I can confirm that Cymru will have one extra welsh speaker in a few years time.
Even though my son is not yet 6 months old he is already registered with a welsh primary school literally one mile drive from our house.
Now that is my contribution, bringing welsh back into my family after we most probably lost it a few generations ago.
It’s such a satisfying feeling to think his children and children’s children may all have welsh as their first language, a transformation which had started with my son growing up and speaking welsh.
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Quite simply, getting new Welsh learners will be key. There needs to be a way for people to learn quick outside of working hours. I was actually thinking about this the other night. Fluent speakers too need to pull up their socks in this and get involved. But first they need the skills. Whilst SSIW is amazing, many people still go to courses or would like to, but have difficulty in accessing them.
-A Welsh teacher could train 10 or so fluent speakers how to teach Welsh.
-These trainers than can then start advertising courses in their village/neighbourhood etc. Leaflets/posters can be left on shop counters, pubs, church, notice boards at leisure centres, supermarkets. etc etc
-Courses need to be cheap and deliver excellent bang for buck. If teachers are good then by word of mouth more people will come and make it worthwhile. Most people can generally do 7-9. I’ve had to quit my course Uwch as I can’t make it for 6pm…
Learners want to be able to practise Welsh. This may sound a bit controversial but there need to be events where non speakers feel as though they are missing out.
-Neighbourhood events such as BBQ, Fete’s, sports, arts and crafts, theatre, panto, whatever should be advertised. The advert should be bilingual as you want to draw in everyone but don’t want to exclude children- they shouldn’t have to miss out for something they haven’t had a chance to change). BUT, it should state that the medium of the event will be in Welsh. I can remember seeing like this in Pontcanna when I just started learning. The leaflet was only in Welsh, so non speakers wouldn’t attend.
-Once there, everything should be in Welsh, and Welsh courses could be advertised, it’s a bit of Trojan Horse approach. One event a month should be a constant reminder that there exists a community which they could be part of.
When I came to Cardiff, it was tough to ‘find Welsh things’. This needs to change.
It’s going to require time and effort from people learning and from some dedicated speakers.
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The Indy Fest events in Cardiff were a good example of naturally integrated bilingualism I thought - it wasn’r advertised in advance which were Welsh (except obs Bragdy’r Beirdd and a Welsh language book launch) but they’d laid on simultaeneous translation so at ANY workshop the contributors could use Welsh or English. I think that’s important so as to get away from the “one person doesn’t speak Welsh so the whole event has to be in English”
It costly I guess hiring the equipment but it means it’s the people who haven’t learned who need to take the extra measures to be involved rather than the Welsh speakers having to be the ones who change their choice of language.
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In our village on Gower, classes were run very successfully by a lass from north Wales who had married a southerner and had no more than a very brief induction course on teaching! Maybe she was a natural, but we all got on fine, nobody dropped out! OK we learned a bit of Gog because she tried to follow the course notes and teach southern, but, if asked a question, would answer with what she knew!! Unfortunately, she found the classes too much to manage after another baby came along, we couldn’t get enough numbers to travel to any one village within reach and I wasn’t willing to commit to long, wet Winter drives through floods and fogs etc.So that was the end of my courses to try to revive my Welsh!
Oh yes, Leia, how often whole villages have suffered that! Could the Senedd help with funding the translation, I wonder?
Bron-Gymraeg?
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Please explain to the confused elderly (knowing nothing about cricket!).
Sorry @henddraig - I was back in a world where the test cricket was on LW R4, and the lovely chaps went on about cake and took everyones names and stuck ‘ers’ on the end of them. I jumped very quickly from people who are Bron, to Bronning, to Bronners and suddenly it went all crickety.
As you can see it is not you who is the confused one!
Imagine - you would be Henners! Shame to overwrite the Draig though, eh?
And I would be Nockers. Doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid.
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Yes, there was Jonners (Brian Johnston) and Aggers (Jonathan Agnew).
And Henry Blofeld has just retired. Google tells me that he was “Blowers”.
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Aaaaah, I can hear them now! 
Should have replied before!! I am 100% certain I was around then, what I was not, definitely not, was a cricket fan! And that kind of nomenclature reminds me of the ‘anyone for tennis?’ caricature, another game I never liked! I guess, thinking about it, I hear odd bits…someone called ‘Cheggers’? But I do not live in that world and never did! Ah well… it is difference which gives life spice is it not? 
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I’m not a fan of either either! My Mum and Uncle were enthusiastic about cricket and played happily when they were growing up. They called each other Hil and Big, so didn’t suffer from the Ers problem. Cricket on the radio reminds me of summer days, and I used to love how they thanked everyone personally for the cakes they got.
Don’t worry - not living in a world with Cheggars is probably a good sign!
@Deborah-SSi @AnneEvans and I had a successful day running the SSiW and amikumu stand in Llandough Hospital today. We gave out loads of business cards and had some really positive interest.
It was also a very useful experience for future ideas. Working with the NHS we have to run everything past the corporate side of the Health Board not just the Welsh Officer and site manager as I had. Because Saysomethingin could profit we need to run it past everyone and make sure they don’t want a contribution to the health board.
However, I don’t think this will be an issue for future efforts. I have a better idea of the process and who to speak to.
All in all a very useful morning!!
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What an absolutely fantastic contribution - thank you all SO much! Really inspiring to see such extraordinarily generous support for the project - diolch, diolch o waelod calon… 
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Da iawn! ️:sparkler:
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Inspired by the comments up-thread about children learning and about parents with children in Welsh-medium schools, and by the story of some English friends who have moved to Llanbedr Pont Steffan/Lampeter (the 7 year old daughter is in Welsh-medium school, and was squiring her mother round town, speaking Welsh confidently to shop-keepers – only later did the mother find out that the girl was basically saying to everyone “This is my mum – she doesn’t speak Welsh”)…
When you were a child, wouldn’t it have been great to have a secret language?
As a parent, isn’t it useful to be able to say “Where have you hidden their presents, dear?” in a language the children don’t understand?
Is there any mileage in trying (jokingly) to foment an inter-generational linguistic arms race?
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Well, i enjoyed taking my father around & introducing him to shop keepers when he came back from Burma towards the end of WW2 and, later, telling my mother what folk in York were saying when she failed to understand their dialect! I also learned that some things said by friends were best unsaid to parents?