Thanks for your very helpful advice margaretnock , henddraig and leiafee . Much appreciated 
I am also working back through what I have already done Pete2 . It is surprising just how much easier it is than the first time round ! Itâs definitely not a waste of time though as I too am stumbling upon bits I had forgotten due to not using
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Well I have had some ups and downs this week, mainly downs really. I was in Cardiff by myself on the weekend with a few hours to kill. I was passing yr hen llyfrgell and couldnât pluck up the courage to go in - even though I quite fancied having a look.
It is crazy I know, but I found the thought of going in really quite intimidating and I could feel my knowledge of Welsh draining from me, while I was thinking about popping in for a look. I am impressed by people on here who just jump in with both feet and I have had some good moments this year and have kept an email from a tutor who refused to sign me up for Canolradd, becuase he said I was at a higher level and would find it frustrating and I needed to go and chat to more people, but I really havenât taken the advice since that time. I feel some New Years resolutions coming on, with regards to getting out there and breaking these inhibitions. It feels a real waste to have learned so much and not to use it and develop things further.
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I know exactly how you feel.
Iâm the same. Though i suspect your welsh is better than mine.
Its just a case of keep trying. And one day all will fall into place.
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Thank you for sharing this. We were discussing the HL the other day, and that it doesnât get used as much as it ought. One thought I had was that the cafe was upstairs so you canât see into it from the street, and thatâs going to put some people off. But the intimidation thing is such a shame (and I bet youâre not alone in that). I wish there was some way it could be more inviting and friendly to people.
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This is really to all three of you, @sarapeacock and also @Pete2 and @Toffidil. I am totally sure that Peteâs Cymraeg is very good indeed. I doubt if Toffâs is any better or worse. What both of you lack is confidence. Have you seen the video mentioned in todayâs n/l from the Rhondda lad who recorded it after 3 weeks of SSiW on top of the stuff from âschool 2nd language Welsh to age 14â? What he has over you two is the confidence to give it a whirl and not mind a bit of English getting in!
To Sara, could Yr Hen Llyfrgell maybe have a notice on the door which says,
âIf you are learning Welsh, weâd love you to come in for cofee/chat/books. Try out your Welsh. We wonât mind a few words of English here and there!â
Something like that might help with the nerves!
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Just to follow on from @henddraig - my Welsh is not brilliant and Iâm sure you have a lot more speaking experience than myself, but that isnât the thing is it - I have a strange phobia somehow that I have to get over. I have gone to meet-ups with the odd fellow dysgwyr down the tafarn now and again and I have done the odd Skype, but I just could not pluck up the strength to do it on Saturday. Phobias are irrational so have to find a way of overcoming it somehow.
As for the footfall at Yr hen llyfrgell as @sarapeacock mentioned, Iâm sure this sort of thing is a big part of the problem, but putting up signs to say itâs OK to speak English wouldnât have got me through the door and bizaarely I know that I would have been dissapointed if I had made it in only to find that everyone was speaking English.
@Henddraig. No edits. No script. Sorry for the mistakes!
Nadolig llawen.
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Wow! Your Welsh ydy well na fy nghymraeg! Which is no compliment! Go into,anywhere and speak it!
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Superb - your standard of Welsh really is quite staggering and in only 7 months. Da Iawn i ti.
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Diolch. But dont try this at home!
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Ardderchog Pete. You sound very fluent and natural when speaking Cymraeg . Very impressive !
Toffidil ; youâre not alone feeling intimidated by the thought of speaking Welsh with people and Iâm not sure there is an easy fix for it and itâs easy to purposely avoid these situations .
In my case now I donât really have a choice as I now usually come in to contact with several people every day (at work , at the school gate etc) who now automatically address me in Welsh . I find that some days my mind feels sharp and I look forward to these encounters and this is when I speak Cymraeg best but a lot of days , when Iâm tired usually , my mind doesnât feel sharp at all and as you said , you can feel your knowledge of Welsh draining from you and on these days i dread the thought of getting in to a Welsh conversation. What I find helps in these situations is to have a couple of sentences in your head ready before you start the conversation for example at this time of year if you wanted to go in to a cafe you could perhaps say , " dachiân agor dros nadolig" are you open over Christmas ? or perhaps "wyt tiân barod am nadolig eto ? " You could probably then expect them to throw the same question back at you so you could reply something like yndw or dim eto etc . Perhaps you could tell them that youâre still learning Welsh and this could lower the expectations a bit.
It all boils down to the fear of making a fool of yourself which does feel horrible and happens to me pretty much on a daily basis . I think itâs important that you just keep reminding yourself that itâs an inevitable part of the learning process . Best of luck
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Good advice. Although sometimes i just canât think of what to say!
Fear is awful. Thank goodness for wine and beer i say. Seriously though its hard to speak when youâre concious about your ability.
Not do sure about sounding at all natural but thanks. Perhaps we should start a skype dros nadolig thread where those wish can have a welsh chat sometime over xmas.
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You donât sound like you have or should have a confidence problem to me! I think you sound very natural and comfortable, and at an amazing standard for the amount of time youâve been learning. Da iawn ti!
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Thinking and perhaps overthinking this one a bit today, I do think that for me personally that deep down there is a little bit of me that somehow feels a bit of shame for never learning to speak welsh as a fluent first language speaker. Clearly that is irrational and it is something that I had no control over when I was younger and can never change, but avoiding conversations with first language speakers is perhaps all about avoiding that reality hitting me in the face. Speaking with other learners does not really worry me at all, so for me I do think that it is something that is quite deeply rooted and challenges my identity a little bit.
I think being a Hwntw helps accent wise. But a Hwntw speaking Gog? I may never be able to show my face there again! 
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Well, you could be me, be speaking Hwntw with an American accent! Iâll never have those vowels quite right, but I do my best
Anghygoel!! If I was still driving, about the only things I could talk about while driving along at normal speed, would be, âYmlaen yma, dim troi eto, iâr dde nawrâ!!!
You sound way too much like a hwntw for my liking 
(Iâm joking for those who donât me or Pete, itâs was pay back for a comment about my English accent ).
Da iawn byt! Tiân sownioân hyderus ond Dwiân deallt pam ti ddim yn teimlo fel bod gen ti ddigon o hyder. Maeân anodd i deimloâr ffordd 'na pan tiâm gallu clywed y llais yn dy ben di (ahhhhh theyâre speaking Welsh to me!!)
The Hen Lyfrgell is a great place and the staff are wonderful and patient. If youâre feeling nervous is a great place to walk out feeling confident because of how patient and understanding they are. On the flip side, they donât mind if you slip in the odd bit of saesneg. Itâs Cardiff after all!
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Dare I say that my impression is that youâve come on loads in the last year in that respect? Youâre just too articulate in Saesneg for your own good!
Bootcamp? 
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Wel, hwntw ydw i. Maeân well naâŚerâŚdim trio siarad cymraeg, siwr o fod!
Its funny isnât it. In south wales iâm now accused of sounding anything but! Although on a recent visit to Betws-y-Coed i mentioned to someone I was learning Welsh and he immediately said âond tiân dod oâr de? iawn?â (Youâre from the south? yes?)
I keep telling everyone âdoes gen i ddim acenâ (i donât have an accent) but noone believes me!
Anyway sadly our local welsh shop (siop y siswrn) is closing its doors in two days. The people who run it have been very patient with me when iâve called in looking for something. The products will still be on sale in Saith Seren but iâll miss popping in after a wetherspoons breakfast or shopping at Mold Market.
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