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

[patricia-mccarthy]

I want to be a Welsh speaker because I have always wanted to understand and speak the language of the country I was born and brought up in.

[joanne-brown]

I want to become a welsh speaker because as a welsh native I feel like I should - its a beautiful language. I hope to be able to watch and understand “Jonathan”!!

[racheltaylor]

Because I am Welsh, and I feel that learning Welsh is a strong link to our heritage. Also, I think it’s important for the health of our language that as many people as possible learn, speak and use it.

[helene-cheung]

Because my little boy will learn Welsh in school and I want to be able to understand him when he comes back home all proud of his new words he will be learning. Also I have been living in Wales for 10 years now.

[amy-8]

…I have two young Welsh children and I want us all to learn together whilst it is still easy for them to become bilingual.

[kat-3]

Sorry it’s a bit cringe! (Daf is my partner)

[will-coventry]

I want to be a Welsh-speaker because I want to be able to teach my 2yr old sister, and to read a lot of history!

[diane-mathias]

I want to be a Welsh speaker because I would love to be able to talk to my Welsh speaking family and customers in their first language and not be too embarrassed to do so.
Also, it’s about time I stopped telling myself that I can’t do it and go for it!

[julie-17]

I have lived in Wales for nearly five years now and I love everything about it, so the very least I can do is learn Welsh, to enable me to show respect for the culture in every possible way, which obviously includes the language and music. Also, I have learned that my dad’s relatives were all from Gwaenysgor, so that means it’s part of my own heritage too!

[tina-6]

I grew up in N. wales and only know a few Welsh words. I am now in my sixties and live in Shropshire but frequently visit Wales, it’s so beautiful. I want to learn another language and feel that Welsh is the obvious choice. Thoroughly enjoying the journey.

[nic-morgan]

Achos wy’n Gymro. Wy’n byw yn yr Hen Ogledd ond ces i fy ngeni yng Ngastell Nedd.

[nicolahumphries]

Being able to speak to Welsh speakers on their terms is something I’m really keen to achieve. I live in Geneva with very fluent French but some people like waiters, for example, on hearing me speak English to someone else seem to feel the need to switch from my perfectly competent French. I’m aiming for that not to happen in Welsh. (Not with the French speaking waiters, you understand…)
On my second visit to Nant Gwrtheyrn I really got a sense of how much the language is a way of life and I want to feel it as well as speak it.

[ian-symonds]

Dw i eisiau siarad Cymraeg achos liciwn i siarad yn yr iaeth ar fy’n teulu yn y Gogledd.
(sorry for spelling, all done in a hurry!)

[chris02]

My fiancee is a welsh speaker and I want to learn the language so I can have conversations with her in Welsh. Plus also being welsh myself I thought it would be a good to learn the language of this country so it can continue to stay alive and thrive.

[meowmocha]

I’m probably going to ramble on and over-explain, so bear with me. I’ve been developing a high fantasy setting largely based on the British Isles for some stories I’m writing. I was adding more stuff, and realized I’d just made one area a Welsh region, and my main character was there, which meant… a lot of research and world-building.

My knowledge of Wales and the Welsh language was pretty much non-existent, so I was starting at level zero. Or maybe negative one. I knew, vaguely, that there was a Welsh language, but for the majority of my life, I didn’t know what it looked or sounded like. Aside from “corgi”, or course. When I saw the language, about a year before said world-building complication, my honest impression was “what on Earth…” There were words starting with DD and FF, letters in odd places, seemingly vowel-less words, and the language struck me as confusing and intimidating.

Anyway, I jumped down a new Hole of Difficulty in my writing, so I had to develop the setting and figure out what I was doing. I studied a pronunciation guide without ever actually hearing the language (backwards, I know ), and started researching Wales itself. The more I learned, the greater my interest became.

One day, I was looking at instruments on Wikipedia. There was a bowed lyre called a crwth, and I was curious to know what it sounded like. Cass Meurig was a well-known player, so I looked her up on YouTube. Which led not only to instrumentals, but to songs with lyrics. I’d been planning to look up Celtic music for a while without actually doing it, and now that I had, I was mesmerized and had to keep finding more.

Given my ability to commit to things in the past (instruments, high school Spanish class), I was hesitant to try learning. Also, it’s an enormous undertaking, and there’s not exactly an abundance of speakers in the US. Yet, the interest didn’t go away. I’d seen this site recommended in a couple of places, so I figured I’d start here.

Why? Because over the past couple of years, I’ve grown increasingly obsessed with Wales and with the Welsh language. I’ve picked up random words and phrases from music videos, social media, and other resources. I’d always thought it would be kind of cool to know another language, but I didn’t really feel a pull towards anything until Welsh.

(looks at novel-length reply I wrote) I knew it. I knew this would be insanely long.

[greg-9]

…because I have wanted to live in Wales since I was a child, now I do. I have promised myself that I would learn for so many years.

[Mary30-3]

I loved hearing my mother and grandmother talking welsh when I was a child, but living in England and married to an Englishman my mother never taught me to speak Welsh and I so wanted to. Now living in Wales and having discovered SSi, I am learning with my son so we can speak welsh with my mother. My grandmother would have been so pleased.

[aliC]

This is so lovely. I wish you all the very best.

[becky-9]

I want to become a Welsh speaker because it’ll make living in North Ceredigion easier and better! I hope that once I become a Welsh speaker, I’ll be able to actually continue a conversation that a Welsh speaker starts in Welsh…in Welsh!

[amy-robinson-1]

I want to be a Welsh speaker because cymru is home, and I feel I will understand it more through it’s own language. Livining in Scotland, it also ties me more to home!