A quirky book series by Ceredigion’s Anne Cakebread has sold over 100,000 copies.

In 2018, Anne approached Y Lolfa with the off-the-wall idea to publish the unusual Teach Your Dog Welsh pocket-sized illustrated phrasebook to help people learn Welsh with their pet.

Anne’s added more languages since, and total sales for the series have just exceeded 100,000 copies.

Explaining how the idea came to her, Anne, manager of Cardigan’s Oriel Canfas Gallery who lives in St Dogmaels, said: “I adopted a whippet called Frieda and discovered her previous owner only spoke Welsh to her, so she only responded to Welsh commands. I’d started learning Welsh but didn’t really dare use it with anyone, so I used to practise by speaking to Frieda. It really boosted my confidence speaking Welsh aloud, so I came up with the idea for a book to encourage others to learn and practise with their pets. It’s great entertainment for the owner as well as the dog!”

You can now Teach Your Dog other languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Cornish, Jersey French and Māori. Lots of requests from cat-lovers means there are several Teach Your Cat... titles too.

The books contain useful expressions to learn a few basics – and most of the phrases can be used with people too! Each phrase is accompanied by an illustration and pronunciation help. There are over 60 expressions to practise, from ‘Come here!’, ‘Do you want to play?’ to ‘I love you’.

Y Lolfa Managing Director Garmon Gruffudd thinks Anne’s books are success because “they provide a really fun introduction to learning another language, and the illustrations appeal just as much to children as to adults. Y Lolfa is proud to play a small part in helping to encourage people to use some very endangered languages.”

Carolyn Hodges, Anne’s editor at Y Lolfa, said: “Studies show having fun while learning really motivates you to continue, and that’s a key factor in success in language-learning. We hope people will pick up a book because it makes them laugh, and at least some of them will keep going and want to learn more.

“We’re over the moon with how the idea of these books has caught on. Communicating in another language and the door that opens into another culture is something really magical. My life changed completely because I randomly decided to start learning Welsh while living in Oxford. Weirdly, as I had nobody to practise with there at first, I did exactly the same as Anne and used to speak Welsh to my cat, Missy. It seems like fate that I ended up editing Teach Your Cat Welsh!”

Anne said: “I studied languages at school but found it difficult to pick them up as I hadn’t been to the country and didn’t get the chance to practise. I’d love to go back in time and give these books to teenage me! I hope anyone who’s ever fancied trying their hand at a new language will have fun with the books!”