Welsh on web gets people chatting (From Western Telegraph)

Welsh on web gets people chatting

1:50pm Sunday 3rd February 2013 in County News

Two Solva housemates are hoping to get people in Pembrokeshire and beyond chatting in Welsh with an innovative Twitter feed and website.

Simon Joules and Sam Ellison set up welshphraseoftheday.com last month after the results of the 2011 census were released, revealing that numbers of Welsh speakers were in decline nationally.

With a bit of help from old school friend Anthony Jones and his mother, the pair post a daily phrase in Welsh, including the phonetic pronunciation.

The phrases range from the quotidian to the bizarre.

“We try to include ones that are really beneficial and a few funny ones that you can throw it in and surprise someone at work,” said Simon.

The posts have been very popular, with twitter.com/WelshPhrases attracting nearly 1,000 followers and the website receiving a similar amount of hits in less than a month. The website has followers from all over the world including Japan, America and Eastern Europe.

“It’s nice to get it more out there and disseminate the language a bit more, especially because of Pembrokeshire’s reputation as ‘little England beyond Wales’,” said Simon.

Sam and Simon, both Welsh learners themselves, said that their Twitter followers had been particularly enthusiastic and supportive. The Twitter page already has celebrity fans in Welsh weather forecasters Derek Brockway and Sian Lloyd.

“Our aim is to deliver fun daily Welsh phrases to our followers,” they said.

“We hope that they will use them to impress classmates and friends, while learning and disseminating the Welsh language.”