0:00:00.250,0:00:03.449
I'm here now with Simon, who we've finally[br]managed to catch for an interview which I'm

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really excited about. I would say it's nice[br]to meet you but we've met for two days now...it

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seems silly! Simon runs the website that I'm[br]sure you will've heard of and used many times,

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Omniglot. So first of all thank you for that.[br]Yep, you're welcome!

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How did that come about?[br]Well it all started about back in 1998. Originally

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I was trying to set up my own business as[br]an online web designer and translation agency.

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That didn't really work out but Omniglot kind[br]of grew out of there. And I carried it on

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as a hobby while I was working as a web designer[br]in Brighton and eventually I was made redundant

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from that job and by that time I was making[br]a living from Omniglot. And since then I've

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moved to Bangor, did an MA in Linguistics,[br]now I'm supporting myself completely from

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Omniglot.[br]Brilliant! That's fantastic! That's truly

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living the language dream, isn't it?[br]It is!

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Brilliant. And I'd like to talk - your badge[br]- I don't know if you can see Simon's badge

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from there - is very very impressive, so we've[br]spoken a bit...you did a degree initially

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in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese is that correct?[br]That's right, yeah.

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And then moved on a lot to C..I've forgotten[br]already! Celtic or Celtic?!

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Celtic![br]Celtic! Moved on a lot to Celtic languages.

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What inspired you to begin with Celtic languages?[br]Well my mum's family come from Wales. She

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grew up in England but her parents were from[br]South Wales, so I've always been interested

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in Welsh and always had the intention to learn[br]it. And I eventually got round to it about

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12 years ago. Started learning. Oh no, it[br]was actually, after I came back from Taiwan,

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when I started Omniglot. Because one of the[br]jobs I applied for was in Bangor, in the International

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Office, and they said you have to learn Welsh[br]to do this job if you don't already speak

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it. So I started learning Welsh at that time[br]and I got Teach Yourself Welsh and I went

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through it a couple of times and went to my[br]interview and they said "Do you speak Welsh?"

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and I said "A little bit!". But I couldn't,[br]wasn't able to have a conversation at that

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time. And then I didn't do much more for a[br]few years and then I was on holiday in Northern

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Portugal doing a walking tour and there was[br]a couple of Welsh speakers in the group! And

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I thought...[br]In Portugal?! I bet you weren't expecting

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to practise your Welsh in Portugal?![br]Well no! But they happened to be there in

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the same group and I was sharing a room with[br]one of them and I tried to speak Welsh to

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them and I soon ran out of things to say 'cause[br]it was all a while since I'd used it and I'd

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forgotten a lot and when I got home I thought,[br]"I've learnt all these different languages

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for going on holiday to places, out of interest",[br]and I thought, "which of these do I really

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want to learn the most?" and I thought, "Welsh![br]'Cause it's an ancestral language. My family

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used to speak it a few generations ago and[br]I've always been interested in it. So for

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the next few years I listened to Welsh language[br]radio on the internet every day at work, all

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day, at first I understood hardly anything[br]but gradually it started to make more sense

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and I got some more courses. I got Colloquial[br]Welsh and various other courses, and I started

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reading things on the Internet, and I got[br]simple books for learners, which were kind

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of much..I struggled with at first but eventually[br]it started to make sense and then more and

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more I got to the stage where I could understand[br]it, I could read it, then I did a summer school

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in Lampeter for two weeks...[br]Wahey! Lampeter! Ashley, cameraman, who you

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can't see, went to Lampeter University so..there's[br]the link there!

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Yeah, so, this was the first time I'd had[br]proper conversations in Welsh. So at first

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I struggled a bit, but after 2 weeks I was[br]quite happy to babble away in Welsh all day.

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So you almost created like, we've just come[br]out of a talk with Alex Rawlings, who was

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mentioning about if you can't go to the country[br]physically, about creating a sort of remote

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immersion - so that's pretty much what happened[br]to you with Welsh.

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Exactly, yes. That's what I did, yeah.[br]And then what was your next language along

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the way, from there? Where did you go? Did[br]you go to Manx or Cornish or Gaelic?

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Well, Irish actually. I'd learnt a little[br]bit of Scottish Gaelic when I was in Taiwan

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because I just fell in love with the music.[br]While I was at school I started playing the

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tin whistle, listening to songs like Plynad(?),[br]Enya, and Capacaely(?) and Runry(?), and I

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just love the sound of these languages, Scottish[br]and Irish Gaelic and I just wanted to learn

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them and eventually I got round to it. And[br]I went... and I spent a year learning Irish

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at home. I started with courses on Radio Ulster.[br]They have these little courses and they're

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really good 'cause they just do little bits[br]'cause it's a radio programme so they just

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do, take you through the basics in each programme[br]and then you learn a little bit more and they

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reinforce what you've learnt already and I[br]found that really good and I got a book that

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was based on another radio series called...what's[br]it called?..Irish On Your Own or Now You're

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Talking.[br]Ahh, I like that, Now You're Talking! That's

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cool![br]Now You're Talking!

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Now You're Talking yeah! Brilliant. It looks..I'm[br]not sure if we have to go back in soonish

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so we'd better sort of wrap it up but it's[br]been an absolute pleasure. Is there a language

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that's next on your list at all?[br]Well recently I've been learning Serbian.

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Ah ha! To come to the Polyglot Conference![br]Exactly! I'm not sure if I'll carry on when

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I go home. I might do but I'd really like[br]to learn Russian and Czech more. I've done

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some already and I started learning Swedish[br]earlier this year after the Polyglot Gathering

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in Berlin and I've got other languages I'd[br]like to learn but at the moment, that's enough!

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Yeah, that's quite a sort of lingering list.[br]It's nice! Brilliant! Well Simon, it's been

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an absolute pleasure to meet you and I look[br]forward to meeting you again very very soon.

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Ok thank you very much![br]My pleasure!