'I want to be a Welsh speaker because...'

[meowmocha]

Do you remember what book it was?

[Melanie-2]

It was a Susan Cooper book - one of the books in The Dark is Rising series, but I don’t remember which one.

[christopher-treharne]

I want to speak welsh because, I think its important to speak the language of wales. And i would like to communicate with everyone in work, in their first language.

[doug-evens]

I want to be a welsh speaker because I am welsh and learning welsh will help me in the future.

[anne-flake]

I want to be a Welsh speaker, because it’s a way to keep Cymru with me wherever I am.

[Deborah-SSi]

I really like that reason @anne-flake. It means a lot to me too

[maura-ellis]

I want to be a Welsh speaker because speaking Welsh is part of my country’s history and it’s important to keep the language alive and relevant.

[eric-singletary]

I want to be a Welsh speaker because Welsh folklore, mythology, music, and the poetry of the Welsh Bardic tradition (at least what I’ve had access to in translation) has been a central aspect of my life for about as long as I can remember.

One of my mentors on the subject is a native speaker from Anglesey and comes to the USA to give talks and workshops on the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, the Llyfr Taliesin, and other aspects of the Welsh Bardic tradition and has spoken extensively about how important understanding the language is to really grasping the spirit of the culture and managed to convince me to overcome my belief that language learning was beyond my abilities. Someday I would like to have a conversation with him on the topic yn y Cymraeg. Although I’m not a Welsh speaker yet, my time with SSIW has already introduced me to people who share common friends and to one person who was apparently already a distant acquaintance of mine before we ran into each other in slack.

[camilla-3]

I want to speak Welsh because I now live in North Wales and sing in a Welsh medium choir. Funnily enough, I tried to teach myself Welsh back in 1975 when I was 14 and lived in Somerset. We used to get some Welsh language TV programmes. I had no-one to help me and gave up to concentrate on my O-levels. I then discovered in the early 2000’s that I have Welsh ancestry. We moved here in 2014.

[anne-flake]

I found this course because a Druid and scholar from Anglesey was here in the states for a convention and I’m such a fan of his books I went to meet him. I’d been doing Duo Lingo for a long time and can wax poetic at this point about Owen’s Parsnips, I didn’t have much conversational Cymraeg. He encouraged me to try SSiW and here I am, already learning a ton.

Croeso!

[eric-singletary]

How many druids who got here because of Kristoffer Hughes are there?! Also where in the US are you? I’m in Maryland, there’s another of us from Texas on here.

[Sionned]

Not a “druid” but there are lots of SSiW learners here in the US. I’m in Missouri.

[anne-flake]

I’m in Minnesota. More hearth witch than Druid. But Druidry feels very close to my heart. I’m considering courses.

He’s quite the spokesman for the program. He should get a kick back or something!

[sara-peacock-1]

@eric-singletary

Kristoffer Hughes

Not a druid or even curious, but I love Kristoffer Hughes - he comes over as such a wonderful person.

You know he’s also a drag queen? Also not a huge fan of drag in general but I think Maggi Noggi is ffab.

[eric-singletary]

@Anne: If you’re in Minnesota, I’m guessing the convention you mentioned was last month’s Paganicon then? I wish I could have made it, it looked like a great conference.

@Sara: I got to meet Maggi once. He wore her briefly on the very last day of a conference here in the US back in either 2016 or 2018 to introduce her to some of us, and it was a lot of fun.

[anne-flake]

Not surprised. I bet his show is as fabulous as he is.

[anne-flake]

It was! I had no plans of going until my friend called me and asked me if I had a copy of the Mabinogion.

I asked what brought that question on and she told me she’s heard a speaker at con talking about it.

When I asked who, she told me it was Kristoffer and I about fell over. I was simultaneously reading three of his books.

She told me to get a day pass and come meet him. Which I almost didn’t because I was afraid I’d fan girl too hard.

I did fan girl and should probably be embarrassed. No regrets though. He was an absolute delight. And my Welsh is improving rapidly with this program!

[eric-singletary]

Yay! Here’s one of mine from a few years ago.

[chloe-jones]

I want to be a welsh speaker because I love the language and my husband went to a welsh school and speaks welsh. I hope that it’ll broaden my career opportunities and oneday to continue to keep the welsh language alive by sending future children to welsh schools too.

[anne-flake]

How wonderful! The peanuts bag makes the outfit. I love it.