Hello - first post here and as well as wanting to answer the “I want to be a Welsh speaker because…” question, I would like to ask a question of my own.
Apart from a very distant Welsh connection in my family - I believe that my great great Grandmother came from Wales - there is no ‘family’ reason to learn Welsh. However, I live within less than a 75 minute drive of North Wales so Wales is my nearest land which has its own language and I have always enjoyed trying to speak as much as I can in the local language of countries I visit when on holiday or on work trips. (Not that I had many work trips but did spend around 3 months in Sweden many years ago). Now retired from work, I have been visiting Wales a lot more than I ever did before - day trips and three or four night stays - and am always intrigued by the language and try to read the roadsigns in both English and Welsh.
Why learn Welsh though if everyone in Wales that I have ever met speaks English? I’m not too sure to be honest as it isn’t to try and make myself understood - I manage that without any bother in English! I’m also not too sure how I would be received when trying to ask for things in shops and cafes in my nearest Welsh towns as I am not too sure how common it is to speak Welsh in places such as Flint and its surroundings which is pretty close to England. Saying all that, there is something good about learning a new skill and picking up the odd word or two when tuned to S4C albeit with subtitles switched on - I would like to get better than that.
Now to my question (and please don’t banish me from the forum for mentioning an alternative to SSi) …
I started my Welsh language learning journey about 6 weeks ago using Duolingo and am still quite engaged with their programme - what are the thoughts on using SSi alongside Duolingo or should I think about jumping ship and use SSi on its own? I have only completed the basic unit on Duolingo but still enjoy the daily challenges.
When it comes to SSi, I am using the free daily audio files at the moment which have been sent each day since signing up 3 days ago. All good but I do find that some of the exercises are getting a little bit too long and it is hard to remember the full sentence that I am supposed to be speaking. I need to pause to try to remember what it is I am trying to say.
Welcome to the forum Alan
Don’t worry - there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing SSiW alongside Duolingo. Duolingo can be great for vocabulary, but do bear in mind that it tends not to be quite as colloquial as the Welsh in SSiW, so you will come across differences which may confuse you to start with. That said… go for it!
Border towns do tend to have less Welsh - certainly less within earshot anyway - but think of it this way, if you never try to speak Welsh with the people there, how will you know if they speak it or not? Although there are exceptions where learners have had a disappointing reaction, in general Welsh speakers are chuffed to hear people even trying to speak it. (You might like to have a look at a current series “Stori’r Iaith” on S4C & S4C Clic if you haven’t already seen it - it’s pretty inspiring!)
I want to be a Welsh speaker because my mother can speak Welsh but for many reasons never passed it on to me, and I don’t want to be the generation of my family that the language dies in, nor do I want to lose such a connection to my family and the past. More broadly I want to be a Welsh speaker because I love Wales, its history, its people and its places, and Cymraeg is a big part of what makes Wales a distinct nation.
When I become a Welsh speaker, I hope that I will be able to converse naturally with my friends and family members who can already speak it. If I’m being honest, I also hope that they will be proud of me for taking up the challenge and becoming part of the community of Welsh speakers.
I’ve wanted to be a Welsh speaker ever since I was kid (back in the 70s!) and read books set in Wales. After a trying off and on over the years, I hope and plan to be successful with the help of SSIW! I’m looking forward to traveling back to Wales in another year or so.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I have lost connection with the Welsh side of my family. I used to listen to my grandmother speaking Welsh and, having learned other languages, I am sad that I have never had the chance to speak Welsh to my family.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because after years of searching my family tree, i found out my grandparents could speak Welsh! So on the next census I would like to be able to tick the ‘both’ box for being able to speak Welsh and English!
I live near Prestatyn in North Wales and work as a TA in an English medium school and Welsh is used a lot. I would love to have conversations in Welsh x
I would like to watch a whole rugby match live on S4C in Welsh and understand the commentary and interviews.
I originally joined SSIW when it first started way back and we could make a donation, unfortunately found after 6 months or so became bored because I don’t know Welsh speakers and just found it repetitive repeating sentences.
Then rejoined about 2years ago with new set up, got to level 15 I think, but same as above.
Now received email about automagic and hopefully this method with visual and maybe some extra content eventually, will keep me interested to complete the course and gain the ability to follow some conversation on Pobl y Cwm:pray:. (Do they actually speak Welsh by the way). So 3rd time lucky.
Favourite Welsh word = Sboncen (squash) its just a nice sound when spoken with a bit of enthusiasm.
i want to be a welsh speaker because its been a dream of mine since i first visited wales as a teenager
one thing i hope for is to be able to speak it with someone when i am able to travel there again
. (Do they actually speak Welsh by the way). So 3rd time lucky.
