Welsh Studies Institute of North America (Cymdeithas Madog)
They’re hosting a Welsh Language Week in Portland, OR in July.
http://www.madog.org/gwefan/index.php/cwrs-cymraeg/cwrs-cymraeg-eleni
North American Association for Celtic Language Teachers
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It looks like Harvard offers 2 semesters of language instruction open to undergrads, with literature courses, in the original language, offered as well. The department website does say that there is no undergrad major in Celtic languages, but student could do a secondary concentration (minor, I suppose, for those of us outside Cambridge) focusing on Welsh language and literature.
We know someone who studied at one of the University of Wales campuses to develop their Welsh language skills. Sounds like a study abroad opportunity for the interested student the OP identified.
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Very interesting question. If you broaden out to include Celtic Studies, and perhaps even Anglo-Saxon, you may unearth a few more possibilities. You may also broaden in the direction of Comparative Literature, depending on your degree goals, etc., and include Welsh as one of your reading languages – but this would still require Welsh language offerings somewhere. Certainly at Harvard this should be possible, for example.
I don’t think anyone has posted this link yet, international links (from Australia):
http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/celtic-studies/
UW-Milwaukee has an established Center for Celtic Studies, with an extensive links page:
http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/links/programs.cfm
Bangor University seems to be an (the?) established Welsh center for North American Welsh studies. Though based in Wales, at least a few of the board directors are located in North America, e.g. University of Michigan-Flint. And possibly more leads to Welsh study within North America.
The program list Disneydad provided indeed has some of the best language learning colleges / universities in the country, though I’d also add UC-Berkeley. These probably don’t all offer Welsh, unfortunately.
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Kind of surprised Bryn Mawr/Penn don’t offer Welsh (lots of Welsh people in PA… Bryn Mawr is Welsh for “Little hill”, I think - went to Wales 2 years ago, was in talking terms with a Welsh language professor so each day I’d memorize words that seemed recurring to try and see how the language functioned.)
If going straight into undergraduate study in the US isn’t possible, could the student look into doing a “gap year” studying abroad - not by enrolling at a university but in a sort of “high school abroad” year. I remember hearing that Stanwell School in Penarth was very good (about 20mn from Cardiff by bus). I don’t know whether CIIE or other programs have offerings in Wales. Then they’d enroll in a college that offers to spend junior year abroad in Wales. Cardiff university (Russell group as mentioned above) is very good, Trinity St David is easy to get into and fun.
In any case, enrolling in “community education” classes in addition to taking one year of A-Levels may be good for a student, since A Levels tend to carry 6 to 8 college credits but are considered high school so the student still applies as a freshman. And it’d certainly help him/her stand out for selective colleges!
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Bryn Mawr! You would think…
Actually, there is a link to Penn’s Celtic Studies program in my Australian compendium above. Beware, as it’s apparently broken. Not sure if Penn still offers a Celtic program, or Welsh.
I’d bet back in the days of the poet-alumnae H.D. and Marianne Moore, Bryn Mawr offered Welsh.
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Think about what it would take to build and sustain a major program around a less-commonly-taught language such as Welsh. Very, very few colleges could bring together a community of interest, and resources, to do that. Maybe Harvard can. Maybe Berkeley can. I’m pretty sure someplace like Middlebury College could not.
Even at a well-resourced place like Harvard, I really doubt you’ll find a full gamut of elementary-intermediate-advanced Welsh language courses, Welsh literature and history courses, etc. You might find a more-or-less robust Celtic Studies program, in which Welsh occupies a niche. If not at Harvard then perhaps at Michigan or Chicago, you might find historical/comparative linguistics courses that cover Celtic languages, possibly including Welsh.I’d be really surprised if you found a full-up “Welsh” program at Harvard or anywhere else in the USA. And even then, if it’s at Harvard, you’d have to get into Harvard.
I suggest the OP’s relative/friend consider programs in linguistics, comparative literature, or some other broader field (possibly as a foundation for graduate study in Celtic historical linguistics or whatever).
Hey, these are all such great suggestions and feedback. Thank you all so much.
I actually LIVE within a half hour of Bryn Mawr and Haverford (both of which are Welsh names), and went to Penn, so I’ve been kind of shocked that none of these schools seems to offer anything like what I’m looking for, but as Welsh was nearly extinct not too long ago, I guess it makes sense.
This entire area is filled with Welsh names, but most people just have no knowledge whatsoever of the history of the Welsh Tract/Barony:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/groups/4286/welsh/471948
Of course most locals have no idea of the Quaker history of the region either, so I guess it’s no surprise!
I’m quite familiar with Bangor, and I know they offer a lot of study-abroad options; I was just wondering if it was necessary to go abroad to really learn the language in depth, and I suspect it is if one wants to do more than just learn to speak a little Welsh.
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I think that you would need to go to Wales to learn it if you would like to have it a major concentration. And you might have to live in Wales to use it once you have graduated.
As you live in the vicinity of Penn and Bryn Mawr / Haverford, it might not hurt to inquire if their libraries and collections contain enough materials in Welsh, such that a student may be able to incorporate it as more of a textual language – say, a third language in a comp. lit. program (the second language being more accessible and common to read and speak). For example, my old advisor was proficient in many languages, some of them “dead”, vestigial, or relevant only to a certain grouping of texts (Old Norse, Middle High German, etc.)
But, as others have said, if the student really seeks to master Welsh as a spoken, “living” language, it’s probably going to require some time in Wales.
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Thanks, @anhydrite. All great suggestions.