American singer Suzanne Vega delighted fans at her gig in Cardiff last night by talking to them in Welsh. But the 63-year-old Californian star ended up leaving the sold-out audience at St David's Hall a little confused by the random phrases she'd learned for the occasion.
Because, rather than picking a more traditional way of greeting the home crowd in their mother tongue, the Luka songstress instead attempted some rather odd titbits suggested to her by an online language learning app. "I tried learning a little bit of Welsh on Duolingo," she told the packed house, to huge cheers.
"And it teaches you these strange phrases to say, like 'Sut dych chi, Mrs Jones?'. And she responds, 'Ofnadwy'.
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"She then adds, 'Dw i wedi blino'." All of which roughly translates to someone called Mrs Jones being asked how she's feeling, to which Mrs Jones replies, 'Terrible, I'm tired'.
"That must be useful, right?" shrugged Vega. "That's the first thing they (Duolingo) tell you to say - 'How are you? I'm terrible'."
The unlikely opening spiel got big laughs from the audience, to which the singer added, "Well, I'm not terrible and I'm not tired. In fact, I'm very happy to be here." You can get more showbiz and what's on news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
"Superb Suzanne Vega concert at St David’s Hall in Cardiff," tweeted BBC weather presenter Sue Charles, who was seated a few rows from the stage. "The audience absolutely loved her greeting them in Welsh… with a few choice phrases from Duolingo! Da iawn, Suzanne."
Another posted: "Had a great time last night at St David's Hall. Amazing performer and songstress - not bad at speaking Welsh too."
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