True confession—I’m loving this. And you?

I managed to fit a whole lesson in on my way to the flag-raising on St David’s day on the train :wink:

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A Sooner! Before moving to Australia (for more than a life term apparently), I last lived in Broken Arrow (Broke’n’Arrer) Tulsa even though I was born in LI NY NY.
Hwyl!

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Well, if he ever looks over your shoulder be sure to tell him that unlike in Japanese, the ‘u’ at the end of the word m u s t be pronounced!

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Diolch yn fawr Sean—will do :wink:

I have been trying to coach him on the basics like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in Welsh, coffi and cwrw, and in return he is teachng me ‘I am allergic to shellfish’ for our visits to Japanese restaurants. That’s fair trade!

Cheers,
Mari

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Diolch yn fawr iawn Anna—you are an inspiration, a real gem and lovely new friend.

All the best,
Marilyn

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…is definitely a life-saver!

Hopefully he has also taught you gomen nasai, wakarimasen (I’m sorry, I don’t understand). Drw gen i, dwi’n ddim yn gwybod.

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So many beautiful contributions in here… :heart: :heart:

I’m hugely intrigued by the idea of tying Welsh in with friendliness and love. I think that’s a road we have to try and travel… :slight_smile:

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Chwarae teg, you started it :clap:t2:

Now about how many we could call on to help spread some goodwill, joy and happiness…

At our annual St. David’s Day dinner, the local MP, who is proud of his own Welsh heritage, gave one of the toasts by naming the contributions Welsh people have made to Canada. It was pretty impressive, but what caught my attention was his statement that there are 500,000 people in Canada of Welsh extract. In a country of 37 million that may not sound much, but in absolute terms a pretty big number. We also received many wonderful messages from other Welsh Societies around the world which went on and on and on—so there are a lot, especially in the southern hemisphere judging by all the beautiful greetings being read out.

Question: do we have any idea how many people in the world are of Welsh heritage? If not, could we start to assemble the number by asking members to ask for the statistics in the countries where they live?

Can you see where I’m going with this? A WWWW—a World Wide Welsh Web of kindness spread through the medium of inviting folk to SSiW—even just a few words to help claim their roots, proud heritage and show leadership in promoting goodwill in a world that seems to need some right now.

1 million speakers? Sounds like we could come up with half of that in Canada alone!

Onwards… :grinning:
Mari

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It is 1 year since I started the 6MW course and now I cannot imagine my life without Welsh in it. I have met genuinely lovely people along the way and the whole experience has been happy, fulfilling and actually quite emotional.

Having moved to Canada decades ago I feel that learning the language is nourishing my Welsh soul and living so far from Wales I don’t know how I could have done this without SSiW.

So thank you Aran, Iestyn, Dee and Nia from the bottom of my heart.

Ruth

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How beautifully described Ruth!

You are absolutely right—SSiW provides the kind of soul food that feeds something very deep inside us that creates happiness and forges friendships. Brilliant!

Diolch yn fawr iawn dear friend—I will never forget your introducing yourself to me in Welsh in the local swimming pool, and really appreciate the ways you have helped me.

Mari

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BOOMER SOONER! Hwyl! So now you’re using your Welsh Down Under!

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And that just made my day… :star: :star2:

Yes, this has got some real legs to it. Maybe we need to figure out something around the ‘learn 1 sentence’ model…

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Hi Mari,

It is the support and encouragement of people like you that make this experience a pleasure.

Diolch i ti!

It was a fateful day when I recognised you in the pool and I look forward to us continuing this journey together.

Ruth

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“Maybe we need to figure out something around the ‘learn 1 sentence’ model…”

What a great idea Aran—it is so simple, but the best ideas often are.

Fantastic—let’s do it!!!
Mari

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