‘The pilgrim hooked on the Galician language and less travelled caminos’

[jungleboy]

Our own @Wendy Werneth is in La Voz de Galicia today as she walks the Camiño Taverneiro this week:

Wendy, a peregrina enganchada ao galego e aos Camiños menos trillados

No 2021 chegou á Estrada pola Geira e agora regresa pola ruta de Taverneiro

www.lavozdegalicia.es

It’s behind a paywall unfortunately, but here is the headline and photo:

 

[Kirkie]

Our own @Wendy Werneth is in La Voz de Galicia today as she walks the Camiño Taverneiro this week:

Wendy, a peregrina enganchada ao galego e aos Camiños menos trillados

No 2021 chegou á Estrada pola Geira e agora regresa pola ruta de Taverneiro

www.lavozdegalicia.es

It’s behind a paywall unfortunately, but here is the headline and photo:

View attachment 175555

Ours?Yes! And yours!
I will pursue later, have to go out now. Thank you, as always, your contributions are useful, helpful, delightful.

 

[ivar]

Great! Attaching the full article...

 

[Pelegrin]

I wrote a comment wishing her Bo Camiño.

 

[LTfit]

When I saw the title I immediately thought, "oh, it must be about Wendy". Nice to have met her for a vegan meal whilst in Santiago in July.

 

[Gringazolana]

She is goals, as the kids say! I’ve decided that galego will be my next language, maybe I will take that course next year!!

 

[jungleboy]

The print edition!

 

[MarijkeB]

She is goals, as the kids say! I’ve decided that galego will be my next language, maybe I will take that course next year!!

I speak quite some Spanish, French and Italian and did a few months of Portuguese on Duolingo before starting the Camino Português. I was amazed at how easy it was to understand galician. To me, it looked like a combination of Spanish and Portuguese.

 

[Pelegrin]

The article says that she was yesterday in albergue Couso ( A Estrada) doing the Camino "Ignacio Taverneiro".

 

[Kirkie]

It was like reading without my specs, but I got the message, mostly, including the carrot burger! Or at least that is what I decided it was!
Well done Wendy, and reflected glory on you, Nick.

 

[Wendy Werneth]

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement! I arrived in Santiago today, having walked the Camiño de Taverneiro from Salvaterra de Miño. I will post more about the route later, as it's not very well known. Definitely not one for first-timers, but I really loved it.

Thank you so much @ivar for sharing the full article, and @Pelegrin for your Bo Camiño!

@Gringazolana I highly recommend the course! It's available to anyone living outside Galicia, and it's subsidised by the Xunta so is amazing value (only €200 for three weeks of tuition, plus conferences and other optional activities). You will learn a lot about Galician culture as well as the language.

And yes, you can understand a lot of Galego if you speak Spanish or Portuguese, and even more so if you speak both. In medieval times, Galego and Portuguese were the same language. They have since evolved in different ways, but some people maintain that they are still a single language. The vocabulary is largely shared with Portuguese, but the pronunciation and the official writing system is closer to Spanish.

@Kirkie Carrot burger is correct!

 

[Pelegrin]

Thank you so much @ivar for sharing the full article, and @Pelegrin for your Bo Camiño!

Thank you very much to you Wendy. As you know from the comments on La Voz there are people in Galicia who think that Galego is going to die soon because is much less important than Spanish and therefore it is not worth to use it, so articles like yours on La Voz help a lot.

 

[Wendy Werneth]

Thank you very much to you Wendy. As you know from the comments on La Voz there are people in Galicia who think that Galego is going to die soon because is much less important than Spanish and therefore it is not worth to use it, so articles like yours on La Voz help a lot.

Yes, the situation regarding the number of Galego speakers in Galicia is very worrying. I have seen this first-hand on my Camiños, especially in the cities but even in small towns. As part of the Galego sen Fronteiras course, we had a module on sociolinguistics, which helped me better understand the many factors that have led to the sharp decline in Galego speakers.

 

[Pelegrin]

Yes, the situation regarding the number of Galego speakers in Galicia is very worrying. I have seen this first-hand on my Camiños, especially in the cities but even in small towns. As part of the Galego sen Fronteiras course, we had a module on sociolinguistics, which helped me better understand the many factors that have led to the sharp decline in Galego speakers.

I know you knew the situation of Galego
As a curiosity I liked the expressión " no mes de xuño eu fixen co meu home o Camiño de Inverno" Here " Meu home" ( my husband) is the correct way to say this in Galego, like in German "Mein Mann", but most young women now say " meu marido" because " mi hombre" ( my man) sounds very bad in Spanish ( like in English). That's an example of the Spanish influence on the current Galego.

 

[Wendy Werneth]

I know you knew the situation of Galego
As a curiosity I liked the expressión " no mes de xuño eu fixen co meu home o Camiño de Inverno" Here " Meu home" ( my husband) is the correct way to say this in Galego, like in German "Mein Mann", but most young women now say " meu marido" because " mi hombre" ( my man) sounds very bad in Spanish ( like in English). That's an example of the Spanish influence on the current Galego.

Ha ha, to be honest I did say "meu marido"! It was the journalist who changed it. She kept the meaning of everything I said but changed some of the words, so probably she made my Galego look better than it really is! I've heard people say "meu home", but I assumed it was just an alternative and that it was also correct to say "meu marido".

 

[Pelegrin]

Ha ha, to be honest I did say "meu marido"! It was the journalist who changed it. She kept the meaning of everything I said but changed some of the words, so probably she made my Galego look better than it really is! I've heard people say "meu home", but I assumed it was just an alternative and that it was also correct to say "meu marido".

No, " meu marido" is not correct but it is the usual way now because the Spanish influence. And yes, in La Voz "translate" always into normative Galego.

 

[Charrito]

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement! I arrived in Santiago today, having walked the Camiño de Taverneiro from Salvaterra de Miño. I will post more about the route later, as it's not very well known. Definitely not one for first-timers, but I really loved it.

Thank you so much @ivar for sharing the full article, and @Pelegrin for your Bo Camiño!

Great article, Wendy! Congratulations for all you're doing to promote Galego.

I was also interviewed by the lovely Rocio García (La Voz de Galicia) in A Estrada a couple of years ago when I was on my fifth Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros. The Codeseda Viva Association does a lot to promote the caminos that pass through their area, and you'll now find more and more establishments promoting the relatively unknown Camino de Ignacio Taverneiro.

As a retired professor here in Spain (linguistics and phonetics being my 'specialist' subjects), I have always been fascinated by everything related to languages. One thing about Galego is the huge difference in the spoken language (often from town to town) that you will come across. I have few problems understanding programmes on TVG or reading newspapers such as La Voz de Galicia, but - as I'm sure that you've found - you can really struggle to comprehend what the locals are saying in some places!

I look forward to reading your promised post about the Camino de Ignacio Taverneiro. I plan to walk from Salvaterra do Miño in the near future and will be interested to hear how you organised your stages.

Bo Camiño!

 

[Pelegrin]

. One thing about Galego is the huge difference in the spoken language (often from town to town) that you will come across. I have few problems understanding programmes on TVG or reading newspapers such as La Voz de Galicia, but - as I'm sure that you've found - you can really struggle to comprehend what the locals are saying in some places!

From town to town the only difference that may occur is that one of them had "gheada". In areas with "gheada" they say jato instead of gato, jracias instead of gracias, etc and I think they speak a bit faster so they may sound different but the areas with " gheada" are a minority.