Sent to Coventry; Went to Wales

In the US, if someone has been ostracized we say they were voted off the island or sent to Siberia.  I recently learned the UK equivalent of those idioms is “to be sent to Coventry.”  That being said, my stay here at the University of Warwick, which is technically located in Coventry, has not been bad at all.  A great thing about Coventry is its central location and proximity to popular tourist spots--many only a few hours away.

The International Office at the University of Warwick hosts weekly trips to different parts of the UK.  Traveling this way is not the most cost-friendly, but it is extremely convenient as the buses pick up and drop students off on campus.  The only necessary planning is figuring out what to do at the destination.  Last week, I took advantage of this service and visited the coastal capital of Wales: Cardiff.

For some reason it never occurred to me how common Welsh is in Wales until I began wandering the streets of Cardiff.  All of the signs I read were in both English and Welsh.

Sign from Cardiff Castle.  Look at the stuff at the bottom: that is Welsh.

Another sign in Welsh with the Pierhead (left), Wales Millennium Centre (right), and Y Senedd--the home of the National Assembly for Wales--(far right) in background.

Cardiff is the filming location of the Dr. Who TV series.  I do not watch it, however many of my friends do.  When I shared some of the photos from this trip with one of my Whovian roommates in Columbia, she pointed out that I had photographed the Wales Millennium Centre, a building that has appeared on the show numerous times!

Wales Millennium Centre

Cardiff is also the hometown of Roald Dahl, one of my favorite authors.  Dahl, the son of Norwegian immigrants, was christened at the Norwegian Church which stands along Cardiff Bay.  The building is now the Norwegian Church Arts Centre and dedicates a portion of their second floor to Dahl.  There I found copies of Roald Dahl’s books in Welsh.

Norwegian Church Arts Centre 

Welcome sign (in Welsh, English, and Norwegian) inside Norwegian Church Arts Centre

Roald Dahl's Matilda in Welsh

A plaza nearby Cardiff Bay, formerly known as the Oval Basin, was renamed Roald Dahls Plass (Norwegian for Roald Dahl’s Place) in 2002.  It has appeared in episodes of both Dr. Who and Torchwood.  While Roald Dahls Plass was not the most aesthetically pleasing part of Cardiff, it was still inspiring to mill about a place dedicated to the man who conjured up James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Plaque at Roald Dahls Plass

Roald Dahls Plass

Meanings of foreign words can be lost in translation, but that does not make trying to understand them any less important.  In fact, words that are difficult to translate can be very revealing of a culture.  For example, the often used Japanese phrase ganbare means something along the lines of work hard, do your best, and hang in there.  However, ganbare has much more depth and even Japanese speaking bilinguals, like myself, have trouble explaining it to non-Japanese speakers.  When you truly understand the feelings and thoughts that are associated with ganbare, you understand the Japanese work ethic and collectivist tendencies.

The favorite word in Wales is cwtch.  From what I understand, the literal meaning is cuddle or hug.  However, there seems to be a more possessive meaning to the word.  Not possessive in a creepy way, but a you-are-a-part-of-me type of possessive.  I would need a much better comprehension of Welsh to fully appreciate cwtch.  I saw the word cwtch almost everywhere I went in Cardiff: painted on signs, embroidered on pillows, etc.  I had a lot of fun in Wales, but this new, loving word is by far the most interesting tidbit I gained from my trip, and researching the meaning helped me to have a slightly better grasp on the values of the Welsh.