Lightening the tone slightly; my wife and I met up with a few friends last week. One of the friends who has Welsh as his first language, happened to greet me with “Shwd ych Chi?” For some reason I automatically answered in Welsh. Later on in the evening, I managed to steer the conversation towards the Welsh Language. At this point, all of our English speaking friends started speaking Welsh. I wasn’t able to get a word in edge-ways 
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Hello gavinM Don’t worry she won’t stop me. I feel sorry for her that she felt like she did as I think it is marvellous that anyone learns the language and should be encouraged. Diolch
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Well, that is good and all of us are glad, but she might be a lot more influential on someone with less will power/confidence/guts. Also, she is a very bad advertisement for gogledd Cymru!
And moons ago, when I was almost young, I got frightened off speaking Welsh to anyone in Gwynedd whom I didn’t know by that sort of attitude. I also learned that most Gogs are lovely and helpful, but first impressions can last a long time, and if I hadn’t gone up there every year, I might never have found out!
In fact, my ‘Auntie’, who was usually really keen to learn new things, never tried to learn Welsh all the time she lived there and I suspect the ‘you’re a southerner, not proper Welsh!’ attitude of some may have caused her to be put off!
(She was a teacher of French and German at a Grammar School before she retired!)
Ah, that’s a real shame, @glynsig, and NOT at all representative of the people of North Wales that I know. Please don’t take that as a common way of thinking in the North. Unfortunately, there’s always one bad apple in every barrel. Don’t let her spoil your experience…but DON’T ever go back to that shop. 
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Da Iawn chi! I’m lucky enough to volunteer in a community shop in Carmarthenshire where I can try out my Welsh. It always gets a good reception. When I’m in Lloegr my hen ghi gets spoken to quite a lot. He understands what gwely means now and that if he goes there, he might get a biscuit!
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My ci ifanc - mae hi ast yn wir - watches Cyw on S4C with me and has her favourite programs. Well, she watches a lot of S4C, to be fair! I don’t speak much Welsh to her because she has to understand Janet as well and it seems a bit unfair to expect her to be trilingual (dog, English, Welsh).
The other day she was jumping up at the back of my legs to try to get me to hurry up, when I was cooking. After a couple of "No!"s, I got so fed up, I yelled, “Paid!”. She stopped at once! So she is learning when I don’t realise it!
Oh, @aran Your method works for dogs as well as people!!!
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“Aros” for more than five seconds seems to be a problem for my dog in any language! Dal ati is a very useful programme for learners on S4c I think.
Traveling back to my home in mid Wales I stopped in a bar in builth wells not expecting to get a chance to practice, but there was a motorbike rally and a group of bikers from caernarvon who heard me trying to speak welsh all spoke to me and before I left all insisted on shaking my hand and thanking me for learning. First time I spoke welsh was in Aberystwyth in a bookshop and I spent 10 mins outside practicing and getting my nerve up
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What a lovely story - wish we had that one on video! 
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All the bikers I ever met were lovely people! One biker couple were getting married just before friends of mine and their guests were a delicious mix of relatives in suits and hats and friends in leathers bearing fearsome pictures!! The latter were much the nicest to chat to while waiting!
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Helo,
I’ve been doing SSiW for a few weeks now but I’ve been really hesitant to try my Welsh out in the real world, which made me feel really guilty, especially since I’ve been living in Cardiff the past few years and I’m sure I could find ample opportunities to practice if I wanted to.
Reading all your lovely stories, however, gave me courage, so today I went to an event in my university where people were invited to go and chat with Welsh speakers and use however much Welsh they got. So, after giving myself a bit of a pep talk, I went up to them and this very lovely lady started talking to me. In fact, she tried to keep the conversation going for over 15’ while speaking slowly and simply and made sure to compliment me on the amount of Welsh I had managed to learn in such a short time. She even gave me a “Cymraeg” pin to show that I can speak Welsh. It was such a lovely experience and though undoubtedly intimidating, I’m so happy I found the courage to try it.
So thanks everyone for sharing your stories and thank you SSiW for the amazing work! xx
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Shwmae Maria, a chroeso i SaySomethinginWelsh a’r fforwm!
First of all, I want to congratulate you for taking the plunge and using your Welsh in the real world! I’m assuming you knew a little bit of Welsh before starting SSiW, but even so, after a few weeks and throwing yourself into a conversation is a huge achievement!
I see you mentioned that you live in Cardiff. Are you aware of the monthly meet-up at Y Mochyn Du Tavern in Pontcanna? A small group of SSiW learners at all levels meet here on the first Monday of every month at around 7pm. You will be more than welcome to come and join us if you feel you would like to practice more, or even gain some inspiration to continue with the SSiW course. The next meeting should be on the 7th November, but check on the forum for updates - there is a thread somewhere by here! It’ll be good to meet you! 
A rather late EDIT to add a link to the topic on our meets at Y Mochyn Du:-
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Llongyfarchiadau, @Maria! I agree with @faithless78 - that’s a huge achievement! You should be very proud of yourself! Welcome to the forum!
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Just to put this into context for you, Maria, one of the biggest single problems that Welsh for Adults faces as a field is the difficulty of getting people to move from using Welsh in the classroom to using it in real life - it is VERY common for people to have been in classes for YEARS and still be hugely resistant to speaking outside the classroom.
So for you to have jumped in at the deep end after just a few weeks is an absolutely gigantic achievement, and you should be enormously proud of yourself! 
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Well I didn’t get chance to try out my Welsh in the end. But it was a very good night. #BAFTACymruAwards 
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I’m not sure which thread to put this in; regarding bilingual signs. I popped into the new retail centre in Merthyr last week. I won’t plug its name, but it’s next to Cyfarthfa Castle
Anyway, all of the internal signs are written in oversized Welsh, with a tiny English translation in the bottom corner. I didn’t hear anyone talking Welsh, but if they had, it would have seemed natural.
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I dunno - seems as though it should have its name plugged! Good work, that retail establishment
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I agree with @sarapeacock, plug it Bach!!! And to @Maria - everything that @aran said!
Oh and John, did you say something in Welsh to any of the retail outlet staff?
I thought I did plug it on the sly It was Cyfarthfa Retail park. I was in a rush, but should have at least said diolch yn fawr as I left.
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Hi @castellcollen - From your user name I’m guessing that you’re from the Llandrindod/Llanyre area. Just a reminder that some of us meet every Wednesday evening at the Arfon Ales micropub on Temple Street from 8pm, and also (if you don’t like pubs) on the first Saturday morning of each month at the Thomas Shop in Penybont from 10:30. We’re very friendly with a wide range of abilities represented. You would be more than welcome to come along and join us!
Did you know, by the way, that researchers believe that the ‘real’ name of Castell Collen is Caerfagu and the the current name is a Victorian error?
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