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Online Communities and Lists, Part II

© Sarah Stevenson

Last month's article on Mailing Lists for Learners discussed how effective language learning lies in dialogue with other students and speakers. For Welsh learners, this is often difficult, especially for students who reside outside of the United Kingdom. This month, in Part II, I will cover a variety of other online communities related not just to Welsh learners but also for more fluent speakers and instructors. At the end is a brief section on finding online Welsh groups in your area. Sites more appropriate to advanced or native speakers are marked with an asterisk (*).

Linguistics and Language Instruction

*WELSH-L
This e-mail list is meant for advanced learners and native speakers, and features discussion of linguistic and other issues. As there are many scholars on the list, it's a good place to look for esoteric or hard-to-find information about the Welsh language (and sometimes Breton and Cornish). However, learners' issues and basic questions about the language are more appropriately served by one of the lists in the previous section such as CMC or WEL-L. You can subscribe by sending a one-line message to listserv@listserv.hea.ie containing the text subscribe WELSH-L. Archives are available at http://listserv.hea.ie/welsh-l.html .

*CELTIC-T
BBC Catchphrase says: "If you're a Welsh teacher, you may like to join CELTIC-T which zooms in on teaching resources and conference, but not grammatical points." To subscribe, e-mail LISTSERV@tc.umn.edu with subscribe celtic-t in the body of the message.

CELTLING Listserv
A very academic mailing list strictly covering "syntax, phonology and morphology of the Celtic languages." Anyone interested in joining should visit the site, read the mission statement and view the archives to see if it is appropriate to your interests. Posting is primarily in English, since various languages are discussed. Instructions for subscribing are located on the website.

Other Welsh-Medium Lists

*CymryCwl
For native and advanced speakers (postings are all in Welsh), this message board covers a variety of topics not necessarily related to language issues. When I checked, recent discussion topics included bilingualism, upcoming rallies, soccer, music, and the action group Cymuned (below).

*Cymuned
Here's a short description from BBC Catchphrase: "Not much talk of Welsh grammar here. Expect lively political discussion with some fiery language and nationalistic views." Again, this board is completely in Welsh and is best suited to advanced and fluent speakers.

*Tafod y Ddraig
Tafod y Ddraig, or Tongue of the Dragon, call themselves "Y Fyrtiwal Fro Gymraeg"-the virtual Welsh heartland. This MSN community site is also very political and also completely in Welsh.

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