Found out today it’s really simple: wear a t-shirt with something written in Welsh on it!
During a stop at a gas station on the route back to Torino from the seaside, a guy asked me if I was Welsh.
I said no, but I’m learning the language.
He asked “Why?”
“Because I like it”
Turns out he lives in England but is originally from Aberystwyth and brought up speaking Welsh - then stopped using it as an adult.
He seemed genuinely shocked of being asked if he could speak Welsh from an Italian in Italy, while he doesn’t seem to have spoken it since ages - not even in Wales.
I was definitely very astonished myself of meeting him, considering that before going to Wales a few months ago I had met THREE Welsh people in all my life. Therefore I don’t really expect to meet one at every corner.
So we ended up being just too surprised to easily switch to Welsh - and it was 35 degrees boiling hot out there, and we all had a pretty long way to drive - not exactly circumstances to stop for a chat. But we did exchange a few words and sentences in Cymraeg!!!
Opportunities are everywhere, better be ready, cause you never know!
It was actually a bootleg Datblygu t-shirt* I decided to get printed in order to confuse people this summer!
But see, you can’t really imagine all the possible unexpected consequences!
*never seen an official one, so it’s basically the cover of the record that dragged me into Welsh, printed on a t-shirt (just like I did in the 90s for bands I couldn’t find t-shirts of)
…I think those unexpected ‘out of context’ type things always seem very odd…but also amazing…when I was walking my dog along a street in the middle of Harrogate (Yorkshire) a car pulled up and the passenger asked me for directions to a hotel - the driver got out as well (both looking stressed!)…
He had a thick north Walian accent so I asked in Welsh whether he was a Welsh speaker (in Welsh) and told him I was a learner…this seemed to significantly throw the poor guy…we continued the conversation in Welsh - he said he couldn’t believe he had stopped to ask for directions in Harrogate - and was having a conversation in Welsh!
…I told him him I had learnt using Say Something In Welsh and had he heard of it?..and then the ultimate - the driver makes a noise …because he wants to know what’s going on - so the guy translated to him - ‘ he says he’s a Welsh learner - he’s learnt via the internet’…the driver is is also Welsh but doesn’t speak Welsh!!!
…what a ridiculous situation!!!..but absolutely fantastic!
