MovieChat Forums > Very Annie Mary (2001) Discussion > Welsh language

Welsh language

posted 17 years ago by thirsch-2
5 replies | jump to latest

The Celtic Welsh language isn't used in the film, despite its being used by some 20 percent of the inhabitants of Wales. The spoken English in the film has a lilt similar to Irish English, in my opinion. Explanation?

[–] BlueLightAlarm 17 years ago

The film is set in the South Wales valleys where a very small percentage of people actually speak Welsh as their first language. You were almost right with your figure, in that 21% of people in Wales claim to be able to speak Welsh but of those only 56% would say they were fluent in the language, most of the fluent speakers are from the north of Wales. There are a growing number of people in south Wales who are speaking Welsh, it has been a compulsory subject in schools since the introduction of the Welsh Language Act 1993 and has enjoyed a strong revival in recent years.

The spoken English in the film is just English with a South Wales accent - I'm not sure what you mean by "Irish English" but the way people speak in the film is actually the way people sound in this part of the world (apart from the way Annie Mary says "Bya" - I've never heard anybody say that, personally.)

Hope this helps!

[–] dieschwarzetur 17 years ago

Yeah, although many already know this I do know that at least some of the actors like Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys speak Welsh. It is not always easy to find too many DVDs of Welsh language films... including where I live in North America. :( For now there's youtube.

"Cymru am byth"

[–] dancingdai 17 years ago

"Bya"(pronounced buy ya) is spoken in the valleys, especially in the Rhondda Valleys where im from. It basically means by here, like come here is pronounced "come ya" or by here is bya, e.g, "im over bya" (im over by here). If you look at the Gren drawings he spells it bayeax or something like that.

I cant speak fluent welsh tho, wish i could but was never sent to a welsh speaking school.

[–] BlueLightAlarm 16 years ago

I'm from the Rhondda too and although I know what you are talking about, I was referring to the way Annie Mary says "Bya" as goodbye - "Hiya" and "Bya"

[–] simon359 8 years ago

As a person who has lived in the South Wales valleys all his life, I feel I am qualified to say that all the accents are genuine, apart from the leading actor, Rachel Griffiths. She is Australian, and although she appears to be doing her very best to imitate the South Wales valleys accent, it is not quite there. He accent does appear to have some Southern Irish similarities, but not quite Irish or Welsh, hence the Irish lilt. However to non-Irish and non-Welsh, I can understand them confusing the two accents. They are both Celtic.