It is incredibly difficult at first. Those first sentences however small, however few, are like a baby’s first steps…extremely hard at first. But soon you’ll be walking/talking with no problems and then there’s no stopping you.
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I think any time you drum up the courage to try counts. Just my opinion, but I think the biggest challenge is not knowing what to say or understanding the other person - it’s getting past your own fear and trying anything. One sentence either way is a conversation if you’ve conveyed some meaning, and every conversation gets just that little bit easier.
My first real conversation in Welsh (recently - not talking about when I was a kid) was by Skype, and I practiced things to say in my head for days beforehand. It was the longest half hour ever. Now, I Skype with two different friends every week, and the half hour just flies by. 
Dal ati! You can do it!
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Just updating this thread -
Last night during a night shift on Freemens Way in Haverfordwest (sorry if you live there and got diverted ), I wondered if anyone would happen to walk past speaking Welsh - OK, silly of me, I know.
Then I noticed that the workers were the ones from Lampeter, that I mentioned a few posts above. I went over for a chat and found myself coming out with “Shwmae; 'bron wedi coupla?”. It seemed to go down well; possibly as it was about 4 AM by this time, and they were looking forward to going home. Anyway, I had an encouraging reply.
Onwards and upwards!
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Sorry, I’ve just realised that I got so carried away, that I didn’t give the English on my forum post. Anyway, I was trying to say “…nearly finished?”. He told me that my “Bron wedi coupla” was ok or at least he said “yes, coupla”. Now I’m not sure whether or not I should have included the “wedi”. Any pointers?
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“Nearly finished?” “Yes! Finished!” sound like a typical exchange to me!
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Today on another site, a client told me that he was from Lampeter. I’m fairly certain that I heard him speaking Welsh earlier. So as I passed him some paperwork I tried to sound cool and said “dyna ni, te” (there we are, then). He politely answered “yes, it is a nice day”. I clearly need to work on my accent.
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Alternatively, he’s a fan of Kafka, and enjoys having surreal conversations…?
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Yes, you absolutely should have - and if you heard him clearly, I’d think maybe he wasn’t a Welsh speaker, or not confident - I’d have expected ‘wedi cwpla’ or ‘cwpla nawr’, and a bit odd that he’d start with a ‘yes’ (unless of course he’d just been speaking lots of English)…
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My first conversations were, as much as possible, in situations where I could control them. At least for the first couple of times. What I mean by this is that for the first time or two - I’d try and play the conversation out in my head a bit. I knew what I was going to say, so I knew roughly what was probably going to be said/or asked back to me.
I went to a local Welsh shop (in Pontypridd) and before going in I just tried to remember what I wanted to at least start the conversation with, i.e “Hello, have you got any books for learners?” in my head I was thinking, right so I’ve started the conversation in Welsh, I’m controlling it - and the guy now knows I’m a learner so he won’t say anything too complex.
Then it was just a case of offloading while I was paying.
“I’ve been learning for two weeks”
“I’ve only just started”
“Have you been busy today?”
“Are you open every weekend?”
Lot of questions and points from me, so you’re not expecting to hear “too much” back if you know what I mean?
Like most learners, our listening skills normally develop a bit slower than our speaking skills - so you’ll probably find it a lot easier to do all of the talking at the start, than the listening 
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I took something round to my neighbour yesterday. She tried it and said ‘Dim blas’ o gobol’.
I was overjoyed at understanding. Made up for the lousy food. 
(No flavour at all!)
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Hi Aran. Thanks for that. I now feel sure that he was confirming that coupla was the correct word and by implication so was the bron wedi part. I just wanted to check that he wasn’t being too kind.
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Ha ha. Looking back now I realise that as he had only ever previously heard me speak English, and the conversation was outdoors, he could easily have misheard “… ni te” as “nice day”.
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I find that extremely true!
In my conversations (in various languages), the ones I think went best were usually the ones where I did most of the talking and didn’t have to strain my listening muscles as much
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