# If you can speak Welsh, can you speak French?



## Minnie_the_Minx (Apr 12, 2006)

my old b/f Dai who was a fluent Welsh speaker and only spoke Welsh at home, and indeed in his local pub, says that if you can speak Welsh you can speak French.

So Welsh speakers, is this true?


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## Belushi (Apr 12, 2006)

No, its a load of bollocks. Some words are the same because of the Romans, Pont (Bridge) for example.

If you speak Welsh you can understand a lot of Cornish and some Breton though.


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## ddraig (Apr 12, 2006)

no


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Apr 12, 2006)

Belushi said:
			
		

> No, its a load of bollocks. Some words are the same because of the Romans, Pont (Bridge) for example.
> 
> If you speak Welsh you can understand a lot of Cornish and some Breton though.




Well he did like winding me up.  Was always trying to teach me phrases to say to his mother.  Luckily I could never get the hang of them because I suspect they were really insults


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## editor (Apr 12, 2006)

Minnie_the_Minx said:
			
		

> So Welsh speakers, is this true?


Non.


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## maes (Apr 12, 2006)

I can speak french & I can't understand welsh... hope that clears things up!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Apr 12, 2006)

editor said:
			
		

> Non.




Ha, I knew I'd get you to fall into the trap


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## King Biscuit Time (Apr 12, 2006)

You could make yourself understood to breton speakers in Britanny though.

Perhaps that is what he meant?

oops Soz Belushi - you already said that!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Apr 12, 2006)

King Biscuit Time said:
			
		

> You could make yourself understood to breton speakers in Britanny though.
> 
> Perhaps that is what he meant?
> 
> oops Soz Belushi - you already said that!





I think maybe that's what he said.  It was nearly 20 years ago.  Having problems with my memory


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## Belushi (Apr 12, 2006)

Minnie_the_Minx said:
			
		

> I think maybe that's what he said.  It was nearly 20 years ago.  Having problems with my memory



That would make sense, either that or he was bullshitting you!


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## RubberBuccaneer (Apr 12, 2006)

Breton and Welsh are similar enough to hold a conversation between two fluent speakers.

They also share the tunes of repesctive national anthems  

They fled south west England when the Saxons came and buggered off to Brittany.....there you  go again you lot


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## Belushi (Apr 12, 2006)

Welsh people in Brittany get a very warm welcome


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## ZIZI (Apr 12, 2006)

Its a load of old Mange Tout


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## davesgcr (Apr 12, 2006)

Some similarities - "fenetre" = "Fenester" (window) - common roots only I would say - in Brittany a knowledge of Welsh does help in translating place names etc. Couldent vouch for speaking though - but have a GCSE in both French and Welsh.


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## Belushi (Apr 13, 2006)

> "fenetre" = "Fenester" (window) - common roots only I would say



Yes, from the Romans I was taught, like Pont.


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## maes (Apr 13, 2006)

davesgcr said:
			
		

> Some similarities - "fenetre" = "Fenester" (window) - common roots only I would say - in Brittany a knowledge of Welsh does help in translating place names etc. Couldent vouch for speaking though - but have a GCSE in both French and Welsh.


in french we were taught that the circumflex on the e of fenetre represents a missing 's' in archaic spelling - they must have been spelt the same way at some point.


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## niclas (Apr 13, 2006)

*Asterix was a Celt!*

Breton is just Welsh spoken wiz an outrageous French accent after 17 pints of chouchen (cider).

When I was learning French, it was handy to speak Welsh. 
For a start you understand all the tu/vous differentiation (ti/chi)

Others have mentioned fenetre, pont, but there's also trist = triste (sad) and if I was a bit more trist I could dig out a few more, although I think it's a Latin thing more than the old Celtic Gaulish language (Asterix and all that)


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## ddraig (Apr 13, 2006)

I remember some family member coming back from Breton, saying that they'd had conversations which worked in Welsh/Breton.

And I clearly remember an alphabet type tea towel where at least 4 words were exactly the same spelling and a lot more were well close, wish i could find a pic of it, it's


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## RubberBuccaneer (Apr 13, 2006)

Belushi said:
			
		

> Yes, from the Romans I was taught, like Pont.



Yep I was quoted a 1000 words in Welsh have this common derivative ( can't tell you them all   )


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## Ben Bore (Apr 13, 2006)

'Putain' is Prozzy in Welsh and French

'Mur' is Welsh for 'wall' in Welsh and French (although wal is more commonly used in Welsh.)


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## LilMissHissyFit (Apr 13, 2006)

RubberBuccaneer said:
			
		

> Breton and Welsh are similar enough to hold a conversation between two fluent speakers.
> 
> They also share the tunes of repesctive national anthems
> 
> They fled south west England when the Saxons came and buggered off to Brittany.....there you  go again you lot



Thats been  my experience too, you dont even need to be a welsh speaker, if you see signs in Breton its likely you';ll understand them if you live in wales and are used to seeing/reading welsh daily


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