…for me, as somebody who lives in North Yorkshire, it’s a voyage of discovery motivated by positive and negative reinforcers. Firstly the negative; I want to know what people are saying (you might call that nosiness) and I don’t want to feel different (you might see that as paranoia). Secondly the positive; having been introduced to Wales by my wife (who’s dad was from the Swansea area) I’ve fallen for the country. I love every aspect including the environment, the culture and the language (you can find some good beer too).
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I have two Grandaughters in Wales who attend a Welsh speaking school and although they speek perfect English I want to be able to talk to them in Welsh.
I know my son-in-law will be well pleased when I can.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker primarily because it’s a gorgeous language. I have fallen in love with the sound of Welsh (though less so in my American accent), and would love to someday write (and understand!) poetry in Welsh. On the more serious side of things, I am ethnically/ancestrally connected to two endangered languages–Welsh and Ladino–and I want to aid in the effort to preserve them.
As for what I hope will happen when I’m a Welsh speaker: My father and I are planning to visit Wales next year, after I graduate from my M.A. program, and I want to be able to have conversations with locals yn Gymraeg. 
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it’s amazing that that the language is alive today and is being fostered. Although my mother grew up near Pontypool, she knew no Welsh.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because a world without the Celtic languages would be like a sky without stars.
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I’m ashamed to say, I had to look this up!
To @grahamdicker It is not surprising! I had relatives in ‘Poola’ and nobody we knew spoke Welsh! Your great grand mother might have spoken it!
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I want to regain the lost language of my Welsh-speaking mother, who tried unsuccessfully to teach this stubborn son the language, and for my husband, Dafydd, whose love of Wales and her People has inspired me to undertake this journey.
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Good luck - Pob lwc!
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I want to be a Welsh speaker so I know what my daughter is saying about me when she’s grumpy! 
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Are you sure that’s a good idea? Unless, of course, your aim is to encourage her to learn another language?
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No in all honesty, we want to be able to speak to her as fluently as possible so she doesn’t lose out in terms of “helpu gwaith gatref cymraeg”/“Welsh homework help” from us! (I also have plenty of other reasons but I’m supposed to stick to one 
)
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Because it was my father’s first language, I grew up in Wales, it’s my heritage and it would make me so happy to be a Welsh speaker. It’s also important to keep the language going.
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I have absolutely no links to Wales, but decided to learn Welsh for fun as I love the sound of it.
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It’s in my blood and in my heart. Now I need it to come out of my mouth!
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I know what you mean. I can distinctly hear the difference in my Southern-California-accented Welsh as opposed to most everyone else’s natural Welsh / English (or similar) accents, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t quite seem to “unflatten” the way I speak. I can produce single words with a good accent, trill Rs and gargle CHs with the best of them, but when it comes to whole sentences… you sure can tell I’m a beach baby from Los Angeles. It’s Surfer Cymraeg!! 
What idiot said that there’s no such thing as a West Coast accent? Boy, is that not true.
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I want to speak Welsh because it is my lost heritage. I was born in Wales but raised in Canada. I grew up in a very proud Welsh household that unfortunately spoke little Welsh – my great grandparents were the last in my family to be truly fluent. Welsh culture to me growing up was wearing leeks, watching rugby, and eating Welsh cakes (which I never did like!). It was very much an anglicized version of Welsh culture. It wasn’t until recently, with the addition of two young children, that I started to really think about my cultural heritage and where I come from. Learning Welsh will allow me to explore Welsh culture and hopefully pass on to my children a greater understanding of where WE come from…and just maybe I’ll also find a better Welsh cake recipe!
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Same here! Individual words and even very short phrases can come out sounding pretty swell, but whenever I have to speak for an extended period, I end up slipping into my comfortable Northern California accent. I’m so glad to hear that I’m not alone in this.
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I need that on a T-shirt, topped by the SSiW logo!
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My mum and that whole side of my family are first language Welsh speakers, but because I was raised in England I was told that Welsh was a waste of time, and was often made to feel embarrased by it. Whenever we used to visit my family I would often feel like the odd one out, like i didnt belong there, as the whole community spoke mostly in welsh. Sometimes people would ask me something, and I would just stand there looking sheepish until someone would say “he can’t speak welsh” then the conversation would change into English (or not!). My taid was one of my favorite people, and he used to take us up every mountain, into every castle and every interesting place in wales… He is one of my biggest inspirations for wanting to learn Welsh. I have heard welsh spoken nearly every day of my life, but can’t speak a word! I feel like a big part of me is missing! Learning welsh will fill that big hole! So far, its amazing, I have already started to have conversations in welsh with my mum and my nain, and it is helping me to see wales very differently… I also work in healthcare, so it is bound to come in very useful in the future! 
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Because it is the language of my ancestors and I want it to be mine too! It is a beautiful language and I want to be able to understand it and use it - and when I next visit, I want to be able to go into Siop y Pethe and buy something in Welsh!
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