Welsh voice overs: what you need to know

Welsh, or Cymraeg as called by its native speakers, is a Brittonic language spoken primarily in Wales. Around 700,000 people speak Welsh, with half a million of the native speakers residing in Wales.

Welsh is also spoken in communities around the United Kingdom, most notably in London, North West England, and West Midlands. Outside the motherland, there’s a prominent Welsh-speaking community in South America (primarily in the Patagonia region).

Welsh is not a widely spoken language. In fact, monolingual Welsh speakers are quite rare today — many speak English as well.

Language History

Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe, with its history spanning over 14 centuries. Welsh originated from British — an ancient language spoken by Britons up until around the 5th century.

The long Welsh history is divided into 4 periods: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh.

The Primitive Welsh period that started around the year 550 marks the first step in Welsh becoming a distinct language. Around this time, Welsh split from its ancestor British and began developing as a separate dialect. The first written Welsh texts also appear in the Primitive period, around the 6th century.

Modern Welsh, as it’s spoken today, retains many features of Middle Welsh (12-15th centuries). In fact, the contemporary spoken language didn’t change a lot in the last centuries — modern Welsh speakers can understand texts from the Middle Welsh period to a certain extent.

In the 19th century, Welsh was the primary language of Wales. However, due to the lack of legal status, English overtook and became more widespread. In 1993, the Welsh Language Act was introduced — it assured that both English and Welsh share the same legal status.

Close Relations

Welsh doesn’t have many close relatives. In fact, it’s only somewhat similar to the other two minor living Brittonic languages — Cornish and Breton.

Welsh and Cornish share many similarities, mostly in the vocabulary department. For example, words that express color, numbers, and weather are the same in both Welsh and Cornish. However, the two languages are not considered to be mutually intelligible.

Since Welsh is a Celtic language, it is distantly related to Irish Gaelic. However, the similarities are limited to grammar and vocabulary.

When it comes to Welsh vocabulary, the majority of it is inherited from its Brittonic ancestor. However, Welsh quite extensively borrowed from Latin and later on — from English. In terms of loanwords, Welsh is a rather conservative language.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

In Wales, Welsh is categorized into four regional dialects: Y Wyndodeg, Y Bowyseg, Y Ddyfedeg, and Y Wenhwyseg. The Welsh variety that is spoken in Argentina greatly differs from the European dialects and is called Patagonian Welsh. Due to the close proximity, Patagonian Welsh has been greatly influenced by Spanish.

Interestingly, Welsh has no standard dialect — the language used in education, broadcasting, and official matters is different from region to region. While all Welsh dialects have differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, they are mutually intelligible.

Welsh is a rather difficult language to learn and to understand. It has many unique sounds that are absent in English and other European languages. For example, sounds ɬ, m̥, n̥, and ŋ̊ are uniquely Welsh and don’t have equivalents in other languages.

When recording a Welsh voice over, pay close attention to these sounds — they will sound very foreign to the non-native ear.

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