It was lovely to see you again, Brigitte! Glad you had a good time.
2 Likes
And I have to say a big thank you to you @brigitte for being on Skype last Saturday desptie it was just in the afternoon that day you came back from your magnificent holidays. Weāve spoken āfull timeā on Skype what means about an hour and a half. It is always so great to chat with you. Diolch yn fawr iawn i ti!
And now another Wednesday, another chronically aimed Diolch post for me - eith thank you one.
This time Iād like to say a big thank you to @owainlurch for being the first ever person who talked to me on Skype some in Welsh however mostly in English as I couldnāt speak and understand even as half as I can now. Despite it was mainly in English conversation I am really grateful the talk happened. He acknowledged me to some books I could use and we talked about the language and learning it a lot. And, most importantly, he gave me that first, so needed confidence that I am able to speak to someone via Skype if even in tiny bit of Welsh.
I also have to thank Owain for his encouragement and educational posts on the forum not only to me, but to all the rest. He is acknowledged to Welsh language and history and his posts were always informative, encouraging and very, very useful. Iāve learnt from them a lot built my knowledge on the ground of them many times and had an interesting read.
If you read this Owain (as I know youāre not comming on here anymore), know that Iām really grateful for this all and ā¦ oh, yes ā¦ I miss your posts ā¦
Diolch o galon am y bopeth!
4 Likes
I have missed a week, I thinkā¦ my Diolch this week goes to @CarysT . Carys is the kindest and most patient lady I have ever met. Her patient and wise words during Bootcamp, and her help during our Welsh only holidays, attended by a several other boot campers as well, have has always helped me to relax and just enjoy the language rather than āstressingā about everything, as is my wantā¦ Thank you Carys for being a great friend and also ffrindiaith! 
4 Likes
Ooh, me too! So my diolch for last week goes to Simon Brooks, who agreed to record one of my three interviews for Welsh as a Second Language A level, in a pub in Pwllheli just after a Cymuned rally (when he had quite a few other people wanting to talk to him)ā¦
3 Likes
YAY! At least one who Iāve met in person (however not having much chance to speak with though)
1 Like
But it was in Slovenia. You get bragging rights there.
3 Likes
Thank you Andy for such a lovely comment. (I was looking for a slightly embarrassed emoji but couldnāt find the right oneā¦). You have made HUGE strides in your Welsh and you are a good role model for me when other things in life take over sometimes. The SSI community is very special and it is great to be part of it.
3 Likes
Yah ā¦ to be honest and tell the whole story: I was sitting on the bench listening to others who read their works (in their own languages), waiting for Mr Brooks to be his turn to read his own piece of work in Cymraeg. I literally blew the whole thing up, thatās why Iām always pointing out my lousy face recognition. He appeared besides the stage where others were reading their works, he looked at me from time to time but did nothing and then when the last reader before him read their part, he came and sat beside me on the bench. I looked at him saying nothing and he wait for a while until he obviously had enough of waiting and went back to the post he stood before. There were other people (organizers obviously) and I couldnāt know it is him and there was not many people listening either so I thought itās one of them whoād sit and listen aswell. Only then when he came to the stage and started to read, I realized it was him sitting there beside me earlier obviously waiting if Iād say anything. When Iāve rushed to catch up with him when he was leaving, he was already in a hurry and there couldnāt be more than a few words spoken between us - greeting and two or three additional sentences, handshake, and the chat was over ā¦ He probably thought Iām ignorant toward him and that was why he rather hurried a bit, so more than āthank youā I should maybe rather say āIām sorry, I didnāt mean that to happen.ā
This happens to me all the time and the biggest fear I ever have when I go somewhere or have to deal with people (as when I was on the Bootcamp for example or if I have to go and meet someone) is if Iād be able to recognize people I should recognize.
So now you know the (less bright) true story about my meeting with Simon Brooks ā¦ 
3 Likes
My ninth thank you goes to the woman who is one of those who made the most for my learning Welsh. She was my first real Skype speaking parthner and the one with who I spoke only yn Gymraeg during our skype sessions. She seamed kind of strict and determined to make me a Welsh speaker and no less. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this woman is @margaretnock!
As Iāve said she was my first real and for that time constant Welsh speaking partner and I enjoyed speaking with her any time. We talked each time (only) about half an hour (I say āonlyā because now I canāt be stopped and when I have conversation on Skype itās always about at least an hour long ) but I talked only Welsh no matter how little I knew at the time. She was the one of those who gave me encouragement and awareness that I can speak some Welsh if even not correctly all the time.
But Margaret didnāt stop here. After some chats on Skype once a week, one week there was a message comming through the forum PM system saying something like āWould you mind if I come to visit you there in Slovenia?ā Can you imagine how my head reacted to that? āWhat?ā was the scream in my head and then āOf course! Iād be glad if we could speak some Welsh here in Slovenia!ā I couldnāt believe this can really happen. And so it happened. Margaret visited me in April last year and Welsh was heard on the streets of Ljubljana and elswhere in Slovenia. I was happy and the more the date closed in the more I just couldnāt wait the day to come. Whole 5 days, a lot of Cymraeg and visiting places in Slovenia was priceless and I could not ever be thankful enough for such fortune! She brought me the āPedair Cainc Y Mabinogiā book, some lovely āCymraegā things I could show off with when going somewhere a very first Welsh flag and the magnificent hat which she made by herself. You can read all about what and how it happened here.
However, she didnāt stop doing all kinds of good for me. When I was totally sure I will be comming on a bootcamp in Tresaith, she was the one who organized my overnight stay in London with her mom and dad and she was the one who drove me to Tresaith, and while I was in Cymru, she came to see us all on the bootcamp and performed with us on Noson Lawen, and then we all met at the Eisteddfod where weāve walked around together a bit. What a magnificent and pleasant time it was! Memories for the rest of my life and motivation for learning more. All about my visit you can read in Cymru - Iām coming! (and a bit of help please), about the bootcamp in My Challenges and about the gathering at Eisteddfod 2016 in Any SSIW meetup at the National Eisteddfod 2016? thread.
Margaret is a magnificent Welsh speaker who always is able to adapt to the level of one she speaks to so thereās no worries one could not understand her talking in Welsh and sheās also patient speaking partner who explains gladly if something isnāt understood and kindly corrects mistakes one makes (oh, I did them many in English too, you know ā¦). She gave me so much confidence and, together with @aran, @brigitte, @ramblingjohn and some more of you on here, finally coud convince me I am learning and I can speak (at least a bit) Welsh.
Margaret, I canāt thank you enough for everything youāve done for me and I hope to be able to come to Wales in a while again to meet you and bring a little piece of Slovenia to Cymru with me again. As youāre in Thailand now and the journey home is long, I wish you happy and safe return with a lot of pleasant and magnificent memories.
Diolch o galon am y bopeth ti wedi gwneud i fi! I would not be able to speak, read and understand as much as i do if you wouldnāt be here for me from the very beginning.
You are a star for me as youāre always helpful and encouraging to all of us on here, this star doesnāt shine just for me but for all of us!
Diolch yn fawr iawn!
To be continujed next week ā¦
7 Likes
Thanks @Brigitte. Thanks too for all those Skype chats and outings over the last few years, Youāve been over to ours in Norfolk and all over ( everywhere) in Wales with me, Sue and my dog. Thanks for climbing Arennig Fawr with me the other week( Brigitte never got out of breath and lead the way and I floundered and I lost my watch and the dogs lead somewhere up the mountain) Iāll never forget the breathtaking views. Even though we both speak German and English , Welsh is the language we communicate in most of the time and I am in awe at how fluent you are ! I think the last week in April was the most Cymraeg week we ever had, I donāt think we had to speak hardly any English wherever we went! ( sorry for bad English)
6 Likes
You are very kind @tatjana. The people here on the forum are all interesting and I am, by nature, a nosy woman. I assure you, I got more out of my visit to you and your family in Slofenia than you did from me. Thank you.
4 Likes
Diolch yn fawr iawn to @lewie who suddenly found himself besieged by cries for aid from an insistent old dragon who had bugged her iPad version of the Forum. It is not quite sorted out, but that is not for want of effort from Jeff!
And I have learned a lot in the process! I can take screen shots, I have discovered the on/off switch! And through it all, patience and kindness from poor, long suffering @lewie!
3 Likes
Iām a bit late - been busy at school with exams and projects and essays and everything, so Iāve been trying (unsuccessfully) to stop myself from spending too much time on the forum. But school has now pretty much ended, just the exams left. Had one today and the next is on Wednesday! And itās physics so I donāt need to study! Gwyliau! 
(okay I mean I still have to try to force myself to finish all the math homework and analyse that book but anyway)
Sorry Iām rambling, Iām just really happy school is ending so I can have some more time for Welsh 
This week Iām thanking someone I should have thanked here ages ago. Soā¦
Kiitos Ƥiti! 
Diolch yn fawr for everything you have done to help me with Cymraeg - for watching S4C with me, listening to me talk about Welsh all the time, letting me tell you about everything that happens on the forum, travelling to Wales with me. Travelling to Wales with me twice. Diolch for all your support, it means everything to me.
Diolch mam! Kiitos Ƥiti! Grazie Ƥiti!
7 Likes
Donāt forget to tell her to read the threadā¦
2 Likes
Iāll go see if sheās still awake
3 Likes
And I missed my Diolch on Friday too! Ugh, Fridaysā¦
Iām sure Iām going to start re-diolch-ing at some point, through forgetfulness. Oh well.
Today, itās a group diolch - to everyone who used to be in CĆ“r Meibion Madog - the choir I joined by mistake when I first moved to Porthmadog. One of their members was in my Welsh class, and I realised at some point that I knew the Welsh for āIād like to join a choirā, so of course I said it (because, practice!) and he took me at my wordā¦
And that became a couple of years of absolutely brilliant regular practice for my Welsh, during which I went from not-understanding-ANYTHING when we went to the pub after choir to understanding-bits to oh-apparently-I-speak-this-language-nowā¦
Plus, of course, I got to sing (very quietly, with occasional miming) in some beautiful places, including our fantastic choir trip to Slovenia - what a pity that SSiW didnāt exist back then and Tatjana wasnāt already learning Welsh!
Diolch, CĆ“r Meibion Madogā¦ 
2 Likes
Wendnesday, wednesday,
Be good to me,
I have Diolch to say
Thatās how it should be ā¦
(on the tune of āMonday, Mondayā by The Mamas and The Papas)
And Wednesday wasnāt good to me as itās Thursday already so Iām a day late. But here we go ā¦
Ooooo, now the secret Iāve seaked for so long slipt out! Iāll start to circle round the net now! I bet Iāll find you being in the choir somewhere.
Oh, Iām sorry SSiW didnāt exist yet and I didnāt learn Welsh at the time, too.
But, you have to return to beautiful Postojna Cave one day. We might sing one of these beautiful Welsh songs together in the Concert Hall! It really echoes fantasticly there!
Thank you CĆ“r Meibion Madog in deed for travelling to Slovenia so @aran could visit our beautiful country.
ā¦
And now for the tenth thank you, which goes to the man who literally (kindly and with all his power, magic and determination) forced me to succeed on my Welsh learning path. Some of you might already figured out this man is @aran!
I came on here moaning and stressing my learning problems all around the forum some 4 years ago and I was from time to time even rude to the people who wanted only to help me (sorry for that, really, once again), being stubbornily convinced this process of learning doesnāt work for me. Apart from first discussion about new forum which occured a bit earlier I started my postings with the (hard on myself) comment in the thread about Levels VS Courses discussion and Aran sensed this is actually not my problem at all very quickly. His advises were given straight to the point and the discussion became more or less off topic from my end of things so he kindly created my own thread about my progress reports.
Since my learning process seamed to me as it is going nowhere Aran created a tactic of āpulling curiousityā out of me. Those who have their own children or have to deal with them know how it goes. Just promisse something of what might pull big amount of curiosity from the child and theyād do anything you say to see whatās waiting for them after that. Yah, Iām curious enoudh (Aran read me here very well) to just push on with what I was told to do and how to learn. But I didnāt stop moaning and beating myself. My high level of perfectcy was too high to just let all go to the feeling so I rather moaned then actually go anywhere further in my learning. However, Aran didnāt stop making suggestions, believing advising ā¦ he was kind to me even when I was rude or when I even pulled not just his but anyoneās on this forum nerves. He was here all the time and his determination made me to do things properly in time. I just couldnāt let it all go since so much effort from Aran and all the rest was made in order to help and encourage me in my learning process.
With Aranās guidance I one day finished Challenges of Level 1 and even did the last one Northern as Southern was not here yet and I was waiting for the surprise which Aran promissed to come to curious (child) me :). I somehow imagined what might come but the surprise still was a surprise in deed. Aran invited me to have an hour chat with him only in Welsh of course. I canāt thank him enough for that. This particular chat made me feel Iāve acheaved somethig. I could somehow cope with an hour long conversation no matter how little Welsh I could produce and my confidence rised up to quite high levels.
But Aran didnāt stop here. He guided me further as I was not completely without moaning times yet although I now consciously tried not to moan anymore. Because of this conversation I could go on, struggle with long and difficult sentences with more ease not to accuse myself about how little I can produce and not to beat myself because of that. It really made wonders and gave me so much needed confidence. He aranged some speaking sessions on Skype with inviting people to chat with me, and after some time (I think it was a year or so) Iāve got another surprise from Aran - the second conversation only in Cymraeg with him, which practically made me regarding learning Welsh what I am today - quite confident, determined and more kind to myself and to the others, Welsh learner/speaker.
Going from constant beating myself and moaning all the time to becoming more friendly, helpful and confident Welsh learner/speaker, was a heck of a journey and would it be someone else and not Aran, Iām sure many wouldnāt be as patient and determined about will I speak Welsh one day as he was (and still is).
He always found the way to keep me going and there was always progress on my learning path even when I moaned I have failed and how notnihg works fo rme. He always has good advise for everyone no matter what problems with learning one might have.
I know he helps many other learners just the way he did me, but I still hold this for somethig really special, something what means really a lot to me and what made huge difference. Aran didnāt help me just to learn Welsh but he also managed to change my mindset quite a lot.
Here are many other people who walked and still walking my learning path with me and I canāt thank you all enough, but today is Aranās turn to get his own Diolch o galon!
Thank you very much from all of my heart for everything youāve done for me with helping me on my learning path.
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Aran!
To be continued next week ā¦
9 Likes
Croeso mawr iawn i ti, Tatjana!.. 
The truth is, I pointed you at some different things - but it was YOU who succeeded in changing your mindset - which is about the most difficult thing in life. 
2 Likes
Yes, but if there wouldnāt be you I might never even try to do that. Diolch!
2 Likes
Yes, I know, Iām late again. Wednesday is already a history but itās not too important which day you say your Diolch anyway, it could easily be every day all days ā¦
So, here we are with my eleventh thank you post. If @aran was the one who cast his magic spell on my learning path, I just have to say he wasnāt the only one who was patient enough to walk with me all this way until today. As you see from previous posts there were people who pointed me to SSiW, those who challenged me with their belief I wonāt succeed to learn even a bit of language, those who tweeted back to me and mentioned me in the radio programs; there were first ever skype partners and more. However hereās only one, who is really my regular Skype partner and with whom I speak every week for what I owe her big, big Diolch. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this week Iām saying my diolch to @brigitte.
Brigitte is kind, warmhearted and very patient listener (I many times talk too much ā¦) and an excelelnt Welsh speaker, but most of all sheās actually my only regular speaking Skype partner with whom I speak every Saturday late evening. If at the beginning we talked mixture of English, Welsh, a bit of German and also a bit of Slovene, nowdays our conversations are totally in Welsh with small exceptions for the words we really donāt know or canāt remember at the given moment. We talk various things, from family matters all the way to learning the language, forum matters and more. (no, weāre not gosiping if youāre thinking something like that). Our conversations usually are about an hour and a half long or even more if there are interesting things to ponder thoughts about.
Apart from one Saturday when she was in Wales and on Isle of Man, we didnāt loose even one Saturday even if the conversation was brief (what I actually canāt remember when it would be).
Talking with you, Brigitte is always a pleasure and I canāt thank you enough for all your patience listening to me when Iām too eager to talk. Conversations with you give me so much: the possibility to use wide range of vocabulary and learn new words, chance to practice whatever I remember Iāve learnt at one point and that āsilentā friendship which formed during all that time.
You were the first one to quench my quriosity about the bootcamp and how it all looks like there even if I didnāt even dream about that Iād go to one one day. When I was sure I will be on the same bootcamp with you, the feeling was priceless! It was great to have you by my side, always willing to answer my puzzled looks at times about things I might not understand or missunderstand.
Apart from all this, Brigitte is also one of those hardworking people behind the scene of SSiW who checks the lessons for proper put-together (composition) of them so, when you do the lessons you should know she does amount of work in order for lessons to appear as they are.
Iām happy we met online and in person and Iām endlessly thankful for everything you do. Youāre helping me in my learning process even more then you might be aware of.
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Brigitte, for all Skype sessions and encouragement on and off the forum and for all such moments yet to come. If there wouldnāt be you I wouldnāt speak as good as I do now although I have yet a lot to learn. And thank you for all hard work behind the scene of SSiW.
Diolch o galon i ti!
To be continued next week ā¦
3 Likes