Ever thought about learning Cornish? Here are 9 reasons to learn Cornish and the best resources to learn the language. If you’ve been looking for some reasons to learn Cornish or are just curious to learn more about the language, this one’s for you.

My Story

I don’t know much about Cornish, but am always keen to promote lesser studied languages. Seeing as I already have a 9 Reasons video for Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish, I was delighted when Mawgan Stintchcombe got in touch with 9 Reasons to Learn Cornish!

I actually didn’t realise when I planning this post that it’s Speak Cornish ‘Week’ from 15th-30th June 2019! Good timing. You can find out more here.

The story of Cornish is quite an interesting one. Many records state that the last native speaker of Cornish, Dorothy Pentreath, died in 1777. Yet, others deny this and claim – even claims made in recent years – that their grandparents spoke Cornish in the home.

Either way, nowadays, the Cornish language has become somewhat of a mark of identity, as languages do, for people living in Cornwall or with Cornish heritage. Most recently, Gwenno recorded a glorious album in Cornish in 2018 called Le Kov, which I definitely recommend!

In fact, the Cornish Language Board claimed the album was responsible for a spike in Cornish exams being taken.

Resources

Go Cornish

– great website with up to date resources and articles for Cornish learners.

Kesva

– exam-based resources. Definitely a useful reference for learners.

Memrise

– There’s a handful of Cornish courses available on Memrise to support your studies too.

Omniglot

– interesting starter info and useful links.

Desky Kernowek

– an audio course for beginners.

Say Something In…

– The popular SSI series has Cornish! Yay!

9 Reasons to Learn Cornish