It may well have been just where I was going, since I was largely just wandering around the shops near the Menai centre, but I only heard Welsh used three times over the four days I was there - once was when a woman at the Red Cross charity shop was trying to teach her colleague (who I think might have been Chinese; I didn’t ask) how to say Nadolig Llawen, once was when the staff at Pontio who had defaulted to English with us started to speak Welsh among themselves and once was the above where I started off with Welsh. I think it largely comes down to people defaulting to English with strangers; neither one knows whether or not the other speaks Welsh, and neither one necessarily feels comfortable asking.
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Well done!
I can imagine so, too.
Plus this thing where many older speakers had it inculcated into them that it’s extremely impolite to speak Welsh in the presence of English speakers.
I wonder whether the badges are helping here! Did you see anyone wearing one?
I can imagine that this might smooth things over – if you see someone unfamiliar in a shop wearing one, you can be confident that they won’t mind being spoken to in Welsh and don’t have to start speaking English to them (just to be polite) even if the two of you are both native Welsh speakers…
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I think you have hit on something here.
I wonder if the powers that be ever think about it in those terms?
It’s much more of a human problem than a language problem.
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Hi. As Welsh is phonetic just have a go even if your understanding is patchy. I used to read to both my children and years later they expressed utter suprise that I didn’t understand all the text. In fact even today my son doesn’t believe me. It’s lots of fun and will support their reading. All the best
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I’ve often wondered how widespread this is. Many organisations want to support the language by having Welsh speakers available on their phones. In areas where Welsh speakers are few, often fellow learners are given the jobs, such as young people with a 2nd language GCSE. When I booked my Eisteddfod tickets in Y Fenni, i realised that my Welsh was probably better then the lady I spoke to (I did just go straight into Welsh, there not being separate Welsh/English options). I think it’s worth always going for the Welsh option, 99% of the time you get a Welsh speaker, I imagine they will be sympathetic to a learner.
It is nerve-wracking though, just like waiting for a lady to answer when you wish to ask her out, indeed Welsh is a very beautiful lady. I think this is partly it, we fear being rejected by Welsh (perhaps especially so if you’re Welsh yourself), which is daft really, although we are already in love! Yet, we say stupid things and our brain works at less than 1% of it’s usual capacity, just like when we speak to people we are attracted to [Erm…O’n i’n meddwl…ah…er…Sut mae’r tywydd…erm… efo chdi heddiw? [phew…hang on, I must have sounded like a fool]]. This partly explains why using Welsh in such situations is such an achievement.
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I’m now the proud owner of a Cymraeg badge thanks to @faithless78! We met for a sgwrs today and chatted away for over an hour. I had to throw in the odd bit of Saesneg but had a marvellous time - a fun challenge! My phone calendar is also now yn Gymraeg after Gav showed me how on earth you do it , hooray!
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It was a lovely meeting with @Charlottevaughan yesterday, for what was her first 1 to 1 chat in Cymraeg. And she did impressively well! She only used a few words in Saesneg to keep conversation in flow, but then we all do that really, don’t we?? 
I noticed she didn’t have a bathodyn Cymraeg, so I gave her mine since I still have a few left at home. A very enjoyable meeting it was. Diolch eto Charlotte, a rwy’n gobeithio siarad gyda ti eto yn fuan.
Gav 
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Offline, maybe…
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Those of you who have spoken literally face to face in the same room and also on line - do you find the actual presence easier because there’s less pressure and things like coffee cups and cake to enable thinking time? It is my theory that Skype and the 'phone are a bit intiminating because silence is harder to just let happen! Or am I totally wrong?
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Oh yeah, that’s what I meant!
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I find it just feels that much more comfortable speaking in each other’s presence than it is online. You can read people better when you’re speaking to them in person, and also, you will be either in the same boat as each other, or one of you will be experienced enough to know how the other is feeling and help to calm the nerves. And that last example is more true in 1-1 meets than online ones I feel.
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I was all geared up to pay a bill in Welsh over the phone to Sir Ddinbych school music education service, only to find it a fully automated payment line, not a single bit of human contact. Oh well, better luck next time…
I’m trying whenever possible now to use cash machines yn Gymraeg.
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Well done for trying, but how annoying!
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I don’t like Skype or FaceTime with those closest to me let alone new people. It’s very artificial. Face-to-face has more unspoken understanding
Maybe this links to that religious topic - spirituality of another’s energy? (Anyway, let’s not get side tracked here).
On the other hand, I’ve just had a great hour skypeing with @Isata. It’s the first time we’ve managed to get through an hour (with a bit of W/english here and there) talking about something that interested us both - our experiences of Sierra Leone. So much more rewarding than talking about mynd ar ci am dro (especially if you don’t have a dog).
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Part of what eventually drove me to start learning Welsh was that my Welsh son-in-law wouldn’t teach his daughter. Well, there are now three of them and they came to visit for a few days last week. One evening I took my opportunity to read their bedtime story but the only children’s books I had to hand were the bilingual books I had used for learning Welsh. (Being on crutches, a trip downstairs and back would have had to be planned in advance!) So I was about to read one in English when they asked for it in Welsh. Result! They did need some explanation in Englsh but they also knew how to say some things not in the story. I wonder where they learned that?
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I like both. Skype is a different experience but a positive one for me because the focus is much more on the conversation - without distractions, I have to speak more, which is good for my Welsh. (Though I am feeling especially enthusiastic about it after a great conversation with @BronwenLewis yesterday!)
Funny - I feel quite the opposite! Don’t get me wrong, I like people, and meeting them face to face - I’m not a hermit or anything, but think I’m a bit more relaxed chatting on Skype at home than I am in a cafe surrounded by strangers. Our conversation is, I think, more natural and open as a result. Horses for courses, I suppose!
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That was a great conversation. Stirred up a lot of happy memories. I wish I’d had the vocabulary for some more stories, but maybe sometime in the future!
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Yesterday in a pub in dolgellau i was described as rhugl!!! he was obviously drunk!
On the downside someone identified me as a learner and proceeded to criticise me for bothering. Eventually in another pub he started again and the barman came over to apologise.
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Not so! Everybody keeps telling you how well ti’n siarad Cymraeg! Start believing!!
As to the nut who objects to people learning…apart from the fact that your choice of spare-time activity is hardly his affair, I will never understand anyone who criticises learning. 
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