Songs as an Aid to Learning Welsh   Home

Reasons for Creating This Website

As someone who has been learning Welsh on a Popeth Cymraeg course since January 2013, I came to the conclusion that, apart from studying in lessons and from course material, it was a great advantage to immerse myself in as much Welsh as possible to help consolidate and extend my vocabulary. It soon became apparent that the whole structure of the Welsh language differs greatly from English, so it is not easy to use a logical approach as might be the case with some other languages. The best way to learn seemed to be to pick up as many phrases and short sentences as possible in order to become familiar with the structure of the language and then adapt them for wider use by modifying them with different words. This whole process would, therefore, require a lot of practice and repetition in order to get them implanted in my memory, especially as I started learning the language in my late sixties when it takes more effort to commit things to memory. At the time of writing, I have been learning Welsh for 21 months and, having listened to the Gwyneth Glyn and Dafydd Iwan songs numerous times, I can now understand most of the words and can quote quite a few lines from memory, though not always with total accuracy. The Meinir Gwilym songs were added later, so I am still trying to get to grips with them, though I am doing quite well with some of the easier ones.

Read more of my learning experiences here

Possible Ways to Improve Learning

• Speaking Welsh with Other People

  This is ideal for someone living in a area where Welsh is widely spoken, but I live near Rhyl where very few speak the language, so it is only in the Welsh lessons where I can get any practice.

• Watching Welsh TV, or Listening to Welsh Radio

  This is of some value, although in the early stages of learning it is very difficult to follow the language when spoken at normal speed, so there is limited value in this until a wider understanding has been achieved. However, there are some Welsh programmes such as Hwb aimed at learners and these can be very useful. I started watching Hwb when I had been learning Welsh for about 9 months, and try to watch each episode a number of times using S4C Clic on the Internet. I started using English subtitles most of the time but then progressed to using Welsh subtitles right from the first viewing, only switching to the English ones if there were some things that I just couldn't understand from the Welsh. Note that at the beginning of summer 2014 Hwb finished, but on Sunday 12/10/2014 at 11.30, a new learners' programme called Dal Ati started. The format is somewhat different from that of Hwb with somewhat less material aimed at beginners. The presenters try to keep the language clear and not too complex, but people who are being interviewed vary greatly in talking speed and vocabulary. I later discovered that the programme is indeed aimed at intermediate and advanced learners. However, it is still useful for practice in listening to conversations which cover interesting topics from different areas of Wales, even if I can't keep up with all of it. It put my own learning efforts to shame, though, when it featured a learner who could speak better Welsh than me after learning for only three months, although she was a lot younger than me - that is my excuse!.

• Addition Learning Programmes from the Internet

  Websites such as SaySomethinginWelsh, Cariad@Iaith and several others are useful for providing different ways to approach the language and giving extra material to practice with. However, watching and listening to these can become tedious after a few repeats.

• Reading Welsh Books

  It may appear that reading Welsh books for children would be ideal for beginners, but in practice it is difficult to find the right age group that corresponds to the level that is most suitable. What it is easy to forget is that a child of three or four has a wider grasp of their native language than most learners in the first year or two of lessons. At the age of eight or so, most books are trying to stretch the reader's vocabulary by using a wide variety of words, and trying to read these books may involve constant thumbing through the dictionary, which can be very tedious. By selecting books aimed at younger children, the subject matter tends towards fairy tale stories and childish subjects that are not so useful for adult learners.

• Listening to Welsh Songs

  This, I have found, to be the way that I can enjoy extending my Welsh without feeling that it hard work. Whereas listening to other material repeatedly soon becomes tediously boring, listening to a good song dozens of times can still be enjoyable. The words tend to fit in with the music, which in turn helps the memory. After listening to lots of Welsh songs, I find they keep going round and round in my head most of the day and this helps to consolidate them into my brain. My way of describing this learning method is "Welsh without Tears".

Choosing the Singer and the Song

It might seem that finding a genre of music that you like most would be the best option, but this often doesn't lead to the best material for learning. It is better to look at the sort of characteristics of songs and singers that are likely to make learning easier if the maximum benefit is to be obtained.

Good Points for Learners

• Clear Voice

  Especially in the early stages it is far easier to pick out the words if the singer has a very clear voice which stands out above the backing music. Hence, a soloist with the backing of a fairly quiet instrument such as a guitar is ideal.

• Not Too Fast

  Slow ballads are far easier to follow than songs that are sung quickly, though as time progresses it is possible to move on to the more lively songs. This can then help in understanding the spoken language at normal speed.

• Pauses and Repetition

  Songs with pauses at fairly frequent intervals help the brain absorb what has just gone and prepare itself for what is coming next. When reading the text of the song and possibly looking at the translation as well, pauses give a chance to take everything in without losing track. Repetition in the form of choruses helps greatly in the learning process, and in the beginning provide a focus for something that can be quickly learned, leaving the other material to come later after several repeats of the song.

• Same Regional Language

  There are a number of different regional dialects in Wales with different pronunciation and some different vocabulary, so it helps is the singer and song are based on the same language variant that is being taught in lessons. However, as understanding of the language progresses, it can be beneficial to gain some familiarity with these regional variations.

Bad Points for Learners

• Live Performances

  Many live performances result in a poor balance between the singer and the music and/or the background noise. Acoustics in a venue may interfere with the clarity of the recording, whereas studio recordings tend to give a better balance of sound levels and a clearer rendition of the singer's voice.

• More than One Singer

  A solo voice is easier to understand than multiple voices and it is often very difficult to understand the words sung by choirs. However, duets can work well, especially if there are parts where the voices are alternated with the duet being confined to perhaps a chorus.

• Loud Backing Music

  This can make it difficult to pick out the singer's voice, even if it suites your musical taste.

• Rapidly Sung Lyrics

  This can make a song difficult to follow, especially when trying to read the lyrics at the same time as listening. Pauses between verse can help in catching up, but listening can become a strain. However, as learning progresses some lively lyrics can make songs more interesting and exciting and it can serve a useful purpose in practising comprehension at speed.

Compilation of This Song List

My Choice of Songs

Initially, I was totally ignorant of most artists performing in the Welsh language, apart from those who had made their name on the international stage. It was only by following up a few things mentioned in Hwb on S4C that I hit upon a lot of material posted on YouTube by various Welsh singers. Some of these YouTube videos have lyrics displayed in Welsh with an English translation as the song is being sung, and this makes for much easier understanding of the lyrics. At first I started typing out these lyrics in both languages to allow me to read them without the need for online access, but this was a slow and tedious process requiring constant pausing of the video and numerous typing errors, especially in the Welsh, although it did give me some additional practice with the language. After a while, I found that someone had started adding a copy of the lyrics to many of the songs under the 'SHOW MORE' tag further down the YouTube page, and this meant I could collate them far more easily.

Please Note

• Literal Translation - The translations into English are not always literal and often some licence has been used to convey the meaning rather than the exact words. In a few of the songs, notes have been added to help with the literal translation and also with some of the references within the songs.
• Use of Accents - The Welsh lyrics vary in the extent to which accents are used on vowels, some versions taking the easier option of omitting them altogether and others including them some of the time only. This can occasionally lead to confusion over pronunciation and meaning.
• Spelling Mistakes - These are discovered from time to time. Some of them I correct as I find them, though I am not always sure what is correct in Welsh so I am, therefore, reluctant to make changes unless I am certain. Sometimes these arise because of the differing pronunciation of words in different parts of Wales. For instance 'rhedeg' is pronounced as 'rhedag' in some areas, and may have this spelling. Please let me know of any that you come across so that I can correct them in the pdf documents. (I cannot correct any on the YouTube videos, of course!)
• Familiar Form of Verbs - Most of the lyrics use the familiar ti form of verbs rather than the chi form that is used conversation with anyone other than close friends etc, so when trying to adapt a phrase from a song for your own use remember to change the form as necessary.
• Adverts on Videos - Fortunately very few of the songs have advertising at the start of the YouTube videos at the moment. However, this may change at any time. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of the song, I cannot find any version of Yma O Hyd by Dafydd Iwan without advertising, so I have just chosen the one with the best animation on the video. Neither can I find one that displays the lyrics on the video.

Difficulty Level

I have tried to give a rough indication of the difficulty of each song by giving ratings from 1 to 5. The first column is for the speed at which the lyrics are sung, and the second column for complexity of the lyrics and the use of unusual words. These are obviously subjective and based on my own experience but help give a rough idea as to which ones are more suitable for beginners. However, this should not stop people from listening to the more difficult songs, as they often have easier choruses even if the verses are difficult.

Gwyneth Glyn

After following many of the links to similar songs and artists offered by YouTube, I hit upon one particular singer / songwriter whose material fulfilled most of the things that I was looking for - Gwyneth Glyn. She has a slow, clear voice generally accompanied by her guitar and originates from North Wales, which is the region that my Welsh course is aimed at. I also found that I liked the sound of her songs and her interesting play with words and ideas. Her songs are mainly ballads and folk songs, probably her most famous song being 'Adra' (Home), and I found that I soon started to understand and remember quite a lot of the lyrics, although some were beyond my level of Welsh at the time, which was still quite basic and mainly centred round the present tense. However, this didn't matter as I was still getting a benefit from it and gradually understanding more and more whilst enjoying the music at the same time. The same applied to many other of her songs, though some were more difficult to follow than others because of the wider vocabulary and more complex sentences. My favourite, however, was Dansin Bêr (Dancing Bear), though rather perversely the thing I liked most was the faster tempo and rapid lyrics, which are more difficult to follow but make it more lively.

Dafydd Iwan

As well as being President of Plaid Cymru from 2003 to 2010, Dafydd Iwan is a very well known singer / songwriter and has written about 250 songs many of which related to the protest movement that was strong from the late 1960s onwards against English domination and for the rights of the Welsh language. In fact, before he came on the scene, there was little or no contemporary folk music in Welsh - it was all in English, and he was the first person to write and perform them in Welsh, leading the way for others to do the same. His songs are generally deeply patriotic and often cynical and satirical, but make for good and sometimes amusing listening. Again, they vary in their level of difficulty, but many have strong choruses which are oft repeated, which makes them easier to understand and remember. Unfortunately, only a limited number of these songs appear on YouTube together with lyrics, but I have collected all the ones that I could find.

Bryn Fon

Recently, I came across several songs by Bryn Fon with lyrics either on the video of added under the [Show More] option. These all fulfil the requirements of clear words and interesting lyrics, so have now been added.

Meinir Gwilym

Somewhat later in my searches, I came across Meinir Gwilym, another singer / songwriter who is well-known in the Welsh speaking community, but little known elsewhere. I immediately took a liking to her work, which is varied with a mixture of ballads and pop, the latter often containing a lot of slang and 'Wenglish'. From the lyrics of her songs it sounds as if she has led a very colourful life - either that or she has a very vivid imagination! Some of her songs are fairly easy to understand, but many of them involve vocabulary that goes a long way beyond basic, so they are difficult for beginners to follow. Many songs have very fast lyrics that are not easy to keep up with, though they do make good listening for those who have progressed further down the learning road, or even for beginners who like the sound of her music without necessarily being able to understand all of it. Often, songs with difficult lyrics in the main verses have a chorus that is easier to follow, so it is still useful to listen and eventually the rest will fall into place.

Other Artists

p>There are many other artists who are worthy of inclusion, and I have started to add some of these. With popular songs, I have tried to look for a version where the words are sung as clearly as possible without intrusive advertising, rather than the version by the most famous artists associated with the song. I welcome any suggestions of other songs to be added, particularly if they have lyrics displayed on the video which is the easiest way to view them.

Youtube Videos Without Lyrics

A number of the Meinir Gwilym songs do not display lyrics on the YouTube video but do have the lyrics shown below the video under the 'SHOW MORE' link, so I have added these to the collection. There is also one Dafydd Iwan song and some of the songs by other artists in this category. To make these easier to follow, a link is provided to the lyrics so that they can be viewed whilst the video is playing on another page or tab. However, this depends on the browser and operating system in use, as some will only output sound from the current window. Hence, if the lyrics are showing on the foremost window, the song being played in a background window may be blocked out. In this case it is easier to print out the lyrics from the PDF files that can be downloaded and follow them from there.

Using this Website

When watching videos on YouTube it is sometimes a nuisance to find the song that you want if it is not included in the suggested links offered by YouTube. This is particularly true when using a Smart TV rather than a computer when everything has to be entered by the remote control. The main Home page of this website provides links to the YouTube video for each song and it is intended that the video should play under one browser tab whilst the list on the Home page shows under another tab, enabling easy switching between the two, though this may vary depending on the browser and platform in use at the time. Where a link is made to the lyrics, these should show under a third tab, though again this may vary. Many browsers allow listening to music from one window or tab whilst looking at another window or tab, which means that the lyrics page can be played without interrupting the song, but some browsers only allow sound from the currently displayed page, thus preventing this method of viewing and listening. In this case, a printed page of the song from the downloaded pdf file can be used. This website is at an early stage of development, so is rather basic, but any suggestions for improvement or corrections are welcome.

George Tod  george@gtleisure.co.uk

   Home