Regret over choosing South Welsh, big deal or no big deal?

Well, it’s not as if it’s a massive difference between south and north, a few words and phrases, colloquialisms here and there — if you’re beginning your language journey it will be marginal.

But as you progress, and if you maintain contact with your newfound sibling and use your language with her, lean on her to pick up the nuances that differentiate northern and southern flavours of Cymraeg

The differences really aren’t nearly big enough to matter at this point. Regardless of which you pick, you need to learn to adapt your speech, vocabulary, and grammar according to your conversation partner anyway. Besides North-South, there’s also West-East, formal-informal, and various other considerations. Most people are actually somewhere along a spectrum and will use aspects that are typically north or south in free variation

it's not a big deal at all.

however, i must caution of the "evil hwntw" trope in that in Welsh language TV if a series is set in North Wales and there's someone from South Wales appearing on the scene (for instance, a long-lost half sister) they're inevitably evil.

This sounds like a textbook case of it tbh. Better to switch to North Welsh ASAP to avoid ruining all their lives.

I focused more on gogledd while doing Duolingo and self-teaching, for family reasons, but then could only get on a De course via Dysgu Cymraeg. TBH I still just use the gog forms and it’s fine. And I’ve heard my tutors use a mix too.

I was raised in a Welsh-medium school. Honestly, it was pretty difficult to not learn about common North/South differences by sheer coincidence.

It's actually not that much different to having synonyms in English. There will be a few words that trip you up along the way, but once you know them, you know them.

You'll be fine until you ask for milk ;-)

I've been learning northern Welsh and I'll repeat what a southern Welsh-speaking friend said to me: "I'll understand you but you might not understand me"

If your half-sister is a native Welsh speaker then she'll recognise most of the differences in north and south dialects and she'll be able to understand you. You might have more trouble understanding her because she'll be using some words that are different than the ones you've learned. It's not a huge issue though - it's just a matter of trying to pick up on what the northern words for certain things are.

I'm interested to hear more about the sister discovery. How incredible! As a woman with sisters I adore and can't imagine having been without, I'm thrilled for OP.

I've done Uwch 1 and now started Uwch 2 with Dysgu Cymraeg in my workplace, one of the very first units in Uwch 2 is "trafodiaeth" or the spoken tongue, so the difference between north and south. It's not the first time we've discussed north and south dialect, as we had comparison tasks in Uwch 1.

What I'm basically saying is that if you carry on with Dysgu Cymraeg, there will be opportunities once you have the base knowledge of Welsh to learn the differences in dialects. After all, there's no point learning Welsh if you can't understand your neighbours.

The differences are very minor, though. The fact my workplace doesn't have enough people signed onto the north Walian course probably tells you which is the most popular choice of dialect.

It might be a little confusing to begin with, but it's not a huge issue. Most of the grammatical differences are pretty small (and sometimes a given southerner may be more familiar with some northern usage than some other northern person because usage for specific things can vary quite a bit within one half of the country too), and small differences in vocabulary (which likewise can vary for some things inside one half of the country too).

I'd either stick with the course until the end (most are yearly, and go fairly slowly) and then switch to a northern course. Or, mail your teacher/college admin/whoever and ask if you can transfer to a different course - DysguCymraeg are IME pretty helpful about such things.

Whatever the case, you can do various other things. SSIW offers both, and you can access it for free via your DysguCymraeg membership. Even if you're sitting a southern course you can read the northern Welsh DysguCymraeg textbook for free in its PDF form, and I think you should be able to access all the digital resources for the northern course.

You can of course watch content for Northern Welsh on youtube, like Galés con Marian, or on S4C. There are other learner's resources you can use that will expose you to both, allowing you to pick and choose - some good ones that come to mind are the cyfres amdani graded readers and Gareth King's various books: his grammar and dictionary are good (and both touch on north/south differences), and I also think his workbooks are pretty good (though try to buy them used as otherwise I think they're a bit pricey for what they are if you're also doing DysguCymraeg. Also, the colloquial book he helped write is the one that comes to mind that I wouldn't - personally - bother with, though I haven't seen every book he has written/helped write.)

I learnt Welsh in North Wales and some of what we learnt was "oh that word is different in South Wales". It's not massively different, but for instance o vs e for he is a frequent thing that you would notice.

When I was learning, a lot of the Welsh media was in South Wales Welsh, so we did pick up some amount. That might have changed more recently.

It's fine. At beginner level it doesn't matter much, and at more advanced levels you need to know the common words and expressions in both anyway 

It doesn’t really matter

It doesn't matter, teachers will often tell you the other variation as well. And when you sign up for the next level next year, you can switch to a NW course, you don't have to stay with the same group for the rest of the course. (Since you said you were looking at both, I'm assuming you're doing an online course)

I learned South Wales Cymraeg and I get by fine in North Wales. The accent is more of a barrier than the vocabulary tbh.

I think someone else might have mentioned this, but it’s worth contacting the various providers for the gogledd classes, because it’s really common for people to drop out of courses – so there might be a space for you now.

Learning “south Welsh” or “north Welsh” is like saying learning “Scouse English” or “London English” enough with this psyop bullshit it’s the same language. You will struggle to find a Welsh person from any region of Wales who speaks the language that won’t be flattered/charmed by any attempt to speak Cymraeg.

It's not that much difference and you can always work on sounding more North Walian yourself.

You'll have to learn to recognise both versions anyway and as you get to the advanced courses, there is only one combined course.

You can ask if you can swap to another course, but if you like your current tutor it might be better not to.

And for your next course, make sure to sign up for a North Walian one in good time. :)

The differences aren't really that massive. Also, as I've found in my language journey, you're going to be exposed to South Walian Welsh on the TV and the radio. 

That's why my Welsh is so mixed, I'll use "gyda fi" and "sai'n gwybod" instead of "gen i" and "dwi ddim yn gwybod/'wmbo."

Perhaps it wasn't helped by the fact that I also had tutors from the North and South taking the lesson. For the first part of my Sylfaen course, my tutor was from Carmarthen by way of Patagonia. So it's been a total mix. 

Don't worry if the occasional "allwedd" comes out instead of "goriad", I'm sure your half-sister would understand perfectly without any gaps.

If it makes more sense to learn northern then I’d recommend switching courses, but the time you’ve put in definitely isn’t wasted. There will be huge overlap and eventually you’ll need to recognise the bits used in the other dialect anyway.

Honestly it’s similar to British vs American English

I don't know, but I'd recommend trying out the northern course on saysomethinginwelsh, very good for getting conversational!

I grew up in south Wales and studied it my whole childhood but never learned it. Now I'm studying North Welsh and everything I learned at school is coming back to me. I have not come across many differences yet

Remember that if you are going to swap mid-course from South/North, you will need to buy the appropriate coursebook. I'm learning South at level Uwch, but recently I was helping someone with his Northern version Mynediad coursebook. It absolutely threw me, and I admit that I struggled - so many differences in the two versions, right from the beginning. Even though I read a lot and I meet a lot of people from both north and south, I still can't get the hang of 'medru' and 'ddaru' and the 'Mi' in front of verbs.

Also, remember to buy the newest version of the coursebook, unless told otherwise by the tutor. Pob lwc. Dal ati. It will be worth it.

Keep going with the course you're on for now & decide whether you want to swap for next year. You'll find slightly different accents all across Wales (not just North vs South) & it's akin to using certain words & phrases more common in London than Liverpool. if you really like your tutor & get on well with your classmates, that's more important. But many folk swap round the different providers depending on course availability.

I'm learning South Welsh online & they mention many of the differences as you go along (& by Uwch it's just the one course for everyone, with sections on the various dialects). We have a mix of people in the classes & for online Sadwrn Siarads & other revision sessions you'll frequently get a mix too, so the tutors explain both. You can always browse the NW versions of the coursebooks & other resources online for free on the Dysgu Cymraeg site if you have time.

You'll find most of the Amdani learners' books are in North Welsh & much on Radio Cymru & S4C, so you soon pick up differences. Duolingo uses a mix of the two; many of the other apps let you choose, like Golingo, Memrise or the free SSiW you get with your Dysgu Cymraeg course; others (eg Drops, Clozemaster, Dringo, HappyHere, Polygloss etc) are a mix. Borrowbox let's you borrow free e -books & audio-books from Welsh libraries (anyone can join one online, not just those living in Wales), so you can read & listen to a wide mix of materials with ease outside your actual lessons.

Pob lwc, enjoy yourself & have a great time meeting your sister!

Firstly, the De Cymru course adopts s. Wales forms but these are not all that many and by the time you get to Uwch you'll still be able to see and learn n. Wales forms. In any case, the course books do not delve deep into either dialect but opt for a more generic and generalised colloquial Welsh. As a learner I switched after three years of learning n. east Welsh dialect to s. west Welsh and in particular a dialect limited to one town and nearby hinterland. Welsh speakers cannot tell I've learned Welsh and if I ask them to guess where I'm 'from' by my Welsh, they usually locate to within a 30 mile radius, so I'm still not dialectal enough!
There is more observable difference between dialect pronunciation than grammar or even vocabulary.
The differences between dialect forms, even between 'north' and 'south' are nothing compared to the difference between formal literary Welsh and vulgar dialect Welsh.
Focus on whoever you get to hear most often - learn to listen - no, really LISTEN!
You could also start following soap Rownd a Rownd which in any case generally respects the language more than 'Pobl y Cwm' which is trying to create a S4C sponsored 'bilingualeg' creole, possibly to be called 'Cymlish'...

welsh dialects are exactly like the ones in England. if you speak the northern one, you can understand the south, and vice versa. you can learn the southern one, but you might feel more connected to your sister if you speak the northern one

You don’t need to regret it, it’s mostly the same but they do use some driffeance words in northern Welsh, leaning is lifelong thing in Wales now. She isn’t going to mock you trying Welsh. But more outspoken maybe as it’s more rural compared to South Wales. Like in some places in North wales pub speaking English & someone they assume is English they turn to speaking Welsh apparently. I went to Welsh medium school, when I was school the documentary called the Welsh knot was on girl from South Wales is from my school two years above me. I messaged north Wales girl & she said to me do i actually speak Welsh. It was confirm by south Wales girl. I didn’t class her friend as rude but outspoken.