Cwm Gwrachod: A novel for Welsh learners

by Colin Jones

Croeso i Gwm Gwrachod, cwm bach diniwed yn y De.

Welcome to Witches’ Valley, an innocent little valley in the South.

Written by the author of the bestselling Welsh learners’ novel Coed y Brenin, this book should help you expand and improve your Welsh, while being both interesting and entertaining.

‘The events, people and places in Cwm Gwrachod are imaginary, in that they exist only in my mind. The funny thing is that as you read this book they will exist in your mind too, but entirely through the medium of Welsh.’

Genres: Novels

74 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2016

About the author

After becoming a Welsh-to-adults tutor I began writing stories for Welsh learners to help accelerate the learning process. I combined this with classical music on my Cadw Swn home-study Welsh course.

The Aberarthur stories in Cadw Swn came out of this, and then the novel Coed y Brenin. I'd write a story each week and we'd read through it in class. People seemed to like them.

After a while another set of stories started to surface, around the strange, rather supernatural area of Cwm Gwrachod (Witches' Valley).

I seem to remember writing another half a novel of stories in each series. I wonder which will see the light of day first?

After a while I thought I'd record the four branches of the Mabinogion as an audio book. That in turn led to recording my other books as audio books, and then other authors started asking me to record audiobooks for them.

Reviews

[Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book when I had only just started learning Welsh and read a chapter every now and again with the help of a dictionary and the translated words at the bottom of every page. It was difficult at first but a lot of words are repeated and there are, in my opinion, enough familiar words for a beginner to get the gist of the story, even if every word is not understood.
I finally read it from start to finish in a day (it's a short book) and I loved the story.
Cwm Gwrachod is Witches' Valley, which gives a clue to theme of the book, but it is light hearted and told to you by a child who has just moved to the school there.
I would recommend this book to any welsh learners, young or old.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio | Excellent listening practice | I'm approaching the end of my Sylfaen 2 course, so the grammar and vocabulary were very basic for me, as I expected. Mynediad students would find that aspect more directly useful. The reason I purchased this, though, was to get more listening practice, and I was very pleased with that. The author is also the narrator, and has a very pleasant voice used at good speed for learners (a bit Rob Brydon, actually, which I mean as a compliment). The few words that were new to me (anadlu, cynghrair, anelu) were all spoken clearly enough for me to figure out the spelling and look them up. I listened to it straight through, but because I'm past the need of the tips in between chapters, I will likely listen again later and skip them. They're clear and helpful to newer learners, I just don't need them now. I'm a De learner, this is a De book, yay! Enjoyable story, though I honestly didn't know Sam was a girl until close to the end, which was odd.

[Jonathan Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a really accessible read for anyone that is relatively familiar with welsh. I grew up in Wales but never spoke welsh and was about halfway through the duo lingo course and understood everything within the book. The author provides super handy footnotes for all the possibly tricky words and between chapters inserts explainer pages where tenses and other basic grammar functions are explored. There is also some exploration into the world of mutations and this was all very clear and understandable.

Would really recommend this book to anyone. The story was largely engaging albeit a little funny (possibly unintentionally) but was overall enjoyable and helpful in learning.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past few months I've been learning Welsh in my spare time and while the typical language-learning apps are a great foundation, I was on the hunt for something to help expand on what I'd already learned. I'm so happy I found this charming little book! It's short, but don't let that deter you. It's definitely something you can read again and again to gauge just how much your Welsh has improved.

[Fred Langridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Audiobook]
I'll definitely re-listen to this. Good Welsh listening practice, and pleasant listening.

[Spirit Ciel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ro i'n hoffi'r llyfr, fawr iawn! Mae hi'n fi llyfr cymraeg cyntaf, a dw i'n wedi dysgu llawer. Diolch!

[EJW SEDDON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever

Clever approach to revising basics for Welsh learners. I shall continue with buying other books in the series by this author

[Craig Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the story itself and helped me improve my vocab and confidence in reading Welsh. I recommend it for all Welsh learners.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way of learning Welsh

This is a simple, friendly way of learning. He does it well. I think it's similar to how a child would naturally learn a language. The book and the audio version are a good combination. (Also need a translator app)

[Randall D Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple...To simple really. Cost of book exorbitant, for it's size. Not good value. Generally book, suitable for

very early learners. Vocabulary list good, and gives a clear understanding of the unusual words used but all in all just not worth the expenditure of time or money.