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John Cowan wrote:
However, I suspect the truth is that they might tend to say "she" for "it" (Gaelic has no neuter gender or pronoun, and English-speakers already use "she" for "it" in certain critical cases like ships), but I doubt that anyone ever said "she" for "he", since that distinction, applied to human beings, is exactly the same in the two languages.
This also happens in English as spoken by the "gwyndod"- the Welsh-speaking population of Gwynedd. Most of them live in the mountains- the coast gets progressively more Anglicised the further east you go. Personally, living in a town where English and Welsh are used roughly equally (especially in my generation), I often find myself referring to English nouns that are feminine in Welsh as "her" or "she", especially pubs[1]. However, this rarely happens when I'm speaking to my Sais boyfriend or other English monoglots, only when talking to other Welsh speakers.
On a more romlang-relevant note, I've often noticed French (but never Italian or Spanish) speakers misuse "it", especially whenb "it" is used as an impersonal pronoun.
Dan[1] although I've always referred to a pub that I work in or run as "she", anyway. Pubs have souls too!
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Ath yw dyned can pob den o rydhad o voenyth, cynanaf â chraveth.
o Raeth 18 o Gorlavaraed Vethysadec an Dynedad Dyneth