Estimates of the number of Breton-speakers range from 400,000 to 800,000. You may well encounter it spoken as a first, day-to-day language by the very old and the young in parts of Finistère and the Morbihan. Learning Breton is not really a viable prospect for visitors without a grounding in Welsh, Gaelic or some other Celtic language. However, as you travel through the province, it's interesting to note the roots of Breton place names, many of which have a simple meaning in the language. Below are some of the most common:

aber	estuary
bihan	little
bran	hill
braz	big
creach	height
cromlech	stone circle
dol	table
dolmen	stone table
du	black
gavre	goat
goat	forest
goaz	stream
guen	white
hen	old
hir	long
inis	island
ker	town or house
koz	old
lan	church
lann	heath
lech	flat stone
mario	dead
men	stone
menez	mountain
menhir	long stone
meur	big
nevez	sea
parc	new
mor	field
penn	end, head
plou	parish
pors	port, farmyard
roch	stone
ster	river
stivel	fountain, spring
trez	sand, beach
trou	valley
ty	house
wrach	witch