'I want to be a Welsh speaker because...'

I was born in Canada about 8 months after my parents arrived in 1958. My mother and maternal grandparents all spoke Welsh as their first language including my Great Grandmother. My grandparents and great grandmother arrived just days before my birth we all lived together. Welsh was likely included in some of the first words I ever spoke. In 2013 my grandmother who was in Long Term care at 103 was close to death and asked me for ‘dwr’. I didn’t know that word and thought I should know and eventually, post retirement decided to give learning my ancestral language a shot. My family in Canada have all gone and I maintain a hiraith for Wales and trying to learn welsh is my way to address this. After 9 challenges I am happy to have made some good inroads into my quest to become knowledgeable into the language of my fathers (and mothers)…

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…my mum is 95 and Welsh is her first language, so I want to be able to have Welsh conversations with her before it’s too late.

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My tad-cu was so proud to be Welsh and taught me a few words as a baby. From then on I’ve always wanted to learn the language properly, but I don’t have anyone to practice with.

During lockdown I needed something else to focus, on so started learning in earnest. I’m hoping that through SSIW (and Duolingo for vocab) all this will change. Im on challenge 10 so far and surviving. Tried out my first Welsh in a caffi which went down ok!!

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because…

Long story short, I’m French, I come from Brittany, and we currently have many protests to protect the Breton language because our government does nothing to protect regional languages.

I’ve been interested in learning Breton for a few years, but I literally couldn’t find any course at school nor online until very recently. A breton guy who studied Welsh thanks to SSIW actually made his own website to learn Breton during the quarantine in 2020, with the same technique. That’s actually how I heard of SSIW. So I’m learning both languages, because I’m curious to compare, and honestly Welsh sounds really cool and I love to learn it.

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I want to understand a language that surrounds me but has always evaded me (or perhaps I have evaded it). I want to be able to access the literature of Wales. I want to participate in conversations with Welsh-speaking friends and acquaintances. I have been learning two other European languages for several years but feel that I have neglected the one language that surrounds me and that I see daily in the bilingual signs that are, fortunately, commonplace in Wales these days. I also want to experience the language learning method of the Say Something course. To me, after years of trying to learn languages with other methods, this course is a revelation. I would never have believed that an approach of this kind would work but it does work and I am now able to use it for both Welsh and Spanish.

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I’m only posting this comment as a token of commitment. I’m not interested in social support as I don’t like socialising.

I want to be a Welsh speaker because, firstly, I want to be able to read R. S. Thomas’ Welsh language work (peripheral benefits being Hedd Wyn, Waldo Williams et al.) and secondly because my chronic monoglottism has been a source of shame throughout my life and I would like to be rid of it. Changes to my life may be easily intuited from these desires.

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I want to be a Welsh speaker so that when I visit Wales I can speak and understand Welsh rather than English. I’m now hoping to hear live Welsh music.

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because my dad’s family are from Anglesey and I remember them speaking it between themselves whenever we visited. Plus I’d like to sing the national anthem at the next national team football match I get to.

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I want to be a welsh speaker because i really want to understand the school plays my grandchild takes part in, in his welsh school

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because…
I was born and bred in Wales and though knowing a lot of Welsh, having a Welsh O level and having sung regularly in eisteddfodau while growing up I could never consider myself a Welsh speaker.
My grandmother, a first language Welsh speaker was sadly convinced to only speak English to my mother and her sister, thinking it would be best for them. My mother doesn’t have the confidence to speak Welsh despite understanding it. My stepfather was a first language Welsh speaker and all my nieces and nephews are fluent. My stepdad hoped I would learn telyn (harp) as I am a musician but I felt I wouldn’t fit in as a non Welsh speaker.
I could at least speak a bit until I lived briefly in Brazil and learnt a huge amount of Portuguese in a very short time due to necessity and total immersion! The first time I tried to speak Welsh to reply to someone after becoming a Portuguese speaker I automatically replied to them in Portuguese! I only realised when I saw the confusion on their face. Ever since, that has continued to happen. I will try and form sentences in Welsh but it doesn’t come. Or I start a sentence and Portuguese words creep in and no matter how I try I can’t find the Welsh words for anything more than simple responses. I kept saying I would have to go and do an intensive course but have neither the money or time. So here I am, excited to reactivate my Welsh and hopefully become a genuine Welsh speaker. Luckily I have my pronunciation and accent intact! I think my grandmother and stepfather would be proud and happy.

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I have lived in England most of my adult life btw.

I want to read a Welsh book (tick, already!) and speak Welsh when I next go to Wales (next year?) I think Welsh people will enjoy my enthusiasm.

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I grew up knowing I was Welsh, three of my grandparents were Welsh. We celebrated St David’s day, ate Welsh Cookies( you call them welsh Cakes, and my parents enjoyed eating Faggots, we didn’t! I bought my first Teach yourself Welsh book in 1969 when I was 18. As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to learn Welsh, a connection. with my ancestors all of whom were Welsh speakers. I visited Wales on 2007, looking for both ancestral records and cousins. I knew the street address where “we lived” according to my Dad. i stayed a while in Trecynon Aberdare where my Grandmothers Family lived and her two older brothers were born. I visted my grgr grandparents grave and went door to door asking did you know my Aunt Daisy Jones. Well, some one. did and I’ve been in contact with a third cousin! we looked at microfilms at Haverford West visited the church where my Gr Gr Gr grandfather was buried near Tenby. One of my best experiences was hiking the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. I heard Welsh everywhere and wished I could understand it. When I return, maybe with my sisters, I want to be able to talk to people, get to know them. Iv’e been shy about getting to the Slack group, my next challenge. I love learning Welsh!

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I want to be a welsh speaker so that I can speak to my neighbours o galon

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I can speak to my neighbours from the heart
And when I’m able to do this a new sense of belonging here will open up

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I love visiting Wales. Next time I go, I hope to speak Cymraeg! Not many people to practice with here in Reno, Nevada.

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To me Welsh is a language that you feel.It conveys passion so well, it also possesses
such lyrical quality with sounds that combine so beautifully.
I would love to be able to understand and speak it well enough for others to feel what I do myself.

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Although I was born in Wales and have lived here all my life, I have forgotten the very little Welsh I learnt at school many years ago. Living so close to the English border in North East Wales, I had little contact with Welsh speakers until I started working for Welsh Water several years ago. I am proud to be Welsh and want to help keep the language alive and I would also like to be able to speak to my colleagues in North West Wales in Welsh, as for many of them, it is their first language.

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I now live in Wales and would like to be able to reply if someone spoke to me in Welsh. One day I might even have the confidence to initiate a conversation.

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I want to be a welsh speaker because its a beautiful language that needs to be heard loudly and proudly.https://ssi-cyhoeddus.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/recording/1628/6min_10_onesentence.mp3

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