Is introducing ourselves the done thing here?

Hi all. I wasn’t sure if people typically did introduction threads or if they just jumped in to the conversations, but I thought I should introduce myself.

My name is Stacy Roberts. I’m 24 and I’m an English teacher living in Whitworth in Manchester. I have just started course 1 so I am not a Welsh speaker (yet!). I have Welsh family history (My Grandfather on my mother’s side was Welsh and he spoke the language) and I have wanted to learn how to speak Welsh ever since I found out when I was a little girl. I still have family in Wales who do speak Welsh, so I would love to, one day, speak to them in Welsh. I have tried to teach myself before using books but you can just never get the pronunciation right with those things!

I’ve only just started course 1, as I said, but I can already tell it’s going to be a brilliant course, and I am looking forward to the experience. It will be my first time teaching myself another language, so I am hoping I can manage to remember it all!

I look forward to progressing through the courses and talking to the wonderful community that seems to exist here. :slight_smile:

  • Stacy

P.S. If introduction threads are frowned upon, I apologise.

Croeso gynnes iawn i chi/ a warm welcome to you, Stacy!
Luckily, you’ve found a great site for learning Welsh. I’m sure someone will be along to tell you about meet-ups in your area; where you’ll get a chance to use your Welsh…Feel free to ask any questions which invariably receive a speedy response.

Hello Stacy,

And a warm welcome to the forum.

I think it’s left entirely to the individual whether or not they wish to introduce themselves, and intro threads are certainly not frowned upon, especially not interesting ones like yours. Hope you manage to get the chance to speak with your relatives in Wales very soon.

Pob lwc!

Diolch yn fawr!

Dinas - I can already tell that this site is going to be one of my regular visits from now on! Everybody seems so friendly. I bet there are probably going to be some meet-ups in Manchester. I have a colleague who speaks Welsh fluently, so I might be able to persuade her to come along with me for moral support!

Mike - Thank you for your response. You never know whether to introduce yourself on a new forum when there isn’t a specific “Introduce yourself here!” section. Glad to know it’s not a bannable offense!

A very warm welcome to the forum, Stacy - I’ll look forward to hearing how it goes for you - and since this is your first time teaching yourself another language, just one word of advice - come in here and ask for help any time you need it.

Everyone gets stuck or frustrated at some point - if you keep it to yourself, it’ll be tough to get through, but if you come and share it on here, you’ll find problems get solved and frustrations turn out to be normal and manageable…:smile:

Pob lwc!

Thank you for the kind words, Aran. I won’t hesistate to ask! I wish all language learning websites were as friendly as this one. I’m just lucky to have stumbled across it! I’d heard good things about the app and, when it stopped working properly, I decided I had to research. I was halfway through Lesson 1 on the app when it shut down on me, and I couldn’t just stop there!

Ah, yes, sorry about the app - we’re going to be trying to make that better in the next few months! But very glad you got far enough to start enjoying it…:smile:

Oh definitely. Had me hooked within about 2 minutes. Gonna make a start on lesson 2 soon!

Shwmae Stacy!
As you’ve no doubt found about now, we are probably one of the nicest forums on the web, and any questions you have, whether Welsh related or otherwise, ask them here and there is sure to be someone who will have a response got you!
Well, I just wanted to say Helo and welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy the course and will see you around the forum! :smiley:

Thank you, Gavin! That’s really nice of you!

Indeed, I have done some forum hopping in my time and this is, by far, the nicest and loveliest I’ve ever been on! There are some extremely friendly forums out there, but there’s always some drama to ruin it. Not seen any here. I hope I’ve not just jinxed it…

We’re real people, so not everyone feels delighted about everything all the time…:wink:

But everyone in the community knows that we just don’t have any kind of personal attacks here, and that we put the definition of ‘attack’ down at round about ‘looking at her in a funny way’ kind of level…:smile:

It seems to let people’s natural loveliness flourish…:smile:

That sounds like the best forum rule ever. Every forum should implement that one. :wink:

Just started on Lesson 2. The pause to let me speak has significantly reduced! Didn’t need to pause the session once in Lesson 1. I think I’m gonna be pausing every time in Lesson 2!

@Stacy: I don’t blame you. I was a big “pause” user at the beginning. However, it is surprising how quickly it becomes less and less necessary, so don’t worry about it.

Haha. I’ll try not to. Thanks for the encouragement. :wink:

Hi Stacy and Welcome,

You have indeed found the friendliest forum on the net and the best way to learn Welsh. It’s amazing how well SSiW works where others fall short.

We love introductory threads. We also like progress reports. So feel free to post how you’re doing from time to time.

I shall make sure to do that! New thread or update this one?

Whichever you prefer.

Shwmae Stacy! Glad to hear you’re enjoying the course so far, and don’t worry about wearing out the pause button! I don’t think there are many people (me included) who can get through a new lesson, especially the first time, without regular use of it. Pob lwc. :slight_smile:

Hi Stacey. Everyone has pretty much said everything that can be said but I just wanted to add my own Helo to the list :slight_smile: Andy

Jon - I’m already learning that it’s going to be a frequent thing, now that I’ve finished Lesson 2. Thanks for the welcome! :slight_smile:

Andy - Thank you for adding the Helo to the list! :slight_smile:

Brief update - I told my mother that I am learning Welsh now. She used to know some of the language since it was her dad that was Welsh. She has decided that she is going to try to learn too (which may be hard for her since she has fibromyalgia and, as a result, has a poor short-term memory) and we have made a pact. When we’re talking to each other, if we are about to say something that we know the Welsh for, we’ll say the Welsh instead. It’s just gonna start off as mostly English with the occasional Welsh word or phrase. Hopefully, it’s eventually going to become mostly Welsh with the occasional English word in there!
I can just picture it going like this at first:

Mum: What do you think of the food?
Me: Dw i’n licio fo!
Mum: Good. I’ll cook it again next time you visit.

It’s going to be entertaining, though!
(P.S. I hope I used Dw i’n licio fo correctly up there. It’s a bit scary…)