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

I live in Wales & I’m very sniffy about people who go off and live in Spain & France for years & don’t bother to learn to speak the language … oops

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Absolutely! Until now I have not lived in the country whose language I am learning - France, Germany, Austria… (excluding England, as I was born there!). I realise what an amazing opportunity I now have in my ‘third age’! :grin: I have already had some very interesting conversations - not IN Welsh so much, but as a result of my saying, ‘Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg’. I even met someone who was born in the same hospital as me - 6 years earlier! All through my language learning.

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I have lived in Wales for some years and feel that I should be able to speak the language native to where I live. I have lived abroad in various places over the years and have always learnt the language (OK probably not very well, but well enough to communicate), and it’s very frustrating not to be able to do so in my own country

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I spoke Welsh as a small child but moved to London when I was three. Apart from a few words and phrases and the national anthem which I learned phonetically when I was a teenager, there was no Welsh in my life until I moved back to Wales as an adult with my husband. We made the decision to educate our children through the medium of Welsh when there was just one Welsh medium primary school in Cardiff and no secondary school! Now, four decades on we have six Welsh speaking grandchildren and our lives are closely entwined with the Welsh language and culture but I am still struggling to hold a conversation.
I speak Thai , which is my husband’s first language quite fluently and can get by in French and German. I even learned to speak Serbo-Croat when I was a student but somehow I lack confidence in Welsh. I have tried various courses and built up a reasonable understanding but find it difficult to speak. I would love to be able to speak everyday Welsh with my grandchildren and family and further develop my understanding. SSIW is definitely helping!

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Because I am welsh. And my ancestors were welsh. The bones of my family are buried in this beautiful land.
My great grandmother was monoglot welsh from west wales. Her family moved East and she married a man from the South Wales valleys who spoke English. Their children were bilingual but Welsh was seen as a poor relation to English and not helpful (unhelpful even) for their futures so it was an at home language only.
By my father’s generation there was virtually no welsh spoken. By mine, none at all.
I’ve always felt ashamed that I don’t speak my own language. It feels almost like grief. A mourning for something that should be mine but isn’t.
Well, perhaps now I can heal that wound.

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I’m Welsh :black_flag:󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Dw i mwnhau yr iath a dw i isio siarad efo fy teulu yn fy iath naturiol fy Mam. - I hope I said I enjoy the language and I want to speak to my family in my Mother’s natural language! I’m just doing week 7 now of the 6 month course which I’m loving - a lot of Welsh is flooding back into my dreams. Unfortunately I live in the North of Scotland and am only able to access the course on the computer in the local library so cannot record on the sound cloud and don’t get the opportunity to speak with other Welsh speakers very often.

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I love the fact that you love being Welsh!

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I want to be a welsh speaker because I would love to be able to speak to some of my colleagues and customers in their preferred language
I work for a college in North Wales and we have campuses all over North Wales. A lot of staff I work with across these sites are first language Welsh and I would like to be able to be the one who switches language for them for a change.

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I want to be a Cymraeg speaker because I want to feel part of the local community.

When I am a Cymraeg speaker I will never have to ask anyone to change their language and need never be left out of a conversation.

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Lots of reasons, First, it originates from the Celtic spoken by the ancient Britons and I am a Briton
(though not that ancient yet!), so I feel it’s part of my heritage too, although I’m not actually Welsh. I do love Wales though, having been to uni in Swansea, having cousins in Beaumaris, Llandudno and Dwygyfylchi and having had many family holidays in Penmaenmawr. Finally, when my husband retires in six years, we may well move to Wales, and it seems rude not to at least try and speak the language where you live!

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because Wales is my home and I feel it is important that our heritage is kept alive.

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I know exactly what you mean!

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I want to be a Welsh speaker because I want to be able to help my son with his homework.

I’ve had a week or so off but I’m back on the straight and narrow and ready to learn!! :grin:

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I want to be a Welsh Speaker because being Welsh is central to my identity and so being able to speak Welsh would make me very proud… Plus it would help with my career goals as they want bilingual staff!!!

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My three granddaughters are going to Welsh Medium schools. All are under 7 years old. I would love to be able to speak Welsh fluently with them all before they reach secondary school.

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To be quite honest, becoming a Welsh speaker has never been my aim - I don’t think I ever will. I live in a small town in South Germany, have no Welsh ancestry, no Welsh relatives/in-laws/friends/contacts, will probably never get the chance to visit Wales, no rational reason. I simply heard about this method of language learning and tried it out - and got hooked. And now I can’t stop! Like Confucius said: “The way is the goal”. I enjoy the feeling of belonging to this wonderful community, being surrounded by so many friendly, helpful people. The thought of this journey ever coming to an end is actually quite frightening.

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Good luck to you!

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My wife is first language Welsh so would be nice if i could one converse with her in her native tongue.

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it is something I have always wanted to do. My family were welsh speakers on all sides up until the 30s when it became almost a bad thing to speak welsh in wales :frowning:

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