A couple of weeks ago I applied to become a volunteer to coordinate events for Duolingo for Welsh speakers and learners in the Asheville, North Carolina area. This application was accepted, so there will be a Duolingo Welsh group upcoming in the Asheville area.
During my onboarding yesterday, it was suggested that since Welsh is a minority language and may not be in demand in the Asheville area, that there is a chance that no one will show up. From looking at the map of Welsh speakers worldwide on this site, I have seen that there are at least 2 other people in Asheville who have used this site to learn Welsh.
Would there be any problem with combining my Duolingo meetup group with an group associated with SSiW? I want to try and reach as many people as possible in Asheville who are interested in learning Welsh, but I want to make sure that I’m not breaking any rules for this site.
Is there any way to reach out to the people who are listed as Welsh learners in Asheville to make them aware of the group? (I know I’ve asked a variation of this question in the recent past, but since this Duolingo group is happening, I thought I would ask again)
Noswaith da, JohnOwen
I don’t know if there is a way to reach out to users on the map. Adding @Sionned and @aran to give input. Sionned is the volunteer map keeper for SSiW, and I had the pleasure of meeting her at NAFOW earlier this month.
Thank you for including @Sionned and @aran in this conversation, @delawarejones! I’m really excited at the prospect of meeting fellow Welsh speakers in the area I live, but I’m really having to work hard at finding these people!
Yup, right there with you! I’m fortunate the Delaware Welsh Society exists and have reached out to them. They have one native speaker, but I’m not sure anyone else can speak Cymraeg. My Daughter seriously joked, “Daddy, you know there are probably less than 5 members?” She’s probably correct, although they do have a fall social. There’s hope! The downside is they all live about 1.5 hours away, while I’d love to meet up with them in person, it would probably be easier to video conference.
To that end, I’m toying with the idea of creating an East-Coast Cyber meet up, same time every week. Initially have 4-5 people as an experimental group to work out the bugs, to try out different conferencing platforms, different ideas. Find things that work and don’t work, and then expand. I’m currently developing a list of Welsh groups in the US and Canada.
You can click on any marker on the map to see the name of the person it is for. If the person is still on the forum and still has the same name, you should be able to use the search function in the forum (click on the magnifying glass) to find their profile and from there you can send a message.
Large caveat, however - these maps were started a long time ago, on the previous SSiW forum. I have no way of knowing if a person stops being on SSiW so some names will not get a result for that reason. In addition, a lot of people changed names when we shifted to the new forum but, unless they have told me that, their current name will not be attached to their marker. The map continues to be updated nearly every day, so many of the markers are current, but I don’t know how current the ones near you are.
Thank you @Sionned for that information. I will certainly try your suggestion and keep my fingers crossed that they are still active (or at least dormant) members of this site.
The Cyber Meet-up is a great idea. It’s a shame Delaware isn’t close to NC, it would be great to be able to grow these Welsh speaking groups by combining two cities’ groups.
Annwyl John, Dw i’n byw ger Smith Mountain Lake yn Ffranklin County, Virginia. I do not travel as far as Ashville, NC, any more, but wish that I could have some local people with whom to practice yr hen iaith. My wife has recently done a portrait of me reading Canu Heledd (as though it were a separate book instead of being part of the Canu Llywarch Hen volume published by the U. of Wales press) and has entered the painting in the Carilion Hospital patients art show in Roanoke, Virginia. Although I have all the volumes of Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, I generally use Y Geiriadur Mawr when I am trying to understand what is said on BBCRadioCymru, which I receive on line. I am also working on Welsh with Duolingo and am a subscriber to SSIW. Charles Pasley (charlespasley@gmail.com)
Helo @ellen-11, I don’t know of anyone in NC, but if you’d like to chat with others online, you’re welcome to join the Welsh Speaking Practice (WSP) Slack group. There is a channel there for learners in the American time zones, and they chat online each week.
Let me know if you’d like an invitation to join WSP.
