I know that each year many people think about entering the national Dysgwr y Flwyddyn/Learner of the Year competition, but not everyone who thinks about it puts themselves forward. One thing I noticed is that after the S4C TV prgrammes have gone offline, there isn’t much informatiton about what the process involves.
Therefore, I asked the 2017 winner Emma Chappell and the finalists Hugh Brightwell, Dani Schlick and Richard Furniss tell the world more about the competition, their experiences of the process and what they have done since.
The closing date for this competiton is 31st March, although the other competitions close on 1st May. Full entry details are on the Eisteddfod site https://eisteddfod.cymru/cystadlu/dysgwyr.
I hope that you found their thoughts as interesting and enjoyable as I did!
Well OK, it looks like I may have let myself in for it…
It is the fault of a friend of mine (non-SSIW) who happened to be on the same episode of Llyncu Geiriau as last year’s winner, and happened to beat her hands down in the translation round! Eleri Sion kept mentioning it and making “dim pwysiau te” type comments! We were watching it together with our kids at Christmas, and our 11 year olds decided that we should both enter this year. It’s hard to argue, when they have grown up with the Eisteddfod culture - they were so tickled to discover that there’s a “parent” category!
We are making it conditional on increasing the amount of Welsh we all speak within the family, which is an interesting experiment. I don’t want to do anything that feels unnatural at all - I don’t have any particular ambition to change the family language to Welsh, as I know some people manage to do. But I would like Welsh to be one of the languages that is a full part of our family culture. I can happily have fairly long periods now when the kids speak to me in Welsh, without thinking anything of it.
I’m not under any illusions about the imperfectness of the idea of a competition for this kind of thing. I mean, what on earth are the criteria even? I’m sure that everyone who turns up will be able to speak pretty good Welsh, or they wouldn’t be there. I have always rather liked the idea of honing a second language for the sake of it, almost like an art or craft, rather than purely for communication. But I’m not sure that that’s even what they’re looking for. I certainly can’t make any claims to do anything to promote Welsh language culture, so will be counted out of that for a start! But I’m a good example of somebody who managed to fit learning around a very busy schedule very effectively, thanks to SSIW.
Hopefully it will be an opportunity to promote SSIW. I’ll be giving this some thought - it may be better to be a bit more subtle than just barging in shouting SSIW from the rooftops? In general, I’m hoping to get some inspiration for strategy between now and then, as promotion of SSiW would be one of the main reasons for doing it (apart from pleasing the kids). Any suggestions welcome.
Wow, seriously? It would be something of a challenge to talk about learning Welsh without mentioning SSIW at all! Will certainly need a few months to think about that…
I may still chicken out anyway, by no means stuck on the idea.
I’m not going to enter because I don’t really do a lot through Welsh outside of work or to contribute to Welsh language life. I think if people want to enter then find as many opportunities to get involved with promoting the language and menter iaith type stuff.
Da iawn. i’m really pleased you are going for this, I’m sure you’ll get a lot out the experience, not counting the fame and glory. I’m sure i’m not alone in looking forward to hearing how it goes and celebrating on whatever the Maes is in Cardiff this summer.
I really enjoyed the couple of times you’ve had me round for tea last year. Rapid language switching with your children and your partner was a hugely beneficial experience for me. Multi-lingualism is great!
Yup, absolutely. Risk/reward analysis and all that… Focus on your efforts to use Welsh in your daily life, and how you’ve tried to work around the challenges of finding it hard to find Welsh speakers, and how different you found going on holiday to Caernarfon (no need to explain Bootcamp)…
Really? I think you’d be able to spin it brilliantly, especially with your work, and becoming part of Emma’s Welsh family etc. If you felt like it. (It would be lovely to have more company, of course, if I do go through with it!)
@Y_Ddraig_Las The pleasure is ours, please come again!
I view the Dysgwr y Flwyddyn competition not as a competiton, but as a celebration of people who have made progress in the language. Whoever gets to be in the final 4 has an opportunity to share with their family, friends, tutors and others who supported their language journey how well they have done.
I’ll pop in an application- I think that the initial day when everyone gets together will be great- a fantastic way to meet lots of other people and share stories of the journey.
With the Eistedfdod being in Cardiff Bay, there is an opportunity to reach out to people in South Wales and show that learning Welsh is a positive and life changing experience. It would be wonderful to have many, many people participating.
Some people may not feel ready to be an ambassador for the language quite yet, but going to the event will help to build confidence. It may be that the following year, or the year after that, you fell ready to compete properly, and having had a chance to participate once, you will feel more comfortable with the process. Netmouse- why not have a bash? Maybe build it into a family weekend in Cardiff…
Y Ddraig Las- the Maes D will be the Pierhead building this year. It will be open to all, and without charge, to come in and get a taste of life as a Welsh learner.
This is super exciting news!!! You’re a perfect candidate and seems like you’ve given it an awful lot of thought and are planning your preparation with much care and attention. Awesome! Pob lwc to you, I will be watching your progress with excitement!!!
Yes, yes yes!!! Go for it Anthony!!! You’re perfect for this! Pob lwc!!!
Aw thanks Catrin! I’ll have to continue to think about it. It seems a bit of a gamble not to do any plugs at all on the first day. It’s a tempting thought though, if one of us did manage to strike the right chord in the first round…
Hopefully it should be a fun day of speaking Welsh anyway. Anyone else up for going undercover?
Ok ok, my arm is twisted. So genuine question, how do you enter? The forms were for the llwyfan, and didn’t seem to have a DyF element to it. @netmouse?
