Siaradwyr yng Nghaerdydd?

Welsh Meetups/Events
#1

Shwmae, pawb! Greetings from the 2018 North American Festival of Wales, and thanks to Aran for joining us here to share the hwyl a hiraeth.

I apologize that I really haven’t used the forum much (ok, at all) since joining in summer 2015. I have done (old) courses 1 and 2 since, added Duolingo to my daily routine over the last two years, and am involved at the intermediate level in our local Welsh classes in Pittsburgh. Just today, here at NAFOW, I have participated for the second year in the North American learner’s poetry recitation.

I’m posting today for purely selfish reasons, to be quite honest! I will be travelling to Cymru again in a few weeks and hope to use more of my conversational Welsh than I did in 2017. I’m a town mouse and will mainly be sticking to Cardiff, with a couple half-days to Merthyr Tudful and Y Fenni for pre-arranged meetings.

I will post some more of my schedule details once home from the Gŵyl Cymru, but basically, I’m arriving Wednesday, 3rd October in the afternoon, leaving the morning of the 10th.

Are there any particular suggestions for where in Cardiff I might be most likely to siarad Cymraeg, at least tipyn bach?

Diolch o galon, and I will endeavour to keep up on the forum in future. But no binding promises :slight_smile:

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#2

You could look here but not many entries for Cardiff www.breatheyourwelsh.cymru

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#3

Can’t help you with specific places, but a couple of SSiWers are in/near Caerdydd and might be up for a chat. Tagging @Sylv, @Hishiv and @Macky for you :slight_smile:

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#4

Yr Hen Lyfrgell is a Welsh language centre, with a cafe where most of the staff speak Welsh. There’s also Sain Ffagans - a sort of living museum, and all of the staff speak Welsh there. If you’re interested in meeting up with anyone, I live in Cardiff and would be happy to catch up for coffee. :slight_smile:

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#5

Me too @Karla :+1:t2:

Like @Hendrik says there are a few of us SSIWers who regularly meet up in Cardiff and we can make arrangements to suit you when you work out your schedule.
There is also a group of welsh speakers that meet in the chapel arts centre Monday’s around 6.30 pm which I’d recommend.

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#6

Exciting :slight_smile: Yes, as @Macky said we could arrange a meet up, and/or see you at Chapter on Monday:

Cardiff Uni list lots of different meetups in Cardiff here too, there’s a couple of different meetups most days: https://learnwelsh.cymru/about-us/providers/cardiff-university/ (bottom right of this page there’s
a google calender).

Also keep an eye on this thread for the October monthly Cardiff SSiW meeting arranged by @ali (though maybe it’s on the first and you’ll miss it…?):

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#7

Yes, we are meeting this coming Monday night at the Bragdy a Chegin (formerly Mochyn Du) from 7 to 8.30/9 ish. You would be most welcome to join usl

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#8

I would also be happy to meet up with you when you visit Caerdydd.

In some shops and cafes in Caerdydd, you might see staff wearing orange Cymraeg badges, or black and orange lanyards with Cymraeg or Dysgwyr written on them. Some places also have an orange Cymraeg sticker in the window. Keep a eye out for these, and start the conversation yn Gymraeg if you see them.

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#9

Great, thanks! I assume next month’s one is on the 1st October?

#10

Yes, we’ll be there then.

#11

A few ideas in addition to the great suggestions above:

Depends on where you will be staying, but there are some shops & cafes where you will be more likely to find Welsh speakers (though a lot of them are out of the city centre). Haven’t got time to find links, so I hope you don’t mind a bit of Googling! Try:

Big Moose Cafe (city centre)
Canna Deli (Pontcanna)
Caban bookshop (Pontcanna)
Cant a Mil Vintage (Whitchurch Road)
Bodlon (Whitchurch, and in Yr Hen Llyfrgell in town)
The Grange pub, Grangetown (apparently the landlord is a Welsh speaker, but a bit shy about it)

Keep an eye open for the orange badge, that’s the main message!

Some people might wear a silver badge with “dysgu” on it as well/instead:

Dysgu.JPG4032×3024 1.48 MB

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#12

Hi Jessica. I live in Merthyr and would be happy to meet up with you for a practice if you like?

Diolch

Kim

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#13

Hello all, I live in the Netherlands (Yr Iseldroedd I believe?) but have been surfing the forum for a place to try my level 1 Welsh while I’m over visiting Cowbridge between 3 - 11 October. This thread has given me lots of suggestions and I’ll see if I can come along to something in Cardiff while I’m there. Thanks folks ! x

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#14

Shwmae, eto, pawb,

Now that I think I’m at least half-sorted after the convention, I can pull up my travel time-table again.

First off, thanks to all who have responded with suggestions! I’m going to have a look at the Dysgu Cymraeg schedule this morning. And thanks for the reminder about the badges! I know I saw those a few times during my last trip. What I don’t recall is if they are available for purchase by the general public anywhere, Bodlon, etc (which I loved when I stopped in to Yr Hen Llyfrgell last time, cafe was in transition then, but I expect to visit again and maybe will plan to have a nibble there). I think it would be brilliant to have some of those badges for Welsh events here in the US as well, especially for things like the national convention.

I won’t be in for the October group, unfortunately, arriving afternoon on the Wednesday. I’m doing my best to leave myself lots of gaps in the schedule as my last trip was somewhat full-on. I am hoping to get in another visit to the galleries at Amgueddfa Cymru and explore around the castle a bit more. Also, some little excursions to St. Fagan’s, Caerphilly, and possibly a visit to the Penderyn distillery (which might work with my meeting in Merthyr, depending on how long we go), etc.

My basic agenda looks a bit like this:

Wed., 3 Oct.
4 or 5pm - Arrive Cardiff (staying by the Bay)
9pm - (if I have any energy!) salsa dancing, city centre

Thurs., 4 Oct
fairly clear until ~4pm when I’ll head back to the hotel to get ready for evening theatre

Fri., 5 Oct
meeting in Merthyr till 2 or 3pm

Sat., 6 Oct
fairly clear until ~2:30pm (going up to Newport for the rugby)

Sun., 7 Oct
nothing particular planned

Mon., 8 Oct
visiting a friend in Y Fenni

Tues., 9 Oct
catching up on any of the stuff that might have been missed, rescheduled, etc.

More than anything, I’ll just be glad to get back and see those hills and valleys again! I’d “got” the concept of hiraeth the first time I heard of it, but I didn’t really know it until I’d been there :slight_smile:

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#15

Delighted to see you jumping in like this, Jessica! :star: :star2:

And delighted as ever to see what a hugely warm and welcoming community this is… :star: :star2: :slight_smile:

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