TEACHER TO LEARN MANX IN ONE DAY

...with a little help from a bottle of vodka

APIONEERING language teacher has set himselfhimse an unusual ta target – to spend a day learnin learning Manx on a live videocast and then have a conversation in the langu language with someo someone who is fluent. Aran Jones, the co-founder of SaySomethinginWelsh.com,thinginWelsh.com will undertake the cha challenge on Monday, June 27. He will spend an intensive day learning Manx on a live video-cast, taking a shot of Bifrost hand-crafted Manx vodka before each half-hour session.

Manx, the old Celtic language spoken on the Isle of Man, was in decline for centuries, with the last native speaker dying in 1974.

Now, however, more people are learning it and the first native Manx speakers for a generation are being born to parents who are bilingual in the language and English.

Aran, who lives near Pwllheli, said: “Everyone knows that a little alcohol helps language learners relax when they’re using their new language. I want to find out if it helps the learning process itself. I also want to celebrate the launch of a new Manx course built in partnership between SaySomethinginWelsh.com and Culture Vannin [the Isle of Man’s publicly funded cultural agency].”

The intensive day’s learning will run from 8.30am through to 7.30pm, when Aran – who has never previously learnt any Manx – will attempt a live conversation in Manx with Adrian Cain, Manx Language Officer for Culture Vannin.

The whole event will be broadcast on a live Google Hangout – including the attempt at a conversation – a chance for the thousands of people who’ve learnt Welsh with SaySomethinginWelsh to get a little revenge as they watch Aran struggle with a new language.

“We’re excited about helping one of our sister languag- es with this new course, although I’m personally more than a little worried about the vodka,” he said. “It was suggested to me as a challenge on one of our immersion Welsh Bootcamps. I’m very bad at saying no to silly challenges.”

Adrian Cain said: “It’s been a real coup for us to work with the team at SaySomethinginWelsh. Their unique methodology is a real eyeopener, and we think our learners are going to be amazed by the complex sentences they’ll be able to use within a remarkably short period of time.”

Other would-be Manx learners who feel they also deserve to be fortified by vodka can get their own bottles at http://www. bifrostvodka.im/