What’s your WHY?
How would you finish the sentence ‘I want to be a Welsh speaker because…’?
Just ONE sentence…
I want to be a Welsh speaker because…
And what’s ONE thing you hope will happen when you are a Welsh speaker?
[Okay, okay, if you already are, what’s ONE thing that pleased you that’s happened because you became a Welsh speaker? 
]
I am a Welsh speaker and my highlight so far was spending 18 months working for S4C in Cardiff.
… because I want to be like SJ. 
But really … because I wanted to make my dad proud.
Because my middles insisted.
Don’t know what I hope for - but the hope is bigger now that I’m speaking Welsh.
I got one of my mom’s paintings published (with a poem written as a response to the work) in my favourite magazine that’s about new and different literature. I had the courage to talk to the editors of the magazine - all if which really cool writers and poets, one of which my favourite poet and member of my favourite band - through email, completely in Welsh.
( http://ystamp.cymru , if anyone’s interested in the magazine 
)
I have learnt Welsh and now feel a real part of Emma’s family, and truly feel Cymru is my home.
I want to be a Welsh speaker for the sake of it and because most of the Welsh people I’ve met are nice.
Because I loved hearing Welsh when I was a child.
I am really happy to have become a Welsh speaker as it has given me the key to open the door to a wonderful, new culture.
Only ONE thing? OK, I’ve made so very many friends through learning and speaking Welsh, and that makes me happy. Also, sitting on the bus to the Eisteddfod this year with everybody yapping away in Welsh, that was special, too. And…
I’ve been thinking hard about this to whittle the list of a multitude of things down to one, and I think I’d have to go with this -
I’m glad I became a Welsh speaker because it has given me the privilage of meeting and working with so many interesting and hugely talented people that I would, in some cases, never have even heard of otherwise.
…and SSiWers - you can count yourselves included in that statement!
I’m falling in love with this thread… 
Oh - I wanted to become a Welsh speaker because I knew it had once been a part of my family, and because I felt unsettled about my Welsh identity without it (which wasn’t helped by, er, not actually living in Wales much!).
The best thing that’s happened to me as a result of learning Welsh - hmmmm, tricky - either my wife, or my kids (probably depends what time of day you ask me… ).
I want to be a Welsh speaker because - apart from the obvious fact that Welsh is a beautiful and fascinating language and clearly well worth learning - it gives me the warm glow of belonging to what here in Germany feels like a thrillingly secret society.
because I live in Wales and its the national language
I’ve often mentioned these but they are so important to me that I hope I’ll be forgiven for mentioning them again.
I want to be a more accomplished Welsh speaker so I can read and write in Welsh and understand what yn uffern they’re saying in Tregaron. 
wps! - that’s more than ONE sentence, isn’t it? 
If I remove all the full stops, will that be OK?
I wanted to learn because I’d ended up living in Wales and wanted to know what I was missing!
And I actually have gained a certain amount of access to a new layer of life quite invisible to the uninitiated - and full of wonderful people I wouldn’t have met otherwise! (Although I have to say, it can be extremely well hidden in my part of S Wales, unfortunately.)
I wanted to learn Welsh because I could see how much joy and pride it brought friends.
Having learnt Welsh, using my skill gives me a buzz and makes me feel part of a national community.
Absolutely love this thread. 
I’m imagining the SSiW TV commercial based on these responses right now.
That’s a superb thought… 
[quote=“aran, post:1, topic:10504”]
I want to be a Welsh speaker because…[/quote]
there’s been a yearning inside me since I was small to find out how to understand and speak back to those who are now long gone: those neighbours and relatives who when I was young would switch to English to ask me what I wanted or what I’d done and then revert back to resume their conversations in Welsh
And what’s ONE thing you hope will happen when you are a Welsh speaker?
I hope one day to finally lose that sense of awe that I get when someone speaks Welsh, that sense of oh I could never do that as comfortably as that, which elevates the challenge of speaking back to unnecessary levels.