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

:sunglasses:
Wag


Or maybe
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I want to be a Welsh speaker because Iā€™ve been coming to Wales all my life, and I would love to go and be able to speak to and understand people

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I can really connect with that thought. And illustrate it via my daughter, who studied Germanā€¦ I gave her a set of The Brothers Grimm Tales in the original German - and she was so inspired by how much more was there, and the things she could connect with in the original language, that were lost or diluted in translation. Maybe a distant hope, but Iā€™d love to be able to read The Mabinogion in Welsh one day. (Speaking to & chatting with others in Welsh is my more immediate target!)

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Ooh - how to narrow this down. Hoping an impending rugby match will keep me on taskā€¦

Iā€™ve long felt drawn by Wales - and a desire to connect with her language and historyā€¦ and dragons! One side of my family goes back to Wales, and with 2 daughters now studying in Wales, I feel ā€˜justifiedā€™ in my desire to learn. I want to be able to use Welsh when I visit them, not have to default to English. I want a deeper connection. I saw a 2 part play in Welsh In Edinburgh - which was just amazing, but I wished then I could have connected through the Welsh tooā€¦

A much more condensed version - I want to be able to speak Welsh - to know that I can - and to then actually use it when Iā€™m in Wales!

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Reading the Mabinogion in Welsh - a great ambition! I once went to a beginnersā€™ French class, and when asked why I wanted to learn French, I said I wanted to read Proustā€™s ā€˜La recherche du temps perduā€™ in the original. That put me in Pseudsā€™ Corner for the rest of the course. And now I understand why, because I canā€™t get through it in Englishā€¦

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I want to be able to work in North Wales and be able to fully integrate with my friends and local community

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Well this might help motivate you. You might possibly it cheaper elsewhere - but Iā€™ve had a quick look around and that 12.45 one seems to be the cheapest I can see online right now (unless anyone else knows a source?). It gives a greater connection with the stories in the original and has some useful vocab sections throughout. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pedair-Cainc-Mabinogi-Ddysgwyr-Ifans/dp/0000672939

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A brilliant goal to aim for ! The program I saw about it last week was fabulous, and had me taking library books out ( and looking online ) for more information about it all. The written language is beautiful, and being able to read even some of it in its original form would be a fantastic thing.

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I hadnā€™t thought of getting a ā€˜simplifiedā€™ Welsh version - but definitely something worth considering!
It could be a good ā€˜stepping stoneā€™ā€¦ Thank you for that thought! :slight_smile:

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I agree with all of this as itā€™s so close my own beliefs, one of which is that all languages are worth it. Losing a language is a huge thing: losing an entire communication system. The more great people that take up courses like this, the more we can pay it forward and push language learning from strength to strength. And I also agree with ā€œWelsh is my problemā€. Weā€™re here - letā€™s sort it!

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I want to be able to talk with my Welsh relatives in their mamiaith (mother tongue). A plus is that I can understand a lot of what they post on facebook in Welsh! I live in the U.S., but I have far more relatives in Wales. A dream of mine is to live in Wales for a year sometime. I would love that.

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Sometimes I have patients (usually old) whose first language is Welsh and they struggle to express themselves fully in English, becoming flustered and anxious. Iā€™d love to be able to put them at ease by speaking Welsh.

Also, my children are learning Welsh at school and I think it really encourages them to take it seriously when they see me learning it.

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Did you ever get through Proust? Iā€™m on book four and find myself questioning if itā€™s worthy of its reputation!

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want a choice of languages to speak in our house. Also, I need to understand what my nephews and nieces are saying, and currently I donā€™t know if itā€™s English, Welsh or baby talk!

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No, Iā€™m saving it now until I find myself on a desert island with absolutely nothing better to doā€¦

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This is lovely Claire! My Grandfather was also first language Welsh but I think he gradually lost it over time as none of my family spoke it (including my nan) and the area became overwhelmingly English-speaking. But I do have fond memories of him trying to translate the rugby show ā€˜Jonathanā€™ for us in real-time as the wouldnā€™t always work due to the dodgy aerial :). It does make me a little sad Iā€™ll never get to speak it with him but I think heā€™d be proud to know I was giving it a go!

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My BIG reason for learning Welsh is that I want to speak the language of my ancestorsā€¦ and there are too many layers of why behind that to fit into in one sentence!

But I donā€™t just want to speak the language - I want to think and dream in it too (how long does this takeā€¦ anyone?) and also to CREATE, write some books, poetry and songs yn Gymraeg - which is something Iā€™ve only ever done in English before.

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Yes!

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Diolch yn fawrā€¦have really enjoyed my first five days learning a sentence a day.
I want to learn to speak Welsh because I come from Cardiff originally and although went through Primary School with Welsh lessons as part of the curriculum, it was not an active method of teachingā€¦and there was a lot of concentration on grammar rather than conversation, (it was a long time ago :flushed:).
Now that Iā€™m retired, I really want to be able to converse with the Welsh speakers that I meet regularly when we visit Anglesey. I can already sing the rugby songsā€¦:blush:

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I want to be a Welsh speaker becauseā€¦ Dwiā€™n moyn siarad dim ond yn Cymraeg gyda fyng gwr i. Mae e iaith cyntaf Cymraeg.

And whatā€™s ONE thing you hope will happen when you are a Welsh speaker?
Bo fi yn gallu meddwl yn Cmraeg ac gweitho gyda Cymraeg fi.

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