Hello Everyone.
I’m going to be on S4C this Sunday (18th June at 9am) on the program ‘Bore Da’ speaking to Alun Williams.
I chat with Alun on Aberystwyth seafront for about ten minutes or so about my learning experience, giving advice for other learners, talking about the language and giving at least two plugs to SaySomethinginWelsh, which I hope both make it into the final cut.
Give it a watch, it’s a great programme for learners and is firmly set on my Sky+
…and I must add that if I look knackered on TV - It’s because I was up until about 7am watching the election results come in, a quick three hours sleep - before doing the interview 
I can understand that! It was pretty exciting here in Ceredigion 
Wow - da iawn ti, Nicky. You’re achievements in the “learning Welsh” thing are quite astounding. I’ll look forward to seeing that!
Iestyn
Tell me about it!
I was thinking “Right… I’m staying up until Ceredigion. When Ceredigion gets called, that’s when I sleep!”… expecting a nice 2am bedtime, leaving plenty of sleeping hours.
…then Ceredigion decided we couldn’t count!
There’s a photo floating around of the Monster Raving Loony candidate walking around the second recount with an abacus!
Big thanks of course to your good selves. I’ve had your dulcet tones fill an hour of my day for 6 months now! As is the case now on the London Euston to Birmingham International train I find myself on (While doing Old Course 3, Lesson 13!)
@Nicky - wow! Pryd gallu siarad Cymraeg like ti, bydda i pleased iawn. Dw i’n meddwl bod I am a long way off!
Fantastic!
Thanks All!
And here’s the link Bore Da - Just over 1 minute into the programme.
Gwych, Nicky! - So natural! No one would think you’d only been speaking Welsh for 5 months.
Gwych - llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn i ti, Nicky!
Thanks @Deborah-SSi . It really is SSiW that has helped me the vast vast majority of it.
Only down point was that my SSiW mentions were taken out as was my shout out to Y Cwps! I think this was because the lady in the story after me also mentioned SSiW.
Yeah, they tend to do this, unfortunately. S4C will at least let the occasional one or two through, unlike the BBC…
Hi All,
For those outside of the UK, watching the programmes via S4C Clic can present a problem. So I’ve put the video in part of my latest video on my channel. Including a new fun intro from my newest friend Alun Williams!
NOTE: Use the CC feature on the video for English subtitles
Enjoy.
Great job! I’m so jealous. I was thinking of waiting until I get to Wales to start actually talking to people, but watching you has inspired to find someone to talk to.
What is the pin that they did the close up on a few times? And one funny question… did they actually take time out for the close up shots of your hands etc… or did they just do that while you were talking?
FYI, I’m in the US and was able to watch @Deborah-SSi’s link.
OMG Nicky you are so good at this! After 5 months! Really inspires me to find someone to practice with here in the US.
Hi Bobi, thanks for your kind comments! I’m glad I’ve inspired in some way There are loads of people on this forum happy to become Skype buddies. I’m also happy to do so, I’m in the process of sorting my Skype account out.
The pin is a “Cymraeg” pin badge supplied by the Welsh Language Commissioner. The idea being that the badge acts as an “identifier” as a Welsh speaker. It works as well, as I’ve had people say “Diolch” and “Esgusodwch i fi” in Tescos to me instead of “Thanks” or “Can you get out of the way?”
There are usually loads of these floating around on this forum, but if you want to request some, you can do so here:
http://www.comisiynyddygymraeg.cymru/English/Commissioner/Pages/ordercymrbadges.aspx
They request that anyone outside Wales, phones in to confirm the order - but my understanding is they are pretty OK with this. Just want to make sure people aren’t ordering them irresponsibly!
The filming is a strange process. The order you see it on screen, is nowhere near what really happens
We started with a 15 minute chat (the interview) at the table, where Alun asked me about 7 or 8 questions and the conversation flowed back and forth - I asked him stuff, he asked me stuff. This was edited down to about 5 mins on the show. Things that were missed included my shout outs to SSiW, I also talked about how Welsh was in the same option group in school as Computing, and given my desire to work in IT I was forced to not study Welsh at school, even though I wanted to.
They also edited a couple of the questions a bit, so you see some questions like when Alun asks me “Why did I move to Aber and why did I decide to start learning?” This was really two different questions on the day, but they edited that into one bigger question and one bigger answer.
In terms of the filming then. It was all done with one presenter - Alun and one cameraman. So after our initial chat, we re-filmed the question scenes - which was just Alun asking the same exact questions but with the camera pointing at his face. I wasn’t to answer any of these.
They then filmed the walking scenes - we were mic’d up, so our chat was all in Welsh again - but I think they chose not to use it as myself and Alun were just talking about pubs in Aber and Alun was talking about how you can buy kebabs in Welsh in Caernarfon… 
After all of this, (maybe an hour?) we went over to Siop Y Pethe, which is about 5 mins walk from the seafront. We filmed the “walking in” scene. This needed three takes as people kept clattering into me whenever I turned the corner into the shop.
The scene where they filmed my shoes as I walk in, was another scene again.
Likewise, the film where I am chatting with Emily and Aled in Siop Y Pethe was again mic’d up, I was cheekily asking them if they’d double my ‘Siop Y Pethe’ points on my loyalty card because of the publicity the show would bring.
Handshakes!? Yes, we spent about 5 mins filming all manner of angles of handshakes
Hey violet!
Thanks for your comments
I’ve already met two or three Americans (who came over to Aber for holidays) who are currently learning. There are definitely lots of people out there