Yes, but that doesn’t stop it being interesting. The Don’t worry about id adage yet again.
I was pleased to hear that I don’t sound like a Gog at Bwtcamp. I think I knew the ‘sound of Welsh’ before SSiW, but I’m sure I speak Gog a little more now. As adult learners we pick up the language differently through this course and others, so when we happen to know thee is a 'Southern/Northern/local alternative we can simply choose to use the one we like best, so speak a curious mixture. What’s important is being able to understand all dialects when you hear them, so llaeth, llath or llefrith are understood subconsciously, just as you cease to notice which one you use yourself.
The idea of expending effort to pick up a different accent seems to me a wasted effort, unless you are an actor of course.
Just wanted to post again to thank you all for your input. I feel MOR GWELL - miles better. So interesting to hear from you about this. I really felt it was a big hurdle to have that decision of “North or South” at the heart of starting, when I didn’t even live in Wales. It’s like…“I dunno, Welsh?!”.
The problem wasn’t really about me wanting to sound more authentic or impress anyone as such. It was more about where I live, and where in Wales I’m most likely to be as a consequence. But I now see that this is fairly wishy-washy, and as long as I understand people I’ll be reet.
Think the tutor I encountered at Cwrs Pasg inadvertently set me off on a lot of my worries. Not so helpful for a learner when you end up in a class where no one’s saying efo and you feel like you stand out.
Thinking about it, I was actually a lot less bothered about my vocab or accent mixing until I went to a formal class. OH MY!!!
You’ll be fine with any accent. I’ve moved many times in England and Wales to places with strong and distinctive English dialects. Each time I have loved learning the new words, but have also kept the old ones as you would expect. I haven’t deliberately changed my accent, although bits have rubbed off onto me. So it’s the same in Cymraeg. It’s great to understand people from different areas, without having to sound like them 
I think it is normal to very gradually sound more and more like the people who live around you over time (which may be many years).
That’s normal and natural in any language.
The problem for Welsh learners who live outside of Wales and who don’t have many opportunities to visit, is that they are unlikely to find themselves surrounded by Welsh speakers, except perhaps in classroom situations, or meetups, and that is obviously not the same thing as being surrounded by first-language speakers, or people who speak it every day for a lot of the day.
In that case, I suppose we will gravitate naturally towards the accents / dialects we enjoy listening to the most, e.g. on S4C, Radio Cymru, and in Welsh songs wherever we hear them.
Hi again,
I am all for celebrating local and regional differences but glad to have them pointed out and explained. Living so far away, it’s a case of playing ‘follow the leader’ with SSiW.
My husband says my English accent changes after I spend a couple of hours on the phone to my brother in St. Nicholas every Saturday morning. Perhaps most of us are natural mimics so subtly adapt without being conscious of it.
Hwyl,
Marilyn