American Polyglot Surprises Locals in Cardiff, Wales by Speaking Welsh

New York City polyglot Xiaomanyc traveled to Cardiff, Wales and was excited to use his newfound knowledge of the Welsh language to surprise the locals. Due to historic language suppression in Wales, however, not everyone he met on the street understood him. He did have some opportunity, however, when he went searching for bara brith (Welsh tea bread) and ran into a teacher who gave him a run for his money.

I recently went to Cardiff, capital of Wales, to speak Welsh. I explored the markets, tried local foods, and ordered in pubs, all in the ancient Welsh language. Welsh was actually suppressed for many years and so most people in the country of Wales …do not actually speak it very well, but quite a few do and there’s been a revival movement to bring it back with street signs all over Wales in the language, so I thought it might be fun to see what locals would think of an American tourist speaking their ancestral language!