Culture
Watch: Amazing TikTok video goes viral after showing the similarities between Welsh and Breton
Welsh and Breton look very different on the page but a remarkable TikTok video that has gone viral shows that there are many similarities between them.
Despite one language being spoken in France and the other within the UK, both are closely related having only gone their separate ways in the middle ages, and in the video Azenor Kallag and Gwilym Bowen Rhys demonstrate how much they have in common with a string of common phrases.
Along with Cornish, Welsh and Breton make up the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, with the former having since they split borrowed many words from English and the latter from French. However many older words and numbers remain similar.
@lwps4c Dysgu ‘chydig o Lydaweg yn Lorient Interceltique Festival, gyda Gwilym & Azenor 🌍 #breton #welsh #cymraeg #llydaweg #lorient #interceltiquefestival #languages ♬ original sound - Lŵp
Despite being separate branches of the Celtic language tree, Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx, meanwhile, are Gaelic languages and don't retain the same level of mutual intelligibility as Welsh, Breton and Cornish.
In the video, filmed at the Lorient Interceltique Festival in Brittany, Azenor Kallag and Gwilym Bowen Rhys list a number of words and phrases including "the dog is looking at the fish in the sea" and "let's go for a walk on the bridge".
The video impressed subscribers to the channel, with one, Gwawr Darling, saying: "That's extremely interesting. I hadn't realised so many words sounded so similar."
Molly added that "you can hear the influence of French on Breton".
Gari Bracla added: "I've never felt so sophisticated!"
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