Astudiaeth Beiblaidd Llysfasi
Hi! Tonight was the last time for me to lead the Llysfasi Bible Study (astudiaeth beiblaidd Llysfasi). I've been leading it for about a year, I think, and we have been working gradually through Acts.
The Llysfasi Bible Study was important to me in the process of thinking through the possibilities of working in France. I learnt Welsh in my twenties in Cardiff and got to be pretty fluent thanks to an excellent teacher down there. But I lived my life in English, and didn't want to change church, etc. to a Welsh church. (In Wales English-speaking and Welsh-speaking churches tend to be separate). This part of North Wales is even more anglicised than Cardiff, so my Welsh rusted up severely after I moved up here 14 years ago. Then we started attending Llysfasi each month, and afterwards I was asked to lead it.
The first few months were extremely stressful - especially the preparation! First off I tried translating notes entirely into Welsh. It took DAYS! Then I decided to change my tack, and to take into the meeting the mindmaps I used to do during my preparation. This worked much better, and needed only minimal translation. I was then speaking Welsh on the fly, rather than translating, and this is much better because the word order in a Welsh sentence is completely different from English.
I then switched to preaching at church from mindmaps, and that worked o.k. too.
But what Llysfasi really demonstrated to me was the possibility of working and ministering in a second language - even if that language is somewhat rusted up.
Some pitfalls:
I already told you about how Jesus' cross washes away the guilt of "the present, the future and July". Gorffennol, the past, is a bit like gorffenaf, July.
The latest one was about the number systems. Welsh has two systems of counting. The old system I think dates back the Romans and is based on 5s and 20s. So 45 would be "pump ar ddeugain". 5 on two twenties. The modern system is quite boring. You say pedwar deg pump. 4 tens 5.
Anyway, for clarity is it sometimes a good idea to use both number systems. Like for example when you are going to read Acts chapter 12. Because in the old system 12 is deuddeg (said like day-thague). But in the new system 20 is dau ddeg (said like die-thague). You can probably see where this is going.
So I advise that when you mean 12 you say "deuddeg - un deg dau", and when you mean twenty you say "dau ddeg - hugain". Otherwise people will be hunting in Acts 20 to find Peter in prison and Rhoda by the door, or in Acts 12 for the Ephesian elders.
The Llysfasi Bible Study was important to me in the process of thinking through the possibilities of working in France. I learnt Welsh in my twenties in Cardiff and got to be pretty fluent thanks to an excellent teacher down there. But I lived my life in English, and didn't want to change church, etc. to a Welsh church. (In Wales English-speaking and Welsh-speaking churches tend to be separate). This part of North Wales is even more anglicised than Cardiff, so my Welsh rusted up severely after I moved up here 14 years ago. Then we started attending Llysfasi each month, and afterwards I was asked to lead it.
The first few months were extremely stressful - especially the preparation! First off I tried translating notes entirely into Welsh. It took DAYS! Then I decided to change my tack, and to take into the meeting the mindmaps I used to do during my preparation. This worked much better, and needed only minimal translation. I was then speaking Welsh on the fly, rather than translating, and this is much better because the word order in a Welsh sentence is completely different from English.
I then switched to preaching at church from mindmaps, and that worked o.k. too.
But what Llysfasi really demonstrated to me was the possibility of working and ministering in a second language - even if that language is somewhat rusted up.
Some pitfalls:
I already told you about how Jesus' cross washes away the guilt of "the present, the future and July". Gorffennol, the past, is a bit like gorffenaf, July.
The latest one was about the number systems. Welsh has two systems of counting. The old system I think dates back the Romans and is based on 5s and 20s. So 45 would be "pump ar ddeugain". 5 on two twenties. The modern system is quite boring. You say pedwar deg pump. 4 tens 5.
Anyway, for clarity is it sometimes a good idea to use both number systems. Like for example when you are going to read Acts chapter 12. Because in the old system 12 is deuddeg (said like day-thague). But in the new system 20 is dau ddeg (said like die-thague). You can probably see where this is going.
So I advise that when you mean 12 you say "deuddeg - un deg dau", and when you mean twenty you say "dau ddeg - hugain". Otherwise people will be hunting in Acts 20 to find Peter in prison and Rhoda by the door, or in Acts 12 for the Ephesian elders.
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