I think that’s a brilliant idea. The Senedd would need to make the designation/provision of this part of the local Council’s duties. They could then approach Community/Parish Councils, Marched y Wawr, Women’s Institutes etc… But it could not be compelled if the Village was totally monoglot English! Compulsion only leads to resentment. Our village had one family who were Welsh speaking and there was a family in Horton, now dead, I believe. Gower had been English since ‘acquired’ by the Norman King of England and ‘given’ to one of his followers. To most South and East Gower people, Welsh was as alien as Russian!
Not wanting to jump the gun, I just wanted to get something down before I forgot…
Screenshots/mockups showing a Strava-esk language app;
After having spoken with someone in Welsh, or having done a formal or SSiW lesson you would add that to your personal ‘interaction’ history;
Your history would be available in different formats for you to view. You can use this to track your progress. You can also see the progress of people you have allowed to follow you.
If you want to find somewhere to practise, you could look at data for an area;
You can track your progress against followers, or people who have also interacted in the same location;
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How Awesome does this look!
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Would be great if you could connect your Duolingo or SSiW account to such an app and have it automatically pull in progress details.
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I guess that this is already happening in a small way. Any lessons that are downloaded to a tablet and then listened to will show the date played (or started to be played).
How about each of us sets up our own progress thread here. A bit like the ones already here, but perhaps just one line per date. don’t know if it could be password protected, in case confidentiality was preferred. On the other hand, if it was to be private, anyone could just set up a word or excel document on their own computer or hand held device.
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I’ve heard from the creators of Amikumu - an app that lets you find speakers of a target language - that Welsh will be available from August 16th! It started with Esperanto, but they are extremely ambitious and hope to make ALL languages available on it - even sign languages!
The idea is that when you would like to have a chat with a Welsh speaker, you can use the app to see if there is anyone nearby and get in touch to arrange a meeting place.
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A couple of related ideas
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The fact that people speak Welsh is often an aspect of promoting Wales to tourists/visitors as a ‘destination with a difference’. How about a cut-down version of SSiW as an ap for tourists - as with phrase books etc for other languages, a few at least of the 10 million overnight visitors from other parts of the UK and (probably a larger proportion) of the 1 million from the rest of the world might use it, which might in turn might encourage locals to think “Well, if they can give it a go …”
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A scheme which all elements of the tourism/catering industry having contact with the public could sign up to requiring that customers trying to speak Welsh should have a positive experience (i.e. feel accepted/encourages even if staff don’t speak Welsh). Hotels etc maybe could include e.g. the SSiW ap above in their “package” as part of the scheme
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@Deborah-SSi with the stickers “Ymarfer eich Cymraeg yma”, we could build an app (I say we, it would have to be someone else I have no clue where to start). On the app people could find all the places that have the stickers in their window. It could link to a map and enable them to visit cities like Caerdydd and use their Welsh.
What do people think?
Or it could be a part of the other app for finding Ymarfer partners. This could be an incentive for businesses to use it.
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Ooh, I like this idea! I’m working on translating the interface for the Amikumu app now … well, in between other things when I get the time! So far we’ve only really thought about people using it as individuals, but it could be really interesting if businesses wanted to register, then put the sticker in their window to help people find them. I’ll have to speak to the developers about it - maybe we could have a different symbol or something to indicate a business.
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Just a note to confirm that if you’re looking for the posts discussing a possible app, I’ve moved them to a separate topic so that other ideas don’t get trampled in the rush.
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i have been thinking about how i started speaking other languages! It wasn’t huge self confidence, it was necessity! Go to Paris on s South Wales Transport Rugby trip when Wales are playing France. Be the only girl in a group of girls who knows any French! You try or you get nowhere! Even for tickets I had to follow my nose, directions and luck! In Italy, I used a Teach yourself book to learn a bit and found I could manage on the rare occasions when no English was spoken! So to get folk to use their Welsh, we need Welsh speakers to see it as their duty to encourage the Million by speaking Welsh in preference to English. Letters to your AM if you are in Wales suggesting ads on S4C showing scenario -learner tries halting Welsh, gets reply in English. Goes back to friend and says, “Nobody seems to speak Welsh here.” Nice lady asks,“are you learning Welsh?” Transpires everyone speaks Welsh! When told these poor folk are learning and want to practice, in no time they are all chatting! Moral, no one will use their Welsh if you keep switching to English!
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Learners want to be able to practise Welsh. This may sound a bit controversial but there need to be events where non speakers feel as though they are missing out.
-Neighbourhood events such as BBQ, Fete’s, sports, arts and crafts, theatre, panto, whatever should be advertised. The advert should be bilingual as you want to draw in everyone but don’t want to exclude children- they shouldn’t have to miss out for something they haven’t had a chance to change). BUT, it should state that the medium of the event will be in Welsh. I can remember seeing like this in Pontcanna when I just started learning. The leaflet was only in Welsh, so non speakers wouldn’t attend.
-Once there, everything should be in Welsh, and Welsh courses could be advertised, it’s a bit of Trojan Horse approach. One event a month should be a constant reminder that there exists a community which they could be part of.
When I came to Cardiff, it was tough to ‘find Welsh things’. This needs to change- and not just in Treganna.
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As a writer, I throw in a bit of Welsh interacting with other writers on the Writers’ Lifts, found on Twitter and Instagram. I will reply “Diolch” and post a Welsh flag emoji so it comes across intuitively. Also, I wrote and performed a song in Welsh, an ode to my cat. In the video description I posted the lyrics in Welsh and English. My hope is that more people will learn it after watching me sing to my cat in Welsh.
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Was there ever any progress on the one in a million facebook profile overlay? Only I would like to add such a thing to my profile ffoto.
Cofion
Tony
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I have been trying to encourage more people to learn by making videos like this one:
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Have you heard of Radio Deeside? I was interviewed by their presenter Adam Philips. He hosts a bilingual Cymraeg/Saesneg show, hoping to encourage new learners. I find his format very intuitive.
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SSIW AGAIN … just met ANOTHER ex-welsh speaker in Shotton. Went to welsh speaking school in Mold. No confidence. I explained that my confidence came through SSIW, so suggested he try it, but I am thinking that there might be a version available for the thousands like this fella ?
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Dwi’n trio:
Please listen, follow and tell a friend.
Diolch / Thank you
Yes, yes, yes please. I live in the English Midlands so this would be a fantastic way to find people to speak Welsh with.