I want to be a Welsh speaker because…. Well I have no real reason except a gut feeling that I should. I don’t know my ancestry due to adoption and live in NW England with no current plans to move to Wales. But I was reading my Methodist prayer book which has prayers for around the world and across the British Isles. When I read the prayers in Welsh I thought…why don’t I know Welsh? And the translated prayer was so beautiful and poetic and hopeful. I worked out that eglwys meant church, which reminded me of the French église and got me to thinking about the connections between people, language and histories, and how important it is to keep all these things alive (and kicking). Not sure how I stumbled across SsiW but here I am ten weeks later and really enjoying the challenge of learning (and showing off, frankly, to all the non- Welsh speakers in my fam). If there are any Welsh speakers or learners up here in sunny Lancaster let me know!
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I feel like I’m missing part of my heritage and I want to prove to myself that I can learn a language.
I hope to have a conversation in Welsh and feel a sense of belonging.
I want to be a welsh speaker because i want to be able to speak to my children and people in my community in the language of the land i was born in!
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I think Welsh sounds really beautiful and I want that beauty in my life. I hope that when I am a Welsh speaker I’ll have plenty of opportunities to speak to people in Welsh (and hopefully not make a complete fool of myself!)
I want to be a Welsh speaker because i was really getting there a few years ago and lost all confidence
Hello salle, fellow Lancastrian here – I mean Lancaster-the-city-ian 
I’d have suggested we struggle together in some way but I live in Bristol now, and work in Wales. I also had that lightbulb moment when you realise that eglwys is related to eglise.
I am the most beginner of beginners, having got to the massive stage of day three on the free sample things. Then I had a long-booked-up holiday in Tenerife, and have let it slip, but I’ll get back into it.
I work on the Welsh railways and we are surrounded by Welsh in the announcements and posters. Especially when I work the trains from Carmarthen and Fishguard, I get the occasional “diolch”, which I take as an invitation to continue in Welsh. At the moment I can’t do much other than say dweem dusku siarad cymraag (I don’t care about writing at the moment, it’s speaking, and I’m not sure even if that is correct, so sorry about that!), but I always feel encouraged to at least try by the Welsh speakers I meet.
I speak a bit of French and I’m a bit better in Portuguese (I used to live in Madeira) but it’s been really fascinating getting into a Brittonic language with its SOV word order, its lack of infinitives as we understand them in English, and lots of other features that are different from my native tongue and the Romance languages I have had a bash at, so it’s an interesting intellectual exercise too. You realise that language shapes the way you think, and I think – ha ha – it’s always good to be made to think in different ways to your own culture.
I was born and brought up in the Rhymney Valley, studied English, studied in English and for 60 odd years thought like the English, I think it’s about time I started to think like a Welshman. And maybe, just maybe, I can inspire my children and grandchildren, whom I dragged out of the old country, to do the same.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want to speak Welsh with my welsh speaking friends and it is my heritage
I’m about to move back to Wales, having lived there twice before and THIS TIME I’m determined to learn the language, respecting that it’s vital to keep local languages and culture alive. It’s about respect and showing that I’m more than an in-comer - I want to be a part of the community.
On a purely selfish mode, I feel it will help keep my brain neurons alive and kicking as learning launguages is so good as one ages!
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I have been listening to it and reading signs written in it for seventy years without understanding a word. I now have time and hopefully will be able to learn this fascinating language and be able to speak it.
I was born and raised American, and I have no idea if there’s anyone from Wales in my family history. I’ve never been to Wales. I’d never heard the language, but I came across a few words in Welsh in a fantasy book I read over 30 years ago, and since then, I’ve always wished I could learn Welsh. I started with Duolingo last year, and then searching for Welsh language apps for my phone. SSiW is my favorite. The more I learn Welsh, the more excited I am to learn Welsh! It’s such a beautiful language.
(And Catrin, you have such a lovely voice!)
I want to be a Welsh speaker because my grandmother was Welsh and I want to keep the Welsh language alive. My grandmother grew up in Wales but she was not allowed to speak Welsh in school. She always wanted to learn how to read and write Welsh and did so in later life. She would be so glad to see Welsh being taught in schools and being spoken more now. I also love Wales and have many happy memories of holidays there.
Level 1 / Challenge 9 / Task 4:
"I want to be a Welsh speaker because it is the language of my paternal ancestors, plus I intend to spend more time in north Wales and want to be able to converse with locals in their own language.
Once I have become a Welsh speaker, my Welsh farmer Uncle Tudor near New Quay will wonder why it too so very long for ‘Will Bach’ to learn!!!"
I want to learn welsh because I now have a welsh daughter in law and Id like to have a conversation with her in welsh.
I am hoping that when I go on holiday to Wales I will be able to understand some things that welsh people are saying. I also have always thought they were very clever being able to switch from one language to another so would be happy if I can do the same. So far I’m enjoying learning the language .
… because, firstly, it’s interesting , and secondly, it’s part of my heritage which I want to enjoy.
The result? For me a sense of satisfaction that I have learned this ‘new’ language at the age of 71, without having a brain melt-down. And so far all is well and good. Diolch yn fawr, Aran.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I heard my grandmother speaking Welsh when I was young and having learned other languages, I want to be one of the many to protect this beautiful language.
What will it help me to do? Understand something on S4C
I’ve wanted to learn Welsh since reading The Grey King in 4th grade way way back when. When I visit next (from America!) I want to be able to order a pint yn Cymraeg, yn y dafarn!
My love of the language, the musicality of the people, it is a powerful force, especially when attending, viewing or listening to anything Welsh, which suggests it’s time to make a change and get on board.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I was born in Wales. I live in Australia now but feel a pull to move back to Wales. My Grandmother spoke Welsh as a small child but wasn’t allowed to at school and lost it eventually. My Dad and Aunt never spoke it so it has been lost in our family. I hope that it would make them happy to bring it back in the family.
I want to be a Welsh speaker because I’m an Englishman who visits Cymru, and I’m trying to be an ambassador for Cymraeg here in Yorkshire.