I want to be a Welsh speaker because I moved to live in Wales and it feels the right thing to do! Also I enjoy learning and used to be quite good at languages in the dim distant past when I was at school!
I am not sure what I hope will happen other than me gaining a bit more insight into Welsh culture and getting a sense of personal satisfaction and pride.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I hope to move to North Wales to live near my daughter who has settled there and I hope that speaking Welsh will help me to feel at home there.
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I live in Wales and work in NHS Wales and I love Welsh - then I discovered that my birth motherās family on her fatherās side came from Wales (Prices) which made me feel that I really do belong here 
I feel enormously proud that I can speak even a little bit of Welsh and I love trying it out on people. When I can speak more fluently I will be able to chat with my Welsh-speaking friends and really feel part of this community.
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Iāve already posted my reason here, but I think Iāve never really shared my story which involves learning Welsh and since Iāve seen a couple of them out there, I decided to share mine as well. And itās also coming close to my 1 year anniversary of learning the language.
For starters, I live in Poland, I was born in Poland and I have nothing to do with Wales or Welsh language whatsoever, albeit Iām indeed not 100% Polish. Iām just a bloke who picked up the language for laughs and giggles.
Well, I was already deeply into Japanese culture and language, I even passed JLPT N4 which is apparently not that easy to pass for foreigners, with a formidable rate of less than 20% chance of success in my country. However, I only started learning Japanese, because I was really into Japanese music and I wanted to be able to translate the lyrics myself without relying on English translations. In fact, cramming all these kanji was so daunting even though the language itself is a cakewalk, really. I ultimately achieved my goal, but did I enjoy learning the language? Well, kind ofā¦
In the meantime I failed university twice (due to personal and family issues + depression on top of this) and I tried for the third time which, surprisingly, turned out to be successful, but then the very last year approached. I panicked, because how the hell do you maintain working full time and writing a thesis? Yes, itās the best time to pick up another language to learn.
I should mention as well that around the second year of the university, I chose Spanish instead of English, because why wouldnāt I. I liked it at first, however it was only the novelty bias speaking, I reckon.
Now, back to the main story. I decided to start learning Welsh, because Iāve always been into linguistics and a Celtic language seemed to be a nice addition to my language database. And, letās face it, I also thought that learning Welsh could be a cool party trick. Luckily, Duolingo has a Welsh course available, so I started my journey there. Before I knew it, I literally fell in love with the language for no apparent reason.
It truly helped me go through the horrors of my last year in the university as I organized my routine, so I could learn Welsh daily and only because of that, I was able to complete my thesis. I ultimately graduated with honors this year, which wouldnāt be even remorely possible without my little routine as I still had PTSD from previously failed studies and my time management skills suck more than a good Dyson.
Nowadays, I think my Welsh became better than my Japanese which Iām still very sentimental about. I organized a trip to Wales as a form of celebrating my graduation and I think Iād like to move there. By no means because I live a bad life in Poland. I simply want to pursue learning the language I genuinely fell in love with.
Iād like to thank SSiW as well for letting me progress immensely as it was a part of my last year of uni routine.
So yes, once again, I want to be a Welsh speaker, because I accidentally fell in love with the language.
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Thatās such an inspirational story, mumeiowycz - thank you so much for sharing it! Have you already been to Wales? If youāre here again and in the north, weād love to have you come round for coffee 
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Iāve been to Cardiff a couple weeks ago as a reward for graduating and Iām planning my next year holidays in Wales as well and this time, yes, I want to go up north
Diolch o galon for invitation, Iād love to 
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Congratulations on graduating - hope you enjoyed Cardiff, itās one of my favourite cities - weāll look forward to seeing you when you make it up to Caernarfon!
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Thank you! I loved my time in Cardiff and to be honest, I already miss it!
Cardiff ā Bangorā Caernarfon sounds like a nice trip, edrych ymlaen!
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Because i was born and bread in wales and wasnāt allowed to go to a welsh school and Iāve been trying to learn since I was a young adult. My goal is to be able to go to an Eisteddfod and successfully speak and listen in welsh without using a word of English ( winning learner of the year would be nice too if anyone can tell me and help me to do that 
)
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I agree whole heartedly! I am also moving to Wales, although only for a while and what a great opportunity for us to learn a new language!
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I want to be able to converse with the rest of my Welsh speaking family and enjoy the rich culture the comes with understanding and speaking the language.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I was born in Wales with a Welsh speaking father and 4 welsh speaking grandparents. I have spent most of my working life in Wales and now at 74 I cannot understand why I have not done it before. Also at my age I need to keep my brain active.
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To help my 4 year old grandson while heās learning Welsh in school and hopefully when heās older to be able to speak welsh with him 
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Corrections welcome
Dw i isio bod yn siarad Cymraeg achos maeān bwysig i mi a dylwn fod wedi cymryd y gyfle pan oeddwn yn yr ysgol.
(I want to speak Welsh because it is important to me, and I should have taken the opportunity when I was at school)
Bydd pethauān newid i mi gen y byddaf yn gallu siarad gyda ffrindiau a theulu syān siarad Cymraeg, yn y Cymraeg
(Things will change for me, as I will be able to speak with friends and family who are Welsh speakers, in Welsh)
Diolch yn fawr
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I would like to live in Wales, and think I will do so soon. I donāt want to live there and not be able to speak the national language, and also it is a really special language that very few people around me in England can speak, my husband says I am joining a cult 
And the one thing I hope will change is that I hope I can speak to new people in a beautiful language. Even though I am only just starting out, I am starting to have small conversations out in the wild with real Welsh speakers which is a real buzz.
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I live in Wales and know the importance of keeping the language alive.
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I went to Spain with two friends for a holiday and the three of us were having a decent stab at speaking Spanish (Castilian) when the other two started wanting to try learning some Basque and Catalan. My response to their attempts to run before they could walk was to think āwhy would I want to learn a minority language from Spain when there is one spoken 9 miles over the bridge from where I live?ā. Well, not widely spoken, but itās written there on the roads and roadsigns. Being from Bristol, iām not Welsh, but itās my local minority language as far as iām concerned.
After a bit more reflection it occurred to me that although iām not Welsh by geographical birth, iām British, and there may well be as much Briton in me as there is Saxon (My grandmother for instance, was a Davies). Cymraeg may now be the Welsh language, but before the Angles, Saxons, and Norsemen came, it was the British language, and is therefore part of the heritage of most of the English. Thatās what really sold me on wanting to learn it.
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I sing in a Welsh choir and understanding what I am singing will help me remember the words - maybe!
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because my first grandson has been born in North Wales and Welsh will be his first language. My hope is that I will be able to play and speak with him in Welsh as he grows up.
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I want to be a welsh speaker because l live in Wales so it only seems polite to learn the national language just as l Would if l lived in France or Spain or anywhere else where English wasnāt the language.(ok l know that everyone in Wales can speak English too but thatās just an excuse not to bother!)
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