Hi
My enthusiasm for the Welsh language comes from being a huge Patriot of everything Welsh !
My Mam was Welsh from Denbigh North Wales and my dad is English. They met at a dance in Ruthin in 1957, my mam soon moved to Cambridge and spent the rest of her life here. As a family, myself the youngest of 5 children we would return to Denbigh every summer holiday, my mam would speak Welsh to my Nain and Taid but would never really speak it back in England except on the phone.
I was always intrigued and felt drawn to it. I return to North Wales every year making Llangollen our base to holiday with my young family. I wish could speak more than the few bits mam taught me.
I love this course and am spending as much time as I can at the moment, I have learnt so many new words.
Diolch yn fawr Mike
Hi there,
Just want to make sure I’m on the right track… I"m a very early starter here and only just got to day 3 on the SSIW 1 sentence. It looks like I’m not the only one ( Thank Heavens ) in remembering the longer sentences to translate. I’ve started pausing then writing down the English sentence and then translating it at my leisure, then pressing play again to check it. I then go back to the previous day and add the Welsh words under the English. If I shouldn’t be doing this then slap my hand now…lol. I’m really enjoying this so far.
Helo! I decided to study Arthur Machen for my Brit. lit paper and his (100% deserved) love for Cymru brought me here! Diolch for this great corner of the web and pob lwc everybody 
- Derin
Hi Emily! I am just startiing my OBOD Bardic course right now! I was born in the UK so this is kind of special for me to be learning Welsh. I have gone back and forth with “which 2nd language should I learn” and tried Spanish… but I am not from Spain! LOL… So I am trying to learn Welsh because we both come from the same island. It would be great in time to meet others in OBOD trying to learn Welsh. Message me if/when you feel it is safe to do so… or not. I am just enjoying this,… Dwi caru Cymraeg!
Hi Rich
Please can you advise me on my next move. Just completed lesson 15 level 1 and I seem to be doing ok! What course should I sign up for next? Should I sign for the Standard and complete all the levels 1,2, and 3 or the six month course. I am confused what each individual course has to offer and what would benefit me the most.
Kind regards John
Hi @john-30
I saw a post that @gisella-albertini did not long ago which was a little ‘self diagnosis’ system for you to decide which path forward would suit you best…I thought this was excellent, so I have found it - click on this link here
Let me know whether that helps - or whether you have more questions…
Rich
Hi Rich
Thank you for replying. I have read the 2 options and I have decided number 2 is the best one for me.
I 'll sign-up and hopefull 'll be at level 2 in a few weeks
Thanks John
Ok - it’s good isn’t it!..it makes you think what sort of person you are! ( Good work @gisella-albertini! 
)
By the time you have reached challenge 15 @john-30 you have made absolutely huuuugggge progress - so congratulations on that - its a major achievement, and in a sense you are filling in gaps with the rest of the course.
Pob lwc!
Rich
Hi,
Is the payment automatically taken monthly or do I have to signup every month The site is just asks for my card details.
Thanks John
It takes it monthly from mine (which was filled in a long time ago!)…but it seems to work well so I’d imagine it’s the same.
Rich
David Lewis
I have just joined this course and I have certainly enjoyed it. When I was a child I lived in Merthyr Tydfil and spent a great deal of time with my grandmother who came from Rhydlewis , Ceredigion a nd was told I could mutter a few phrases. I went to two Welsh-speaking chapels, Bethesda, my mother’s Annibynnwr (that’s an error) and Elim my father’s Baptist chapel. I left Wales for University at 18 and never lived there permanently again.
I would like to come home as I’ve retired for good.
I have spent about 3 weeks a year in Wales and would like to live in Newport, Sir Benfro or Cardigan
I currently live in Caerlyr (Leicester) and joined a groupof about 7 learners led by John Evans Hughes who hailed from Llanrwst. When he gave up , I’ve joined a U3A group and struggled. I find it difficult to answer questions in Welsh. I need a 10 min gap before I come up with anything.
I like the course
Hello everyone,
I just registered tonight ! I’m a native Breton speaker and would like to seriously learn Welsh. I am finishing a Phd at the University of Swansea (not in anything related to Celtic studies haha) and I never really took the time to properly learn Welsh. Although I understand many words and sentences due to the proximity with the Breton language, I need and want to be able to have a conversational level in Welsh
Croeso/Welcome. I’m sure that you will do really well learning a sister language.
Hi my grandchildren attend a Welsh school and I have decided to join this program so that I will be able to communicate with them in Welsh.
Hi there! Very recently completed the “one sentence in Welsh” exercise. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Have been living and working in numerous locations in north west Wales since 1977. (Originally from Shotton, Deeside.) Currently living in Nant Conwy. Have never undertaken any “formal” Welsh language learning - apart from school, that is! Nontheless, I’ve always had a desire to learn the language in a “structured” way. (Unsurprisingly, given that my wife is Welsh-speaking and I have had many Welsh-speaking friends and colleagues down the years.) Unfortunately, in more recent years - and yes, when my desire to learn the language has become even stronger - I’ve not been able to discover, what I would consider to be, a method of learning Welsh which would “produce” for me. (Other, more widely spoken languages, yes, to a degree. But not Welsh.) Until now, that is! Now I’m here, I’m mulling over the best way forward. Something which does concern me is the fact that I’m not what you would call “techy-minded”. (You should have seen the trouble I had uploading my photo!) I’m referring, of course, to the possible requirement, later on, to start uploading words and sentences to the “sound cloud”, whatever that is. Seriously, though, I would like reassurance that I would not be in any danger of being asked to leave the course if, for whatever reason, such an exercise was beyond me. At least without a whole load of grief, which would, inevitably, stress me out! Glad to be here. (At last!) Any advice with regard to the next step appreciated.
Welcome to the forum and to SSiW, Robert!
Don’t worry - the ‘techy’ stuff is not obligatory, and you won’t be thrown off the course for not doing it. Having said that, it is there for a reason - that it helps with your learning, with building your confidence, and for ‘feeling part of the team’! The conversation practise on the Slack platform is especially recommended.
Everyone here is here to help through shared experience, so we’re all here to help you with the techy stuff anyway - in this community, you’ll learn all sorts of skills you never thought possible as well as Welsh!
Hi Siaron. Thank you for replying. Err…you know I said I wasn’t “techy-minded”? Well, feeling rather embarrassed at the “humungous” photo I’ve managed to upload. How do I get it put safely away in the little circle? (Where it belongs!) Or does SSiW take care of that, eventually?!
If you click on your ‘avatar’ (at the moment, that’s your pink ‘R’ ) in the top right hand corner, you should see a little icon that looks a bit like a cog or wheel - that will take you to your account settings where you can upload your image as ‘profile picture’ by clicking on the little pencil (the ‘edit’ icon) next to your current pic.
If you want to delete your big photo from this thread, click on the three dots under your picture, and there should be an option to delete the post (the rubbish bin icon).
Don’t worry - those of us who sound as if we know what we’re doing only do so because we’ve been here a while - we all started from scratch at some point, and can still find things that stump us too! 
Hi All just on to my day two of speaking Welsh. I am enjoying it but maybe need to press the pause bottom ! On my dad’s side they came from Angelsey Amloch. Also they came from Caernovan and they owned a pub on the key called the Vaynal arms. I used to go to my dad’s aunts and they’d be gabbing away in Welsh about money ! They were very kind & I have lovely memories ! Lorraine
Yay - pics all sorted now, I see! Any other questions - tech-related or course-related, just give a yell and there’s always someone around to help.
Another tip though, on the top bar there is a ‘magnifying glass’ icon - that’s a search facility, and having a quick shifty for for whatever’s on your mind can often turn up an answer without you having to ask (but still ask if you feel you need to!)