Oh definitely, Ant - that would be fun! 
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want to be able to pronounce correctly the names etc. in the Mabinogian. When Iām reading it to others I always trip up over some of the names However, since starting the SSi course I feel that as Wales is a neighbouring country just across the River Severn from me, I should make the effort to learn the language so next time I visit, I can really appreciate the Welsh culture.
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Both my parents were born and brought up English-speaking families in Wales, both learnt Welsh in school and can speak it today, but never taught us kids as Welsh in the home wasnāt normal to them. I was born in Wales but have lived in England since I was a few months old. Sounding English, living in England, having many English friends who are more than happy to laugh at my being Welsh and yet being Welsh through and through has always made me feel Iām permanently fighting to keep my Welsh identity. I want to speak Welsh so that I can be truly Welsh ā no questions asked! And so I can pass it on to future generations. O bydded iār hen iaith barhau!
Thanks Aran for sharing your story, it has similarities to how I feel!
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That rings a very strong bell! There may be other solutions, but I can certainly confirm from my experience that learning the language solved it all for meā¦ Pob lwc!
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You have stirred my soul too. Hopefully, Gobeithioā¦ you will find your rightful place in life and in Wales!
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I would like to speak to my cousins in their own language.
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I want to speak Welsh because I married a Welsh woman 18 months ago! We have been together coming up to 6 years, and whilst I get the gist of things when we go back to her home, Iād like to be able to participate in conversations with her family and friends in Welsh.
I have not told her family I am learning, I practice with my wife and plan to announce it by slipping into Welsh when we go back for Xmas!
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Iāve got a strong group of friends who are Welsh speakers and I would like to be able to converse with them
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Hope you and your Taid as well as your dog enjoy lots of happy chats together very soon.
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ā¦because I think itās part of my heritage, despite not being Welsh. Welsh is a link to the language of the original inhabitants of these islands. I know part of my ancestry is Irish, so I see a link to pre-Roman Britain there, but Welsh is more useful to me than Irish because I have a stepdaughter at university in Cardiff, and I regularly visit Wales. Basically, I consider myself to be Celtic. Others, however, may disagree!
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want to be able to keep up with everything my Anglesey granddaughter says to me. x
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I love the language and I want to be able to communicate with local friends in their own language.
I want to surprise the girls in choir by actually being able to understand and speak to them in Welsh!
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I want to be a welsh speaker because it will help me to develop within my job and I would also like to encourage my children in speaking more welsh at home 
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I want to be a welsh speaker because I am living in Wales where I started my welsh family and I am fond of welsh dragon, welsh language and welsh music. And I want to learn a new way of thinking so I will become a new Welsh person
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I miss my mamgu and dadcu immensely. They were both first language welsh speakers and the thought of either one of them feeling like that, would have been more than sufficient drive for me to learn too. Practice with your taid, he would love to help you learn Iām sure.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because Iām an English translator from the Netherlands and I canāt get enough of your culture.
Also, I will be in Wales at the end of this summer with my wife. We will go for a motorcycle holiday and I hope that I will enjoy it even more when I can talk to Welsh people in their local lingo. Realistically speaking though, I will have to reside on English most of the time; I only started my Welsh language course last weekā¦ 
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I have lived in Aberystwyth, on and off for over 30 years, I have tried and failed several times to learn Welsh over the years, at times done better than others but then always let it slip from my grasp. I am a writer so language is very important to me and I didnāt want to be vulnerable in a language. I have many first language welsh speaking friends and many friends who have learned Welsh, and my partner learned welsh in school and can hold basic conversations, so I have no shortage of people who will help me learn. Also I live in Aberystwyth so the language is all around me every day, all my neighbours are welsh speaking, my local shop and pub are filled with Welsh conversations every day. Last year I met the lovely (now sadly departed) Chris Grooms who was a huge inspiration to me, a welsh speaking Texan and my wish to learn the language began to overcome my fears. At the end of last year I set myself the goal of being able to be able to understand more and possibly go on an intensive course this year. Then I discovered SSIW and it all became far easier, and far more fun and now I am writing a play about learning Welsh too. And for the first time I am happy to speak Welsh badly and not minding if I get things wrong. I canāt do all the things on SSIW - like the Group Speaking Sessions as I teach and have events in the evenings so mostly my Welsh learning is very early in the morning or very late at night or walking the dogs. One of my dogs appears to be picking up welsh quite well also, we jokingly started to say various things in Welsh rather than doing the spell thing - like Coed and Traeth. And he now appears to know those words too.
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That sounds seriously awesome! 
Great to hear that you are pushing through the fear and vulnerability - really looking forward to see how far you get by the end of the 6 monthsā¦
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I think it was place names that finally tipped me over the edge into learning Welsh. It was the realisation that the names had a history or described the place - and wondering whether āNant y Cawsā really meant the āStream of Cheeseā.
I didnāt do well with languages at school, so learning Welsh has been something of a revelation, that not only can I learn another language, but that learning another language isnāt about saying the same thing using different words. Thereās an entire other dimension of thought that opens up as soon as you have more than one language available - even if itās only a bit of another language. Thereās no longer the equation language=english. Language becomes a variable rather than remaining a constant. You an choose how to speak or think The feeling and tone in the mind and on the tongue is different between different languages.
Culture and history come with the language. Iāve learned things about Wales that I should have learned at school, but which were sadly absent from the curriculum. Iāve also discovered a wealth of music and poetry that I would otherwise not have encountered.
It has been good to be able to talk with people in Welsh. The ability to have even a simple conversation has been a revelation.
So what started me learning Welsh may have been an interest in place names. What keeps me learning Welsh is the sheer joy and fascination with language, art, poetry, music, history and culture and not knowing what other aspects of life are yet to open up as a result of learning.
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