The Welsh accent seems remarkably like an Indian English accent - the tonalisms, and some of the vowels, such as the general monothong quality. Do you notice this?
Does Welsh sound like Indian to you?
I think this is the first time I have ever heard the two compared to each other. No, they do not sound alike to my ears.
I don't think that Welsh people sound like Indians.
But when others try and imitate the Welsh accent, it does tend to sound like Mahatma Gandhi.
But when others try and imitate the Welsh accent, it does tend to sound like Mahatma Gandhi.
Yes, the Welsh accent certainly does sound like the Indian accent in my opinion - my grandfather pointed this out to me, and I agree entirely.
It's interesting, maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe there's a link in the ancestry of the languages, their being IE languages.
It's interesting, maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe there's a link in the ancestry of the languages, their being IE languages.
No, it has nothing to do with the fact that English spoken with influences from the Welsh language, and English spoken with influences from the Indo-Iranian sound similar.
The Welsh accent, so called....right, first of all consider the fact that within the borders of Wales itself...it's that little bit of Great Britain jutting out from the western parts of England, between Cheshire in the north, down through Shropshire and Herefordshire to Gloucestershire in the south, English border counties all, and then out into the St George's Channel, the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel.....all that jutting out bit is Wales, and within the wee Principality of Wales there is actually quite a range of different accents, quite distinct from each other.
The accent of North West Wales...in the area called Gwynedd (no! the "dd" sound is not pronounced as a D! - it equates to the the "th" sound in such simple English Language words as the definite article "the"!) - in such places as Anglesey (the island called Sir Fon (The Sir bit sounds like "seer" in English and the Fon bit: no! it's not pronounced as its spelled - it equates to the English name Vaughan! - "vorn" if you prefer!) and Caernarfon (with its massive and maginificent castle where King Edward II of England was born in 1284 and where all subsequent Princes of Wales are invested - the present one was invested there in 1969) and the university city of Bangor - the local native Welsh accent is very identifiable and quite different from that in any other part of Wales.
In North East Wales - well, this area is highly Anglicised, and with Liverpool and Merseyside being so very close by the Scouse accent has a ready influence on the local accent.
Going south through Wales in those areas closest to the English border the inhabitants have a local accent very bucolic in character - similar to that just over the border, beyond Offa's ancient Dyke, in neighbouring England....well, the region is extremely rural, where all the towns and villages are quite small affairs. Here the number of actual Welsh speakers is quite low, as you would expect being so close to Great God England.
Further south again, into South East Wales, the number of regular Welsh speakers declines even further, especially in Gwent (also called Monmouthshire) - here you are more likely to hear Polish or any of the Baltic States languages being spoken than you would Welsh....just across the Rivers Severn and Wye and you are into England where the Welsh Language is, as you wpould expect, totally nin existent, except by "exiled expats from Wales!")
Going west rom Gwent, though, you come to the real industrialised (well, as was I suppose...time has moved on a lot now and heavy industry has given way to technology) part of South Wales...the famous "Valleys" area, all running up into the hills from the coastine, all parallel to each other, and this region contains the three main cities of Wales - Cardiff (the gracious and very cosmopolitan capital city), Newport (actually in the aforementioned Gwent and thus closest to England) and further west again from Cardiff - Swansea (or Abertawe as the Welsh call it but very, very few people living in Abertawe - sorry, I mean Swansea - use the Welsh version as to them the Welsh Language is simply something they are forced to learn in school up to a certain age after which they are free to diss it big time if they so wish, but in no way at all does that mean a strong and passionate pride in being Welsh! Just watch them watching Wales play rugby against England at Cardiff Arms Park - the singing sounds as if its coming from massed choirs of the highest calibre!)
The Cardiff accent is very distinctive in its own right.....Cardiff is home to many well known personalities - the fluent Welsh speaking singer Katherine Jenkins for one, and the film actor Ioan Gruffydd for another - he is well conversant in Welsh as well...and of old, one of Cardiff's most famous daughters is Shirley Bassey whose Welsh speaking skills are zilch, but tghere you go....she did come from the district of the city called Tiger Bay now transformed into a magnificent area of luxury apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes - and the famous Millennium Centre housing a vast auditorium and entertainments complex surrounding the Cardiff Bay area.
West out of Swansea and you are back into a thoroughly Welsh speaking region of Wales again.....Dyfed (say it something like "DOVE-edd" and you've got is spot on!) - which stretches up to the north along the areas bordering Cardigan Bay on the western coast of Wales, up to and beyond the university seaside town of Aberystwyth ("Abb-urr-IST-with" - the "with" bit sounds exactly like the English word "with"! - but hereabouts there are so many "immigrants" from England who have decided to settle in the area that the Welsh speaking nature of the district has been noticeably diluted, plus the fact that Aberystwyth has a term time resident student population in excess of 12,000 and who all come from different parts of the UK, as well as from abroad, and this really colours the accent situation in the district a great deal.
Lastly to the extreme South West tip of Wales - the bit that juts out the most into the sea - it's called Pembrokeshire - the home of Orlando Bloom...it's the part of Wales which is the furthest away from the English border and you would think that this fact alone would make it a bastion of the Welsh Language. But it most certainly is not so - in fact it's called Little England beyond Wales. The reasons for this are historical, the Vikings settled in this spart of Wales many yonks ago and as a result the Celtic influence was minimal in this area, and you can easily see this by glancing at a map of Pembrokeshire - all the place names are Anglo Saxon - Rosehaven Little Haven, Haverfordwest (where Orlando comes from), Fishguard, Tenby, Cheriton Carew, Castlemartin etc etc etc. Cross back into neighbouring Carmarthenshire again and all the place names are thoughly Welsh and people speak Welsh again, which Pemrokeshire people do not. A weird blip indeed, but there you go.
The Welsh accent sounding like Indian (as in the Sub Continent) - well, in the film "Privates on Parade" the English actress Nicola Paget had to play the part of a Welsh girl, and it's a fact that her interpretation of a Welsh accent made her sound as if she was a native of Bangalore and had never left the area, so there must be something in this theory that the Welsh and the Indian accents do resemble each other somehow.
Anyway here is the Welsh guy Rob Brydon - who comes from Swansea (or Abertawe if you are an ardent member of Plaid Cymru). You can make your own mind up whether or not he sounds Sub Continental. It was filmed at the aforementioned Millennium Centre in Cardiff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBXf08Nm3Q
The accent of North West Wales...in the area called Gwynedd (no! the "dd" sound is not pronounced as a D! - it equates to the the "th" sound in such simple English Language words as the definite article "the"!) - in such places as Anglesey (the island called Sir Fon (The Sir bit sounds like "seer" in English and the Fon bit: no! it's not pronounced as its spelled - it equates to the English name Vaughan! - "vorn" if you prefer!) and Caernarfon (with its massive and maginificent castle where King Edward II of England was born in 1284 and where all subsequent Princes of Wales are invested - the present one was invested there in 1969) and the university city of Bangor - the local native Welsh accent is very identifiable and quite different from that in any other part of Wales.
In North East Wales - well, this area is highly Anglicised, and with Liverpool and Merseyside being so very close by the Scouse accent has a ready influence on the local accent.
Going south through Wales in those areas closest to the English border the inhabitants have a local accent very bucolic in character - similar to that just over the border, beyond Offa's ancient Dyke, in neighbouring England....well, the region is extremely rural, where all the towns and villages are quite small affairs. Here the number of actual Welsh speakers is quite low, as you would expect being so close to Great God England.
Further south again, into South East Wales, the number of regular Welsh speakers declines even further, especially in Gwent (also called Monmouthshire) - here you are more likely to hear Polish or any of the Baltic States languages being spoken than you would Welsh....just across the Rivers Severn and Wye and you are into England where the Welsh Language is, as you wpould expect, totally nin existent, except by "exiled expats from Wales!")
Going west rom Gwent, though, you come to the real industrialised (well, as was I suppose...time has moved on a lot now and heavy industry has given way to technology) part of South Wales...the famous "Valleys" area, all running up into the hills from the coastine, all parallel to each other, and this region contains the three main cities of Wales - Cardiff (the gracious and very cosmopolitan capital city), Newport (actually in the aforementioned Gwent and thus closest to England) and further west again from Cardiff - Swansea (or Abertawe as the Welsh call it but very, very few people living in Abertawe - sorry, I mean Swansea - use the Welsh version as to them the Welsh Language is simply something they are forced to learn in school up to a certain age after which they are free to diss it big time if they so wish, but in no way at all does that mean a strong and passionate pride in being Welsh! Just watch them watching Wales play rugby against England at Cardiff Arms Park - the singing sounds as if its coming from massed choirs of the highest calibre!)
The Cardiff accent is very distinctive in its own right.....Cardiff is home to many well known personalities - the fluent Welsh speaking singer Katherine Jenkins for one, and the film actor Ioan Gruffydd for another - he is well conversant in Welsh as well...and of old, one of Cardiff's most famous daughters is Shirley Bassey whose Welsh speaking skills are zilch, but tghere you go....she did come from the district of the city called Tiger Bay now transformed into a magnificent area of luxury apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes - and the famous Millennium Centre housing a vast auditorium and entertainments complex surrounding the Cardiff Bay area.
West out of Swansea and you are back into a thoroughly Welsh speaking region of Wales again.....Dyfed (say it something like "DOVE-edd" and you've got is spot on!) - which stretches up to the north along the areas bordering Cardigan Bay on the western coast of Wales, up to and beyond the university seaside town of Aberystwyth ("Abb-urr-IST-with" - the "with" bit sounds exactly like the English word "with"! - but hereabouts there are so many "immigrants" from England who have decided to settle in the area that the Welsh speaking nature of the district has been noticeably diluted, plus the fact that Aberystwyth has a term time resident student population in excess of 12,000 and who all come from different parts of the UK, as well as from abroad, and this really colours the accent situation in the district a great deal.
Lastly to the extreme South West tip of Wales - the bit that juts out the most into the sea - it's called Pembrokeshire - the home of Orlando Bloom...it's the part of Wales which is the furthest away from the English border and you would think that this fact alone would make it a bastion of the Welsh Language. But it most certainly is not so - in fact it's called Little England beyond Wales. The reasons for this are historical, the Vikings settled in this spart of Wales many yonks ago and as a result the Celtic influence was minimal in this area, and you can easily see this by glancing at a map of Pembrokeshire - all the place names are Anglo Saxon - Rosehaven Little Haven, Haverfordwest (where Orlando comes from), Fishguard, Tenby, Cheriton Carew, Castlemartin etc etc etc. Cross back into neighbouring Carmarthenshire again and all the place names are thoughly Welsh and people speak Welsh again, which Pemrokeshire people do not. A weird blip indeed, but there you go.
The Welsh accent sounding like Indian (as in the Sub Continent) - well, in the film "Privates on Parade" the English actress Nicola Paget had to play the part of a Welsh girl, and it's a fact that her interpretation of a Welsh accent made her sound as if she was a native of Bangalore and had never left the area, so there must be something in this theory that the Welsh and the Indian accents do resemble each other somehow.
Anyway here is the Welsh guy Rob Brydon - who comes from Swansea (or Abertawe if you are an ardent member of Plaid Cymru). You can make your own mind up whether or not he sounds Sub Continental. It was filmed at the aforementioned Millennium Centre in Cardiff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBXf08Nm3Q
Another amazing ramble.
I only got as far as Anglesey. How is it pronounced?
I went the University College in Bangor, which is in the heart of a Welsh speaking area. UCNW (Bangor) is bilingual, and has far fewer English students than in my day. Partly because it was felt that it was wrong to introduce English speakers into an area that is Welsh speaking.
I was born in the English part of North Wales.
The road signs are in English and Welsh. Carnarvon is an interesting example, because there is very little difference between the two spellings of the place name.
I came off my moped on the road between Carnarvon and Bangor.
<<<
- in such places as Anglesey (the island called Sir Fon (The Sir bit sounds like "seer" in English and the Fon bit: no! it's not pronounced as its spelled - it equates to the English name Vaughan! - "vorn" if you prefer!)
>>>
"Caernarfon (the original Welsh spelling is now almost always used in preference to the anglicised forms, "Caernarvon" or "Carnarvon")"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caernarfon
Prince of Wales
King Edward I of England, having completed the conquest of Wales, gave the title to his heir, Prince Edward (later King Edward II of England).
According to myth, the king had promised the Welsh that he would name "a prince born in Wales, who did not speak a word of English" and then produced his infant son to their surprise.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The English name Anglesey is in fact derived from the Old Norse, meaning 'Ongull's Island'. The alternative "isle (ey) of the Angles" is discredited.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglesey
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bangor offers great opportunities to students who chose to study through Welsh. The University offers more courses in Welsh than any other higher education ...
www.bangor.ac.uk/news/full.php?Id=782 - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
I only got as far as Anglesey. How is it pronounced?
I went the University College in Bangor, which is in the heart of a Welsh speaking area. UCNW (Bangor) is bilingual, and has far fewer English students than in my day. Partly because it was felt that it was wrong to introduce English speakers into an area that is Welsh speaking.
I was born in the English part of North Wales.
The road signs are in English and Welsh. Carnarvon is an interesting example, because there is very little difference between the two spellings of the place name.
I came off my moped on the road between Carnarvon and Bangor.
<<<
- in such places as Anglesey (the island called Sir Fon (The Sir bit sounds like "seer" in English and the Fon bit: no! it's not pronounced as its spelled - it equates to the English name Vaughan! - "vorn" if you prefer!)
>>>
"Caernarfon (the original Welsh spelling is now almost always used in preference to the anglicised forms, "Caernarvon" or "Carnarvon")"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caernarfon
Prince of Wales
King Edward I of England, having completed the conquest of Wales, gave the title to his heir, Prince Edward (later King Edward II of England).
According to myth, the king had promised the Welsh that he would name "a prince born in Wales, who did not speak a word of English" and then produced his infant son to their surprise.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The English name Anglesey is in fact derived from the Old Norse, meaning 'Ongull's Island'. The alternative "isle (ey) of the Angles" is discredited.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglesey
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bangor offers great opportunities to students who chose to study through Welsh. The University offers more courses in Welsh than any other higher education ...
www.bangor.ac.uk/news/full.php?Id=782 - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
Very good!
Rob Brydon-Proper Welsh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBXf08Nm3Q
TOM JONES - DELILAH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI5LWwC-cE8
Tom Jones - She's a Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvmyTZEqlo8
Rob Brydon-Proper Welsh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBXf08Nm3Q
TOM JONES - DELILAH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI5LWwC-cE8
Tom Jones - She's a Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvmyTZEqlo8
CORRECTION!! I am guilty of a glaring error - a hideous untruth on my part - sorry, guys.
Orlando Bloom - he was born and brought up in Canterbury, Kent, England and NOT in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
I meant to say Christian Bale - he was the one born in Pembrokeshire, and not Orlando.
As Pembrokeshire is not at all Welsh speaking for the most part then neither of these guys has any working knowledge of Welsh at all, so by the same token they don't sound Indian either.
I'm off down to a place called Haywards Heath on an assignment within the next hour or so.....I'm told it's in Sussex somewhere so thankfully it's the car instead of the sardine can of a tube!
Orlando Bloom - he was born and brought up in Canterbury, Kent, England and NOT in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
I meant to say Christian Bale - he was the one born in Pembrokeshire, and not Orlando.
As Pembrokeshire is not at all Welsh speaking for the most part then neither of these guys has any working knowledge of Welsh at all, so by the same token they don't sound Indian either.
I'm off down to a place called Haywards Heath on an assignment within the next hour or so.....I'm told it's in Sussex somewhere so thankfully it's the car instead of the sardine can of a tube!
Another famous welshman:
Griffith Rhys Jones (Griff Rhys Jones)
Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones BBC "Morphing" Advert
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1787331/mel_smith_griff_rhys_jones_bbc_morphing_advert/
I am sure that you will have no difficulty in understanding this....
Alas Smith & Jones - Police Complaint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2XOhgSVoY&feature=related
Griffith Rhys Jones (Griff Rhys Jones)
Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones BBC "Morphing" Advert
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1787331/mel_smith_griff_rhys_jones_bbc_morphing_advert/
I am sure that you will have no difficulty in understanding this....
Alas Smith & Jones - Police Complaint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2XOhgSVoY&feature=related