An academic researcher from Poland, Joanna Człapa, has been inspired to carry out research into Welsh words, phrases and swear words after reading a Welsh translation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book, Matilda.
Joanna was already learning Welsh when she analysed the Welsh translation of Matilda as part of her BA degree in the Celtic Studies Research Unit at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, western Poland.
She found phrases such as ‘car diawl’ (meaning ‘devil car’), ‘nefoedd wen’ (meaning ‘good heavens’), and ‘y cythraul bach diflas’ (meaning ‘the miserable little devil’), which sparked her curiosity about their meaning. Keen to research these expressions further, and Welsh swear words more generally, Joanna found there was little existing academic research.
As a result, in July 2025, Joanna went to Caernarfon, where more than 80% of the population speak Welsh, to interview Welsh speakers about which swear words they used, and their attitudes towards them.
This was the first time she had undertaken fieldwork as part of her research. She conducted interviews with shop owners and local people on the street through the medium of Welsh and felt excited about being able to use the language.
Overall, she found that attitudes towards swear words had softened over time, and that people had greater acceptance, although views varied according to different age groups. The final findings will be published in a research article in due course.
Joanna is now following Advanced-level courses with Learn Welsh Gwent and Learn Welsh Pembrokeshire, which are run by Coleg Gwent and Pembrokeshire County Council on behalf of the National Centre for Learning Welsh. She is also studying for an MA degree in sociolinguistics, looking at attitudes towards the use of anglicised words and patterns in Welsh.
Joanna says, "I’ve always enjoyed stories about King Arthur and Celtic legends, so I decided to follow a degree course at Adam Mickiewicz University, where there’s a Celtic Studies Research Unit. I started learning Welsh at university through virtual Learn Welsh courses and fell in love with the language.
"I loved the vocabulary in Matilda, and as I'm a curious person, I decided to carry out further research. I think it's important to look at how people use language, especially minority languages.
"Many of the research participants in Caernarfon said they were unaware of a collection of Welsh swear words. I was surprised to hear this, which confirmed the importance of my research and why I want to continue researching this area."
Alongside her studies and Welsh lessons, Joanna enjoys attending online Welsh chat sessions. She also listens to Welsh-language music, watches S4C, and has recently started reading Welsh poetry.
In addition to Polish and Welsh, Joanna also speaks English and French and can understand some Gaeilge (Irish).
