The curse of trying to spread oneself too thin by being interested in too many things!
But I will see how things work out.
And thank you for the encouragement!
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That sounds like a massively important step forwardsā¦ 
And I think this thread is now my favourite in the world - just so fascinating to start to have glimpses into all the wonderful helping that we otherwise almost never get to hear about.
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Diolch yn fawr iawn @margaretwerdermann for our Skype conversations! I find it very interesting to talk to you and Iām always looking forward to the next chat. Itās lovely to hear about your work, see your dogs and talk about everything from Wales to tornadoes and green clouds. As a bonus itās great to be able to tell people I regularly speak Welsh with someone who lives in Canada. 
I hope you get to move to North Wales again and that we can meet there some day 
(Hmm, I think Iāll try to do that āsay one Diolch every weekā thing 
)
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Diolch i ti hefyd, @Novem! I feel exactly the same way! I love our Skype sessions and look forward to them every week.
Iām sure weāll meet in person one day, and Wales would be the perfect place to do it!
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Not sure if this is the right place to say this. Butā¦
Ten months ago i remember looking for a course to try to learn welsh.
I stumbled across this website. Like the romans i guess, i came, i saw, i conquered (sort of).
last weekend i spoke to people in the pub, in a cafe, in a siop without nerves or hesitation.
That is down to a huge list of people.
@aran
@gruntius
@Bob
@dannywithington
@maturestudent
@Novem
@philipnewton
@raymondkefford
@adrianbotwright
@Sam84
Sorry more to followā¦
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@BronwenLewis
@AnthonyCusack
@tatjana
@Richmountart
@henddraig
@netmouse
@Margaretnock
@ramblingjohn
And many more who i cannot find right now.
Iām sorry if i missed the first mini bootcampers. All of whom helped me.
And of course @CatrinLliarJones who i just remembered.
Siaradwyr wrth gwrs. Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi i gyd.
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Diolch Pete!! Ti 'di fy helu fi hefyd! Fy hoff post ydy ābe dach chiān wneud?ā
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Diolch. Gobeithio, byddwn niān cyfarfod rhywbryd dros yr wythnos eisteddfod.
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Wwwwwwā¦!! Siwan is one of my tutors in university this year, and she is sooo lovely! I had no idea she had taught Welsh (if you see what I meanā¦)
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I want to say Thank you very much to so many people here in the SsiW family, the families Jones and ap Dafydd, of course, all the Bootcampers I met and many more people who speak with me on Skype or helped me on the forum.
But my biggest, really huge diolch is for @maynard, my first Skype partner. He had learned Welsh before starting SsiW and could already speak fluently, and I thought I could never reach his level. @maynard helped me speaking, gave me advice, took me in his car to many places in Wales and England, visited some Eisteddfods with me and was and is always a helpful and patient friend for me. In our last conversation he said that for him it is naturally to speak Welsh with me and I can agree with him. Even if we speak German or English for a while, it is easy and natural to slip back to Welsh.
So, diolch yn fawr iawn, John a dw iān edrych ymlaen at dy weld di mis Ebrill.
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Thatās so cool - cofia fi ati hi tro nesaf weli di hiā¦
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I donāt know where to start, I am so grateful to everybody who has helped me over the many years Iāve been learning Welsh: everybody on my first bootcamp, my mate Andy with whom Iāve been conversing in Welsh for many years now, and has introduced me to the finer points of llosgi bwriadol, my mate Aran, and Catrin, and Angharad and Beuno, and Iestyn and his family, and Dee, and the team behind the scenes, Kevin, Lewie, Ifan and all the others, and everybody on my second bootcamp, John Coombs who does Welsh lessons in Sydney, the dysgwyr who arranged Skype sessions with me, and the people who were so active on the first incorporation of the forum, and everybody who contributes on the current versionā¦
Diolch o galon i chi i gyd, a dw iān gobeithio cwrdd a chi yng Nghymru cyn bo hir!
En natuurlijk ook hartelijk dank aan iedereen die Nederlands leert via SSiā¦
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Fi 'fyd. Iāve mentioned to Aran before how grateful I am to all at SSIW, having found it during a bad patch. I also had tons of help from lots of people when I did a Plant Mewn Angen thing years ago. Too many to recall and some who no longer pop up on the forum. Iām not a nervy dog but I will admit I had some tense moments during my āNothing but Welshā day at work in England. My Swedish friends still laugh about it but Iāve not told anyone before that I threw up before the singing bit. Many more threw up during thatš. Aran and Iestyn kept me going but it was my big mate Louis whom Iād never spoken to before who started the day off and weāve chatted ever since. If it wasnāt for Louis, i would have given up trying to learn long ago and I might well have burned down the village hall (I might still do thatš). Beyond that, Iām grateful to many āproperā Welsh speakers who donāt laugh to much when Iāve been let loose in the wild. Oh, and thanks also to the English lady who ignored me recently when when she caught me muttering ā Bois ff***n bach, āmlaen rwanā at a parking machine.
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Diolch yn fawr am y geiriau caredig.
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Such kind words, diolch yn fawr.
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I enjoyed our discussions about tutoring too! How is everything going with you?
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So much love on this thread! As well as thanking everyone for putting so much effort and passion into learning Cymraeg, Iād like to thank @garethrking, whose books I often refer to when in doubt, and an author I admire very much for getting his work published by Routledge and making āspokenā Welsh grammar accessible, especially in his Basic Welsh and Intermediate Welsh Grammar & Workbook publications. Diolch Gareth.
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I read this post just a few hours ago, when I arrived here after 5 nights on a train, so in a somewhat tired state. I didnāt cry, I didnāt almost cry, I just almost, almost cried. I love it when people are thankful, and itās a lovely thing that aran has done to give us an opportunity to express our thanks. So to those who have been kind to me here, of course, I thank you. Diolch yn fawr.
So, to Jayne, the receptionist at Carmarthen leisure centre, who has never reverted to English during our conversations and has seen me progress from Bore Da and Dw i wedi blino to wherever it is I am now. Diolch.
To Rhian, my lovely, educated, cultured, busy friend who gave up a couple of hours a week of her time, for a YEAR, and insisted on giving me a meal at the same time, while I prepared to do the Uwch exam, and who would never dream of speaking to me in English now. Diolch
To Saundra, who I met early on in my journey who also speaks 100% Welsh with me now. Diolch
To Byron, my neighbour with the highly accented and highly colloquial Welsh, for whom speaking English is a trial, for encouraging me to learn his language. Diolch
To all my Welsh speaking patients who were initially delighted by my attempts to speak Welsh, even though I couldnāt understand a word of their replies. And to all of those with whom I can communicate 100% in Welsh now. I started this journey for you. Diolch
To the very few people, with and without Cymraeg, who dismissed my efforts. Itās my time, Iāll do what I like with it. It made me stronger. Diolch.
To all those who said, " I could never learn Welsh", and who heard the information about SSIW, and did nothing about it, you could have done it, but chose not to. Iām still right, youāre still mistaken. Diolch
To every member of every boot camp Iāve ever been on. Diolch for putting up with an opinionated know it all.
To @AnnaC, @Novem, with whom Iāve only Skyped. It was a pleasure. Diolch.
To @Howard and @Pete2, with whom Iāve Skyped, and met face to face. Such interesting people. Diolch
@seren and @tatjana, who have given me destinations for my travels, and so much of their time in the flesh. Diolch
@Karla, @lynne_freudigmann who crossed the world to be in Wales. It was so lovely to meet you. Diolch for letting me spend time with you.
@henddraig, who must read every single word written here and is so positive in her responses and passion for Cymraeg. Diolch.
Itās a privilege to be in this community.
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And because there wasnāt enough room in the above posts, diolch to @billigog and @annmoore, staunch members of the Carmarthen SSIW group. Bill, the Welsh poetry is one of only 2 real books I have with me now. Ann, I hope you and your knee are doing well.
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@margaretnock not every word o gwbl! But you are an inspiration to us all!
To @philipnewton I meant to ask you on Skype if anyone asked, when you were in Wales, if you came from Patagonia? I have loved your warm soft accent since I first heard it and it doesnāt seem at all German, much more Spanish! And please donāt give up Cymraeg! Your amazing progress acted as a spur to me!
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