When looking to increase the overall number of learners, perhaps we should target groups of people most likely to suceed in becoming speakers and then going on to support speakers.
We have limited resources, so identifying target groups with the highest potential impact is probably worthwhile. Can anyone think of any good target groups?
For example;
We could aim a project at parents with kids at Welsh Language primary schools. This āgroupā of people already have awareness of the Welsh Language and probably good attitude towards it. They have a good reason to learn, and have a potential support network around them already - the school and other parents. Also if they do succeed, they go on to support their child and make Welsh a living, used at home language.
Useful thread and great idea @warrendavies. Related to your idea, I believe, is my post yesterday which suggested that we target young (especially) people who have learned Welsh at school and who ābelieveā that they have lost it. This applies not only to the young lady in the following story but also my son who keeps surprising me with his hidden Welsh talents. 
Hereās the story - finally. 
Unlock your inner Welsh
I think Health Care Support Workers (HCSW) would be a good target group. They are the support staff on wards and on the community. They are ānon-qualifiedā, in other words you donāt need a degree to be a HCSW. They largely do the continuous contact with patients (help them go to the toilet, help them dress, help them eat, take their blood pressure, some take blood etc.). Theyāre the cement on wards. They help everything run smoothly so that āqualifiedā members of staff can complete the more complex tasks of drug rounds, discharge planning, escalating care when necessary.
HCSW are, therefore, the ones who get the chance to have longer conversations. If this group can speak Welsh to the Welsh speaking patients (many already do) then the patients will feel more comfortable and at ease. It would help wards in particular develop an atmosphere of Welshness.
Iām guessing here but groups might be:
Partner speaks Welsh.
Children speaks Welsh.
Moved to Welsh speaking area.
Heritage/Culture/Ancestoral reasons.
Academic interest
Work requirements
Want to learn any language and Welsh most convenient
Agree. They would be an excellent target group and be really important in improving the patientās experience
As well as āMotiveā it might be worth thinking of the āMeansā and āOpportunityā (Iāve seen too many US court room dramas).
Means:
SSiW lessons
Bootcamp
Government funded lessons
etc.
Opportunity (to start learning):
Actively searching for resources
Seeing an advert
Word of mouth
Workplace course
etc.
I think a key group is teenagers and young adults.
Many will have had a basic grounding in school. Convincing them that speaking Welsh is not a chore and would improve their appeal and opportunities would be a big step forward.
I donāt know how to do it, having left this group many years ago 
I was discussing something similar with my partner. He learnt some German in school and would like to pick it up again. However, lessons from scratch are too easy, but intermediate lessons assume a knowledge of vocabulary heās forgotten much of.
I think thatās a problem that SSi helps solve (although not for German right now) - itās surprising how quickly people with āa bitā of a language start to struggle (valuably!) with our stuff - Iāve watched people whoāve done a yearās worth of evening classes start to make mistakes in Challenge 2ā¦ in general, Iād be very confident telling people that once theyāve got through the first 5, they should be getting a useful workoutā¦
Another high potential group could be dormant SSiW users. These are people who clearly have an interest in learning Welsh, and enought knowhow to get online and find a good course. We already have their contact details - which is a great start. But weād need to identify who they actually are that have stopped learning, find out why where possible, then look to engage them again.
If we can turn their experience around, and get them learning again, then they may feel like joining the SSiW ranks in supporting others.
Must be many people in this category.
And that is something we would need to get across to those people in that category.
Thatās made me think of something else!
Iām not very good at selling the course (SSiS or SSIW) to my friends. Iām enthusiastic but after listening to a 5 minute pitch from me many go back to using Duolingo or never actually try the first lesson/
Perhaps we could work on an informal āsales pitchā that we could use with friends for those of us who struggle to concisely sing the courseās praises?
Very good guesses!
In the little bit of work I did for @aran, there were three main groups that came out from the āReasons for learning Welshā comments:
These are comments that came from people learning/who had learned with SSiW (from the forum/facebook threads). Perhaps these are the people SSiW should target as some of them may not be attracted to formal lessons for a variety of reasons (means and opportunity!). That way we could work in alongside Welsh for Adults and others.
There is a lot of stuff that sits under these comments (hope itās ok to put this up here @aran, if not delete it).
Just my $.02. I started with the new version of SsiW and am about up to date and Iāve been going back and doing the first version and I have to say that, though I find the first version HUGELY valuable, the newer version is much more accessible, more gradualā¦ not sure what the right description is. So Iām thinking, maybe there are some people who tried the first version and for whatever reason couldnāt stick with itā¦ but might find the learning curve of the second version less steep.
Is there a way to mine the SsiW data to identify these contacts and send them a āCome back in the water, itās even betterā type of note?
This is an issue. While a lot of people āget hookedā on SSiW from the start, because they find out how quickly they can start to āsiarad Cymraegā, there are those that donāt keep going with it. I was talking to someone a couple of days ago who said they had tried a lesson, but ācouldnāt get on with itā. I suspect, as someone who speaks a number of languages fluently as a result of more traditional methods, that she would prefer more formal classes.
Itās difficult to track why people drop out, because they wonāt be around leaving messages on the forum. Things that come to mind are that (a) itās different (b) the nagging thought that surely the traditional methods must be better - people have been using them for years Ā© you donāt have so much ācontrolā and have to trust the method (d) the suspicion it canāt be so quick and easy! Partnerships with other bodies under the āMillion Speakers campaignā might help overcome these issues.
Yes, sounds good. But ideally, āCome back in the water, itās even better, and weāll help you track your progress and offer you more support to make sure you succeedā
Thatās a fair piece of work - not likely to be easy in the short termā¦
The first time I tried SSiW I didnāt like it. I went away and used the BBC Catchphrase series to build my understanding of Welsh. Once Iād done most of that course, and felt more confident about the language structure, I came back to SSiW. I used SSiW to help bring the language to the front of my mind and to develop more natural sounding language.
Not trying to criticise (SSiW is ace! - the forum is an amazing place - and contacts made through SSiW have had a massive impact on my life), just wanted to share a personal story.
True, it could be. But perhaps we could start with basic tracking functions. Tick a box once youāve completed this lesson type thing. Or maybe, do this simple multiple choice test to confirm youāve done a lesson.
Once youāve got some feedback mechanism, you can build on it to automate sending well done emails or awarding badges etc. If thatās the way we want to go of course!