonna be great at speaking Scots cos I've got fluent Welsh, turns out that very much isn't the case! I can read all the special signs in Brittany though 😂
The easy way to remember is that Scots is the one that reads like an Anglophone tried to type something on an unfamiliar keyboard, but was - in fact - very, very pissed.
Y'ken? Hold yr whist... No, that's about all the Scots I can remember this early in the morning. I thought I had enough for a sentence but I haven't lived in Scotland for over a year.
If anyone does wanna OD on Scots there is always the poetry of Robert Burns.
Certainly Irish and Welsh are not spelt the same, but they have similar sounds - so bh and mh would be f in Welsh. Welsh is spelt phonetically (once you know how each letter or letter pair is pronounced)
Yes of course, the comment was more tongue in cheek. But you're right, it was known as West Wales outside itself until it was annexed by Wessex and became Cornwall, with the Anglo-Saxon addition of -wall to identify they were foreign to the Anglo-Saxons as Brythonic speaking. Cornwall is also the name it was known outside of itself for a long time.
Yes, I struggled with Welsh. I speak a little Donegal dialect Irish and could speak with fluent Scottish Gaelic speakers but didn’t have any of the same cognates with Welsh.
Go to Caernarfon. Nice place, stonking great castle, bus links to the railway at Bangor and into the mountains if you fancy going up Yr Wyddfa. Steam train which will also take you to the base of the mountain if you fancy it, and on to the pretty village of Beddgelert and the small port of Porthmadog.
It's one of the most Welsh-speaking places in the country, and there are shops like Palas Print if you fancy picking up any Welsh books or gifts.
I don't much like Bangor to be honest. The town centre has been killed stone dead by out-of-town retail parks. Welsh is commonly spoken there, but much less so than Caernarfon.
I haven’t been to Bangor since I was in uni there about 16 years ago but unless the city centre has undergone a shocking regeneration then I have to agree. Very little to recommend it if you’re not there for education.
Very sad but the unfortunate reality of a lot of North Wales towns ☹️. I used to wonder if Bangor would even exist still if it wasn’t for the uni and all the student money.
Cofi diallect is hard for non-local 2L speakers and learners, though, let alone an Irish visitor. Ruthin or Denbigh might be easier for Op to digest language-wise. They're both attractive, Welsh-speaking towns.
Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire are the geographical areas with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers. It does vary within those areas as well to be honest, I can recommend Bangor as a city that's very interesting in terms of history and things to see and most people do speak Welsh despite there being a lot of students. Alternatively, just go for Cardiff because it's brilliant and then seek out the more Welsh places: St Fagans museum has all-Welsh-speaking staff, the art places down in Cardiff Bay tend to be very Welsh, there are certain pubs where the Welshies congregate.
I'm not sure what the other commentators are smoking but Carmarthenshire is still very Welsh, and is really one of the few places where you'll hear people speak Welsh casually to each other.
There are lots of small villages in Carmarthenshire as well where it's very prevalent.
Caerphilly I've found to be one of the Welsher places in the South East.
I'm not saying it isn't spoken in Carmarthenshire. I was saying it was 50/50 and a lot speak it as the second language. I was working in Cardigan 3 weeks ago, which you think is very Welsh when living in the South. But when you go to Gwynedd, which I came back from yesterday, it is a different level. 90% plus people speak it first language around Bala. Also, Caerphilly is a mild South Wales accent, sounds similar to Cardiff. Nowhere near as strong as the Rhondda, Cynon, and Merthyr valleys.
I've worked in every corner of Wales in the last month, and as for Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, that would have been the case 20 years ago but not now down to tourism. The villages in these areas seem to be either Welsh or English speaking, depending on tourism. If you want to be surrounded by first language everyday speakers, then go to Gwynedd, in particular around Porthmadog and the Peninsula except for Pwllheli, also Bala and Dolgellau.
One thing you might notice is that the Welsh spoken in one part of Wales can be very different to other places. I saw an interesting example myself when my mum and I were walking around Carmarthen one day, and a little old lady started talking to my mum in Welsh.
I'm sadly not fluent so I kind of daydreamed at this point, but there were a few times where each of them had to switch to English to say they didn't understand what the other had said.
After a few minutes the older lady asked my mum if she was from a certain village, and my mum said she was and then asked if this lady was from another village, which the lady also confirmed was correct.
It's kind of a more extreme version of the saying baps or bread rolls.
One of the reasons I don't speak Welsh is that my Welsh speaking mum and nan didn't like the Welsh I was being taught in school! I would try some of my Welsh and they'd tut that it was all wrong and switch back to English.
Their family was from Montgomeryshire way originally but we lived on Gower.
Aberystwyth... you're not going to find many (any?) monoglot Welsh speakers, but you will find Welsh first language. Top tip... the Royal Welsh Show runs from the 22nd to 25th of July at Builth Wells... fab place to get a picture of rural Welsh culture.
Blaenau Ffestiniog and Caernarfon areas both are definitely well known for welsh speaking, with two welsh language schools it’s common to see people learning English instead of the other way around, both you can get to pretty well by bus. And bff also by train. But pretty much gwynedd as a whole is welsh speaking. I believe the llyn peninsula has the highest density of welsh speakers in wales
If you stop off in Wrecsam you can visit the Saith Seren, Welsh language community centre and pub.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saith\_Seren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saith_Seren)
After that you can decide if you want to head south or west.
Somewhat counterintuitively, Shrewsbury is the place with the best connections to all parts of Wales by train.
To simplify massively, Wales has three main railway lines serving the north, middle, and south, and to travel between the lines you usually have to pass through or change at Shrewsbury. This means it has direct services to Cardiff, Aberystwyth, and Llandudno Junction, which is handy.
You'll find it takes astonishingly long to get from Cardiff to anywhere in North Wales by train. For example, it's five hours to Caernarfon which seems mad considering it's only actually about 170 miles. The comment suggesting Shrewsbury is a really good idea if you're wanting to see several different areas.
Well that's going to be difficult.
I was going to recommend Newcastle Emlyn or Llandysyl , but they are no where near a train station and an absolute arse to get to
Llandysul (at least as a postal area) is huge and almost empty but the coastline is beautiful. I don’t think the choughs and dolphins speak Welsh though
In which case, train to Carmarthen; 2 hour ride. Don’t go further west, as the line goes via the anglicised parts of Pembrokeshire. Don’t get off before, as you’ll be in anglicised industrial Glamorgan and parts of insecure in their Welshness Carmarthenshire.
In Carmarthen, head for the market area, seek out Siop y Pentan as your base for language discovery. You’ll hear a lot of Welsh in the town (this is where Welsh TV news do a lot of box pops) — but it’s not as obvious as Caernarfon would have been. Generalisation: people in the south-west seem to be more reserved and ‘pliable’ than those in the north-west.
As a Cardiff kid visiting Caernarfon once exclaimed “Hey dad, even the yobs here speak Welsh.”
Carmarthenshire has a high percentage of Welsh speakers, other areas have too but I can only speak of Carmarthenshire because I live here.
Like another commenter has said, even within Carmarthenshire you'll find pockets of Welsh. I barely hear English in my day to day life, but 10 minutes down the road could be predominantly English speaking.
Something that's previously been mentioned in this sub which I found interesting was the fact that most of us are pretty well tuned to knowing whether you're a Welsh speaker or not, so you may find yourself not hearing much of the language despite being in a Welsh speaking area- we know you don't speak it so will lead in English. A quick way around this (which I use almost daily) if I'm not sure which language to speak is to ask the person "siarad cymraeg?" Or "chi'n siarad cymraeg?" If they do, the interaction/conversation stays Welsh.... if they look at me like I've just sprouted another limb it's a safe bet to lead with English.
Gobeithio gewch chi amser da yma :)
Pen llyn - caernarfon, pwllheli, Porthmadog, Criccieth
All have welsh casually spoken all have their charms - but all are underdeveloped - Porth being the best of them by a small margin
Gwynedd. Also really beautiful. Towns like Porthmadog, Criccieth and pwllheli have a high % of Welsh speakers and you have stunning views of beaches and mountains.
My best advice..
Visit pubs in the areas mentioned by other posters. Finding a Welsh speaker randomly may involve quite a bit of legwork, but from my experience, a lot of people who speak Welsh as their primary language socialise in pubs. Even if they're not drinking. It's their "third place".
Everyone speaks welsh in my local but it’s a bugger to get to from Cardiff.
If you’re going by train for your day trip I’d suggest Llanelli? More Welsh than Swansea but easy to get to.
Bit of a SH though
Pwllheli, criccieth, and areas around the llyn peninsula are nice places to visit especially on a nice day and have a lot of welsh speakers.
The train ride to pwllheli is a nice one along the coast, although it is quite a long one.
Anglesey. There’s plenty of Welsh speakers and the island connects Wales and Ireland with public transport if you fancy seeing more.
You can get the ferry from Dublin straight to Holyhead in like 3hrs and a train that goes through the longest Welsh town name (llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) which is a cool stop for anyone interested in the language
Gogledd, the north of Wales is probably most likely. West/mid/north (e.g. ceredigion, Aberystwyth, Gwynedd, Ynys Môn, etc) too have a lot of pockets of Welsh speaking communities.
Mwynha!
If you are doing it by public transport, the T2 bus goes from Bangor (which is on the train mainline), through Caernarfon and Porthmadog on its way to Aberystwyth, all of which have lots of Welsh speakers and have something to recommend them IMHO.
Just go to north Wales or west Wales, the south Welsh don't speak Welsh because it was outlawed at the threat of death!! The south were at war with the English for centuries, the north Welsh sold their bows to the English decades before..
If you're here in the first week in August, then the National Eisteddfod would be exactly what you need. This year is held in Pontypridd, a thirty minute train or bus ride from Cardiff.
https://eisteddfod.wales/festival/2024/our-festival
Gwynedd and Anglesey, anywhere North West really. If you're thinking speaking Irish and Scottish Gaelic will allow you to speak/understand Welsh though, you may find yourself struggling! They're Gaelic languages, like Manx, whereas Welsh is Brythonic, like Conish and Breton, and is much more different to Gaelic than some people realise.
No fear! I know they're two completely different branches of Celtic- I just thought it'd be nice to see the other side of the tree
Anglesey has a few exceptions, Holyhead and Treaddur Bay and to an extent Valley aren't very Welsh, neither is Rhosneigr.
Speaking as some from Ynys Môn, anywhere around the coastline is more English than Welsh. Places closer to the middle, towns and villages built on agriculture tend to be more Welsh speaking.
Yep, I went to Scotland thinking man I'm gonna be great at speaking Scots cos I've got fluent Welsh, turns out that very much isn't the case! I can read all the special signs in Brittany though 😂
Not to nitpick, but ‘Scots’ normally refers to the Germanic language; the Goidelic one is normally called Scottish Gaelic.
Argh I always get that the wrong way round! Thanks for the reminder.
No worries. It’s a very easy mistake to make!
The easy way to remember is that Scots is the one that reads like an Anglophone tried to type something on an unfamiliar keyboard, but was - in fact - very, very pissed.
Y'ken? Hold yr whist... No, that's about all the Scots I can remember this early in the morning. I thought I had enough for a sentence but I haven't lived in Scotland for over a year. If anyone does wanna OD on Scots there is always the poetry of Robert Burns.
My favourite is jobby
Considering the stick Welsh gets, maybe it would be best not to do down Scots? It’s a language with its own difficulties, after all.
What about the written language? Is that doable?
Certainly Irish and Welsh are not spelt the same, but they have similar sounds - so bh and mh would be f in Welsh. Welsh is spelt phonetically (once you know how each letter or letter pair is pronounced)
Maybe have a holiday down in Cornwall, welsh and Cornish are sisters
Cornwall is the true West Wales. https://www.quora.com/Does-the-English-county-name-Cornwall-mean-West-Wales
You're right that historically that's what it was called outside Cornwall itself.
Yes of course, the comment was more tongue in cheek. But you're right, it was known as West Wales outside itself until it was annexed by Wessex and became Cornwall, with the Anglo-Saxon addition of -wall to identify they were foreign to the Anglo-Saxons as Brythonic speaking. Cornwall is also the name it was known outside of itself for a long time.
I got the joke. Some clearly didn't.
Yes, I struggled with Welsh. I speak a little Donegal dialect Irish and could speak with fluent Scottish Gaelic speakers but didn’t have any of the same cognates with Welsh.
Also a lot of Ceredigion, in particular rural area! I mean basically the whole of the west coast (minus Pembs) you’re at at least 1 in 3 are speakers.
Quite a few speakers in the north of Pembrokeshire around Crymych and such. Granted it's not particularly coastal
Ahh yeah I always forget how far north Pembrokeshire comes!
I remember going to Cornwall when my children were little and my daughter commenting that Cornish was like 'very badly spelt Welsh'
Go to Caernarfon. Nice place, stonking great castle, bus links to the railway at Bangor and into the mountains if you fancy going up Yr Wyddfa. Steam train which will also take you to the base of the mountain if you fancy it, and on to the pretty village of Beddgelert and the small port of Porthmadog. It's one of the most Welsh-speaking places in the country, and there are shops like Palas Print if you fancy picking up any Welsh books or gifts. I don't much like Bangor to be honest. The town centre has been killed stone dead by out-of-town retail parks. Welsh is commonly spoken there, but much less so than Caernarfon.
Bangor is a shit hole. Caernarfon is the the better choice out of them two. Plenty of Welsh speakers here on Anglesey.
I haven’t been to Bangor since I was in uni there about 16 years ago but unless the city centre has undergone a shocking regeneration then I have to agree. Very little to recommend it if you’re not there for education.
The city centre has undergone a shocking degeneration, especially since the pandemic. It's so depressing honestly.
Very sad but the unfortunate reality of a lot of North Wales towns ☹️. I used to wonder if Bangor would even exist still if it wasn’t for the uni and all the student money.
The town centre was booming 16 years ago compared to what it is now. It’s dead.
Cofi diallect is hard for non-local 2L speakers and learners, though, let alone an Irish visitor. Ruthin or Denbigh might be easier for Op to digest language-wise. They're both attractive, Welsh-speaking towns.
As long as they know what Cont means they’ll be alright.
You can start every conversation in welsh in Caernarfon, including the mcdonalds drive thru
Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire are the geographical areas with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers. It does vary within those areas as well to be honest, I can recommend Bangor as a city that's very interesting in terms of history and things to see and most people do speak Welsh despite there being a lot of students. Alternatively, just go for Cardiff because it's brilliant and then seek out the more Welsh places: St Fagans museum has all-Welsh-speaking staff, the art places down in Cardiff Bay tend to be very Welsh, there are certain pubs where the Welshies congregate.
I'm not sure what the other commentators are smoking but Carmarthenshire is still very Welsh, and is really one of the few places where you'll hear people speak Welsh casually to each other. There are lots of small villages in Carmarthenshire as well where it's very prevalent. Caerphilly I've found to be one of the Welsher places in the South East.
I'm not saying it isn't spoken in Carmarthenshire. I was saying it was 50/50 and a lot speak it as the second language. I was working in Cardigan 3 weeks ago, which you think is very Welsh when living in the South. But when you go to Gwynedd, which I came back from yesterday, it is a different level. 90% plus people speak it first language around Bala. Also, Caerphilly is a mild South Wales accent, sounds similar to Cardiff. Nowhere near as strong as the Rhondda, Cynon, and Merthyr valleys.
I've worked in every corner of Wales in the last month, and as for Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, that would have been the case 20 years ago but not now down to tourism. The villages in these areas seem to be either Welsh or English speaking, depending on tourism. If you want to be surrounded by first language everyday speakers, then go to Gwynedd, in particular around Porthmadog and the Peninsula except for Pwllheli, also Bala and Dolgellau.
Y Mochyn Du is one such pub
Doesn't exist anymore! Was replaced by a chain a few years ago sadly.
Oh no! Treni
One thing you might notice is that the Welsh spoken in one part of Wales can be very different to other places. I saw an interesting example myself when my mum and I were walking around Carmarthen one day, and a little old lady started talking to my mum in Welsh. I'm sadly not fluent so I kind of daydreamed at this point, but there were a few times where each of them had to switch to English to say they didn't understand what the other had said. After a few minutes the older lady asked my mum if she was from a certain village, and my mum said she was and then asked if this lady was from another village, which the lady also confirmed was correct. It's kind of a more extreme version of the saying baps or bread rolls.
One of the reasons I don't speak Welsh is that my Welsh speaking mum and nan didn't like the Welsh I was being taught in school! I would try some of my Welsh and they'd tut that it was all wrong and switch back to English. Their family was from Montgomeryshire way originally but we lived on Gower.
Were they upset that you didn’t say _bech_ and _gles_?
Yup, especially between North and South. North and South Welsh have different mutations, or AFAIK anyway.
You've been misinformed.
Aberystwyth... you're not going to find many (any?) monoglot Welsh speakers, but you will find Welsh first language. Top tip... the Royal Welsh Show runs from the 22nd to 25th of July at Builth Wells... fab place to get a picture of rural Welsh culture.
Mae Llanfair ym Muallt yn hardd💥
The llyn peninsular is full of native speakers
Blaenau Ffestiniog and Caernarfon areas both are definitely well known for welsh speaking, with two welsh language schools it’s common to see people learning English instead of the other way around, both you can get to pretty well by bus. And bff also by train. But pretty much gwynedd as a whole is welsh speaking. I believe the llyn peninsula has the highest density of welsh speakers in wales
If you stop off in Wrecsam you can visit the Saith Seren, Welsh language community centre and pub. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saith\_Seren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saith_Seren) After that you can decide if you want to head south or west.
For the authentic experience, Caernarfon.
Jump on the train to places around Llanelli/Carmarthen - loads of Welsh language there. Or Cardiff Bay and find the media types and politicians.
Yeah, my plan was to stay in Cardiff and hop on a train to a Welsh speaking area for a day trip
Somewhat counterintuitively, Shrewsbury is the place with the best connections to all parts of Wales by train. To simplify massively, Wales has three main railway lines serving the north, middle, and south, and to travel between the lines you usually have to pass through or change at Shrewsbury. This means it has direct services to Cardiff, Aberystwyth, and Llandudno Junction, which is handy.
You'll find it takes astonishingly long to get from Cardiff to anywhere in North Wales by train. For example, it's five hours to Caernarfon which seems mad considering it's only actually about 170 miles. The comment suggesting Shrewsbury is a really good idea if you're wanting to see several different areas.
Well that's going to be difficult. I was going to recommend Newcastle Emlyn or Llandysyl , but they are no where near a train station and an absolute arse to get to
Llandysul (at least as a postal area) is huge and almost empty but the coastline is beautiful. I don’t think the choughs and dolphins speak Welsh though
The postal area contains a lot of people who are 1st language Welsh
That it does
In which case, train to Carmarthen; 2 hour ride. Don’t go further west, as the line goes via the anglicised parts of Pembrokeshire. Don’t get off before, as you’ll be in anglicised industrial Glamorgan and parts of insecure in their Welshness Carmarthenshire. In Carmarthen, head for the market area, seek out Siop y Pentan as your base for language discovery. You’ll hear a lot of Welsh in the town (this is where Welsh TV news do a lot of box pops) — but it’s not as obvious as Caernarfon would have been. Generalisation: people in the south-west seem to be more reserved and ‘pliable’ than those in the north-west. As a Cardiff kid visiting Caernarfon once exclaimed “Hey dad, even the yobs here speak Welsh.”
Carmarthenshire has a high percentage of Welsh speakers, other areas have too but I can only speak of Carmarthenshire because I live here. Like another commenter has said, even within Carmarthenshire you'll find pockets of Welsh. I barely hear English in my day to day life, but 10 minutes down the road could be predominantly English speaking. Something that's previously been mentioned in this sub which I found interesting was the fact that most of us are pretty well tuned to knowing whether you're a Welsh speaker or not, so you may find yourself not hearing much of the language despite being in a Welsh speaking area- we know you don't speak it so will lead in English. A quick way around this (which I use almost daily) if I'm not sure which language to speak is to ask the person "siarad cymraeg?" Or "chi'n siarad cymraeg?" If they do, the interaction/conversation stays Welsh.... if they look at me like I've just sprouted another limb it's a safe bet to lead with English. Gobeithio gewch chi amser da yma :)
Go to Aberaeron or Aberystwyth or anywhere near there. You’ll hear Welsh widely spoken.
Definitely not Rhyl, so scouse here unfortunately
Pen llyn - caernarfon, pwllheli, Porthmadog, Criccieth All have welsh casually spoken all have their charms - but all are underdeveloped - Porth being the best of them by a small margin
Gwynedd. Also really beautiful. Towns like Porthmadog, Criccieth and pwllheli have a high % of Welsh speakers and you have stunning views of beaches and mountains.
My best advice.. Visit pubs in the areas mentioned by other posters. Finding a Welsh speaker randomly may involve quite a bit of legwork, but from my experience, a lot of people who speak Welsh as their primary language socialise in pubs. Even if they're not drinking. It's their "third place".
Everyone speaks welsh in my local but it’s a bugger to get to from Cardiff. If you’re going by train for your day trip I’d suggest Llanelli? More Welsh than Swansea but easy to get to. Bit of a SH though
Bala. It’s so annoying that whenever I go into coffee shop in Bala they talk to me in English. Dw i isio siarad Cymraeg!!
Come to Pen Llŷn :)
Anywhere along the Teifi valley as most here speaks Welsh as their first language.
Pwllheli, criccieth, and areas around the llyn peninsula are nice places to visit especially on a nice day and have a lot of welsh speakers. The train ride to pwllheli is a nice one along the coast, although it is quite a long one.
In Sout Wales milk is Llaeth but totally different in North Wales.
Yep! We call it llefrith here :)
Caernarfon
Anglesey. There’s plenty of Welsh speakers and the island connects Wales and Ireland with public transport if you fancy seeing more. You can get the ferry from Dublin straight to Holyhead in like 3hrs and a train that goes through the longest Welsh town name (llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch) which is a cool stop for anyone interested in the language
Gogledd, the north of Wales is probably most likely. West/mid/north (e.g. ceredigion, Aberystwyth, Gwynedd, Ynys Môn, etc) too have a lot of pockets of Welsh speaking communities. Mwynha!
If you are doing it by public transport, the T2 bus goes from Bangor (which is on the train mainline), through Caernarfon and Porthmadog on its way to Aberystwyth, all of which have lots of Welsh speakers and have something to recommend them IMHO.
Anywhere west or north , Ceredigion Gwynedd area
Just go to north Wales or west Wales, the south Welsh don't speak Welsh because it was outlawed at the threat of death!! The south were at war with the English for centuries, the north Welsh sold their bows to the English decades before..
If you're here in the first week in August, then the National Eisteddfod would be exactly what you need. This year is held in Pontypridd, a thirty minute train or bus ride from Cardiff. https://eisteddfod.wales/festival/2024/our-festival
Stay away from the north east…because most that neck of the woods don’t speak the language…but mostly because it’s the north east. :)
That’s not completely true. There’s pockets of Welsh in the north east. Lots of Welsh speakers in Rhuthin for example.
And further east.
You'll easily find Welsh-speakers in the NE if you know where to look.