On reflection, given the organisational structure and the choice of judges, it may be fairer to think of it as “Face of Cymraeg i Oedolion”. I don’t think that’s sour grapes talking…
Mulling over Aran’s comment about the standard, he’s quite right of course, everyone I spoke to could communicate quite freely in Welsh. Does anyone else get a deep sense of irony about this? As learners, our greatest, ultimate ambition is to be so good as to be mistaken for native speakers (that’s not just me, is it?) yet all mainstream efforts seem geared to keeping learners as a race apart… even to the extent of looking for learners who have done most to fit into their communities and use their Welsh, and hanging a big sign around their necks saying “dysgwr” for ever. This is one of those things that gets weirder the more I think about it so I shall stop now.
I’m glad you felt your Welsh went well, @karengo - shame you didn’t exactly ‘click’ with the judges. It was lovely to chat with you last week, and I thought you sounded fantastic! It must be pretty much luck of the draw, when there are so many people around who have learnt to a high level… how on earth do they choose?!
Yeah, I know how you feel. I can’t remember the last time someone introduced me as ‘a learner’, but on the rare occasions it happens, it’s not something that fills my heart with the joys of spring (although I’m proud of having made the effort)…
I agree. I haven’t been to Merched y Wawr for some time, but part of me is a bit reluctant as some of them have a tendency to treat me as their “pet learner”. I’m sure they don’t do it intentionally, and it could be nothing to do with language and more the fact that they’ve all been going for donkey’s years and I’m still classed as a newcomer, but it would be nice to be just treated like one of the group occasionally.
I’ve decided to wait until they start up again after the summer and try again!
Pro-tip: recruit some more learners for them to switch attention to As a bonus, Dolgellau just came joint first in Meirionnydd for the biggest increase in membership this year
Yes, I was thinking that myself. I’ll start with working on the woman across the road who is newly moved to Llandysul and keen to practise her Welsh
Congratulations on the increase in membership! It must be that great secretary they’ve got
All villages and small towns are like that. I was an oddity in our village on Gower, because I’d been staying there for so long at all times of year and for all sorts of events. The greatest honour was when I was told, “Oh, but you are an honorary villager”!
When I got my own cottage, I was ‘a villager who has to go off to London to work’. When I early retired, well how I was seen depended. Families there since the mists of time saw me as a medium long incomer, newish residents couldn’t understand why I was seen as having been there longer than they had! We all spoke English! Add that as a complication and I can imagine the twists and turns are highly complex!
I find it odd that finalists of a learners competition started learning 12 years ago. Seems a bit distant to still be a “learner”. Then again, that is the Welsh for Adults timeframe I suppose.
Wow, really? I thought there used to be a 10year limit (not that that is much of an improvement).
Quick check of the Learners’ Competitions booklet and there is no mention of any time frame. The only way to cease to be eligible to enter seems to be either to be accepted on a degree course in Welsh or to become a tutor.
Aside from the slight tastelessness of it, the whole thing doesn’t make much logical sense. I remember thinking when I heard a couple of the finalists on the radio last year that they were not actually ‘dysgwyr’, but what I would have described as ‘cyn-ddysgwyr’. It seems almost a little rude for ‘cyn-ddysgwyr’ to enter a competition for ‘dysgwyr’. (What about @aran / @garethrking etc?) But then the winner is basically going to be a ‘cyn-ddysgwr’ - but presumably only just. So there is somewhere an extremely fine line to be trodden to know if you are still a dysgwr but not yet a cyn-ddysgwr. Minefield!!
I have competed twice and the experience was valuable and speaking with Nia Parry was the icing on the cake.
As a learner it does not matter how good you think you are at speaking in Welsh as all competitors can do that. What is more important is how you use your Welsh in your daily life. What do you do to promote the language within your work, within your community. Unfortunately the competition does not recognise the people who put a lot of effort into learning the language but for various reasons are not able to use Welsh every day in a work/community situation.
I’d like to confess that after 72 years (minus a year or two of baby talk) I’m still learning English, though I would say that I do talk it quite tidy now.
I’ve thought for ages that they need two different competitions - ‘learners’ (two year cut-off seems the best option, so they inspire more than they terrify) and ‘contributors’ (not first language, making a difference to a Welsh-speaking community).
I get that they want to showcase what is possible (and that lots of Anglophone monoglots need some serious convincing that actual fluency is possible!) - but I do think the ‘learner ghetto effect’ is a bit of a problem.
Having said all that - I don’t think Dani has been learning for very long at all, fair play to her. And you’d have made an excellent finalist, Karen - I’m sure you must have been one of their ‘how do we choose?’ conundrums.
As a bonus, Dolgellau just came joint first in Meirionnydd for the biggest increase in membership this year 
