Pobol y Cwm
I can’t figure this out. I spent the afternoon listening to the Ospreys vs. London Irish on S4C. A fairly good game for a slaughter and the commentary was all in Welsh. Mind you, I don’t understand a whole lot of Welsh yet, but I did manage to get a bit of what they were saying. Pitifully, the same can’t be said for Pobol y Cwm.
Without the subtitles I’d not just be dead in the water but sunk to the bottom as well.
Are they speaking Welsh? Anyone know? I sure couldn’t tell. Well, no, that’s not true, I did hear a “diolch” here and there and I think somebody said something about loving somebody else. But that was about it. The whole rest of the marathon programme tonight was lost on me. And this wasn’t the first time.
I have tried turning off the subtitles thinking they were just distracting me from listening properly. It didn’t help. But I enjoyed the break from reading. 
I tried turning up the volume on the off chance I was going deaf so couldn’t hear them properly. Didn’t help. But I got to meet my neighbors. 
I even gave up translating my poetry analysis into Welsh so I could pay complete attention. No good. I still couldn’t understand a thing they said.
And who wrote the subtitles? I don’t think they actually match what’s being said.
But then again how would I know? 
November 4th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Somehow I thought you would have enjoyed the match, Arwen.
Now Pobol y Cwm!! I can assure you that they are speaking Welsh and by next summer you will have no problem deciphering the various dialects and unerstanding the programme.
As to the subtitles - well that is a different story. They usually give you an idea of what is happening and are rarely accurate translations of what is being said.
Stick at it Arwen. You’ll get there,
November 5th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I totally agree, as a learner I too have trouble trying to understand what they’re saying!
November 5th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Well, as I said (or tried to, anyway) on your Welsh language blog, I bet they’ve developed a dialect all their own. The program has been broadcast for more than 30 years, after all. Ioan Gruffudd started his career as a child on Pobol y Cwm!
Sionned
November 7th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
No they haven’t developed their own dialect at all. There are actually numerous dialects in the programme which reflects Wales as a whole. It is possible to tell almost exactly where a person has come from by the dialect. The Welsh spoken by someone in Caernarfon, for example, is totally different from that spoken in the rest of the county.
November 11th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Arwen have you tried the Welsh subtitles on teletext page 889?
December 4th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Welcome to the real world of welsh as spoken in the West Wales valleys - it’s not all text books and Eisteddfod’s