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As a traveller interested in languages I have long been aware of the settlements in Patagonia where Welsh is spoken.

But there's only about 1,500 to 5,000 Welsh speakers there and I'm assuming that while there is tourism, that most of them are not there to learn Welsh.

But is there a language school or a teacher who likes to take on foreign traveller students?

(I already have semifluent Spanish so the worst that could happen is that my Spanish would improve since there's not much English spoken there.)

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    About the number of Welsh speakers there: not sure which is more correct but Wikipedia mentions "the 25,000 Welsh speakers in the Chubut region", citing Ethnologue as source.
    – Jonik
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 4:23
  • 5
    1. Throw in random y's and g's when typing on keyboard. 2. Never use a vowel. 3. Now you know Welsh. 4. ??? 5. PROFIT
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 10:46
  • Oh good grief! "A greeting in Welsh is one of 55 languages included on the Voyager Golden Record chosen to be representative of Earth in NASA's Voyager program launched in 1977. The greetings are unique to each language, with the Welsh greeting being Iechyd da i chwi yn awr ac yn oesoedd which translates into English as "Good health to you now and forever"" - Wiki.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 11:22

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First of all, let's talk about the place. I learned about the Welsh Settlements there while I was in Puerto Madryn, in Patagonia, Argentina. This is where they first landed, and indeed along the shorefront some of the ruins of their first dug-out homes still exist. It must have been tough.

Fortunately they expanded, and the town of Gaiman is the Welsh home in Argentina now. Indeed Diana, Princess of Wales visited this town and had tea there.

There is quite a lot on the internet about the Welsh Settlement of Patagonia, and it makes for fantastic historical reading.

Now as you can imagine, it's not a massively expanding language in the midst of Patagonia. However, the Welsh Language Project has been set up to promote the Welsh language and culture there.

As they have teachers themselves and are teaching Welsh there, if anyone is going to know how you might be able to learn Welsh as a foreigner in Patagonia, it's this group. I suggest contacting Catrin Williams - there's an interview with her on their site as well.

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I would try to arrange to "board" with a Welsh-speaking family while in Patagonia. The arrangement could be made beforehand, or possibly while you're there and find one.

You're going to have to eat/sleep SOMEWHERE. Just do your best to make sure that the "somewhere" is with a Welsh-speaking family.

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