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

tom-13 · February 11, 2019, 10:08am

I want to be a Welsh speaker to help my son who will join a Welsh medium school in September!

clare-larke · February 11, 2019, 3:25pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because I live in a Welsh speaking community; the village school that my children attend is Welsh speaking and the voluntary group i’m involved is made up predominantly of Welsh speakers; it makes me feel embarrassed that they have to switch to English when we’re having a group meeting. My hope is that I will be able to chat with friends and neighbours, teachers and colleagues, as well as my own children. I’ve lived in and around Aberystwyth for 17 years, it’s my home, I love it, but I know that to many people I’m still an outsider; I hope that speaking Welsh will help with feeling more involved or accepted in the community. Most people here are lovely, by the way, and my local shop keeper was very pleased that I said “i’ve forgotten something” in Welsh when I got to the till - she said she will help me to practice and that I am not allowed to speak English in the shop now! haha!

alex-clewett · February 11, 2019, 5:56pm

I want to be Welsh speaker because I want to converse with the people I work and live with in their own language. Plus I’ve always wanted to be able to speak another language and now I have the real opportunity to do it properly and immerse myself in it. One thing I hope will happen is that those people I live and work with will feel confident enough in my abilities to speak to me in Welsh…

thomasina-cummings · February 11, 2019, 6:23pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because it is used a lot in my workplace. I’d like to be able to use it with my students and colleagues naturally (instead of just learning a few rote statements to keep the external assessors happy )

siobhan-buttimer · February 11, 2019, 8:41pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because both of my girls will be going to a Welsh medium school. I don’t want to have two teenage daughters who speak (and give cheek) in a language I can’t understand!!

Sean-O · February 11, 2019, 8:42pm

Ah…you laugh now, but either your Cymraeg trajectory shall rocket, or your diet is possibly at risk of becoming bara, dwr a menyn (if you don’t get flustered and ask for something like bolltau)

clare-larke · February 12, 2019, 11:58am

I’m ok on the important basics of food - I know ‘gwin’ and ‘caws’, so I’ll be alright. haha!

holly-love · February 13, 2019, 12:04pm

My grandmother was a Welsh speaker but was forced to speak only English at age 5 as her family moved across the border. She lost most of her Welsh over the years…so sad. Now I have a baby granddaughter myself who will go to a Welsh school and I want to be able to speak Welsh to her.

David-O · February 13, 2019, 9:51pm

… I live in wales

tsyesika · February 14, 2019, 9:56am

I want to learn welsh because I like the welsh language.

I don’t have a “good” or rather practical reason as I don’t live in wales (or patagonia) nor do I come from wales but I’ve always had a strong desire to be a welsh speaker ever since it occured to me that maybe I wasn’t entirely incapable of learning languages (attempting to learn French in school made me think it was me who couldn’t learn languages, not the teaching method at fault).

aran · February 14, 2019, 10:42am

A very warm welcome to the forum, @tsyesika - where do you live? It’s always particularly interesting having people who don’t live in Wales on here…

tsyesika · February 14, 2019, 10:57am

Thank you for the warm welcome

I live in Sweden but I’m originally from around Caerhirfryn/Lancaster area.

Kim-J · February 14, 2019, 8:21pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want to support my daughter in her Welsh medium school.
It would change the way I can support her and communicate with her teachers.

vanessa-jones · February 14, 2019, 8:41pm

I want to speak Welsh as my children are bilingual (both going to Welsh schools) and I would love to be able to chat to their teachers in Welsh and also to be able to speak Welsh to some of the customers that come into my place of work.

jennifer-3 · February 15, 2019, 7:15pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because Wales is my home now & I have Welsh speaking friends & family. I hope to impress my nieces by speaking to them in Welsh

(Also I ️ Gorky’s zygotic mynci’s music & super furry animals’ music & would really love to sing along in Welsh )

Sean-O · February 16, 2019, 3:32am

S’mae/Hello,
I have posted here a number of times, but I have not yet stated my own reasons. In truth-it’s complicated. What does an Irish-American with no known family link to Cymru have to do with loving yr iaith Cymraeg the language of the Cymry? The easy answer would be that my wife is of the Cymry (Cymraes gog…) and was robbed of her distinctive speech as a small child who had no language other than English. I had none of my grandparents’ tongue myself (aside from names and community and the Casement foundation and pubs). This is a common thread of history that our people share. Just as the Cymry were welcome to ferry over for food during the War, I have noticed some Irish here sharing in the continuance of the language.
Long may this be so.
Link
Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, nearly half are in danger of disappearing. With or without wanting to, the dominance of languages like English is suffocating and killing off minority tongues at an extinction rate quicker than that of birds, mammals, fish and plants.
If we lose our languages, we lose our identity, we are unable to describe our world with the soul and beauty native to us, and lose our distinctiveness in a worldly morass of homogeneity.
I am proud to be a part of safeguarding this ancient tongue and I hope that you all feel just a bit of pride in it as well.
I did say it was complicated

jackie-butler · February 16, 2019, 6:20am

When I retired, I decided to take a GCSE in a subject that I’d failed spectacularly at school; I chose Latin. The course included translations about the Celts, Druids and Boudicca and, the more I read, the more I wanted to learn a Celtic language. I chose Welsh because it’s the most widely spoken, a beautiful language and I love Welsh mythology. I hope eventually to be able to read small extracts of the amazing Welsh mythology in Welsh. We’ll see

lin-2 · February 16, 2019, 2:34pm

my father’s family were Welsh and I love feeling part of the thriving exciting community of Welsh speakers. I want to visit Wales and have real conversations in shops etc and help in some small way to keep this beautiful language alive. I imagine I’ll feel thrilled at that point.
Also, my main aim is to be able to watch ‘Pobol Y Cwm’ without English subtitles Thank you very much to all involved with this wonderful course.

delawarejones · February 16, 2019, 7:23pm

@lin-2 @jackie-butler @Sean-O @jennifer-3 @vanessa-jones @Kim-J

I love reading stories how learning Welsh links generations together! Even if those links are not readily apparent. I live in the United States and have Welsh ancestry, but I cannot place a person or location in Wales. When I sing along to Welsh songs…mostly mumble words I don’t know until I come to the words I do know… or watch a Welsh program or speak ‘yn y Cymraeg,’ I really enjoy the feeling of being connected to a group of people whose history goes back thousands of years. This forum is filled with great people who all share a passion for the language, and a surprising amount live outside of Wales. Thank you all for sharing.

chris-evans · February 17, 2019, 3:53pm

I want to be a Welsh speaker because in the past 4/5 years living in Cardiff I’ve made so many friends who are 1st language/fluent/learners and I’d like to have a proper conversation with them in Welsh! In terms of the reaction from friends, I’d fully expect them to be pleased for me - and then say something I don’t understand, so I run away