Dal ati: no one agrees on a standard for spoken Welsh, but that’s part of the fun of learning | Letters

Guardian readers respond to Dan Fox’s long read about the fun and frustrations of trying to speak his mother’s language Thank you for the wonderful article (Where Duolingo falls down: how I learned to speak Welsh with my mother, 12 March). Dan Fox’s Welsh language learning journey is beautifully described, with excellent context of the struggles to keep the language alive over the last two centuries. In fact, Dan’s experience is exactly what we, the Duolingo Welsh course writers, aimed for. We created a resource on the largest language learning platform in the world that is available at the click of a mouse, and which gives people using it the confidence that it is indeed possible to learn Welsh. We never intended it to be a standalone course, but to support people using the methods described in the article in addition to formal lessons. The Welsh used in the course is the most recent spoken Welsh standard approved by the Welsh government for courses throughout Wales. The fact that Dan’s mother considered it erroneous reflects the lack of a universally accepted standard for spoken Welsh. This is one of the factors holding back the revival of the language. The more than 7