Continuing the discussion from Why Welsh? Why SSiW? What's your story?:
Dw i wedi clywed ‘moyn’ llawer o weithiau, ond dim mewn dosbarthiadau neu llyfrau. Dw i ddim dysgwr newydd ond hen!. Dw i hanner cymraeg ond aeth fy mam fel merch bach i’r alban, ble oedd ei thad yn gweithio. Roedd y teulu yn siarad cymraeg gartre, a gyda mamgu, nain a thaid yn Nghymru. Ond, pryd daeth ei frawd, newidodd yr iaith gartre i Saesneg Albanaidd a dysgodd y plant ifanca bron dim Cymraeg. Mae gyda ni ffrindiau a theulu yn y gorllewin Cymru ble mae bwthyn gyda ni. Nawr, dyn ni wedi ymddeol, ‘pensiynwres’, dyn ni’n byw yn Ngeredigion ac yn Llundain, a mae rhaid i fi siarad mwy o Gymraeg gyda phawb… A dw i’n hoffi darllen er mae eisiau fi defnyddio y geiriadur. Oops can now see meant to be in English, I’ve heard 'moyn. lots of times but not in classes or books. I’m not a new learner but old. I’m half welsh but my mother went as a small child to Scotland, where her father worked… The family spoke Welsh at home and with her mamgu, nain and taid in Wales. When her brother came the language at home changed to Scots English and the younger children spoke almost no Welsh. We have friends and family in west wales where we have a cottage Now that we are retired pensioners we live in Ceredigion and London and I need to speak more Welsh with everyone… and I like reading although I need to use a dictionary! Anna
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My dad was from Wales but never spoke Welsh, but I now have Welsh speaking granddaughters and would love to speak it myself.
I’m 72 and think it will be a challenge.
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My dad was Welsh, and he really wanted me to learn Welsh but living in England it was very difficult to practice, so it just didn’t happen. I heard my grandmother speaking Welsh, and between her and my dad, I was taught all the sounds that English people find difficult to pronounce. Oh how they were setting me up for the future.
Now I live in Wales, I feel that learning the language not only connects me to those who went before me, but also helps me to connect more to local people, who are very encouraging. The odd one or two say “why bother, most people speak English anyway”, but I feel the language must survive, so that the culture of the country is preserved. My dad and his family wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. They were Welsh and proud to be Welsh. It’s a part of who we are.
I find the SSIW method to be so good, putting sentences into small chunks of learning, rather than lumping too much information in one go. Even when I do feel as though I’m being lumped upon, it’s so easy to break things down further still.
I also like the affirmations of “you enjoy learning to speak it”
“you speak it very well”, “I don’t want to stop because it’s interesting”, a nice bit of Neuro Linguistic Programming going on there. Brilliant.
I’ve even semi woken up in the night and realised the words are going around in my thoughts. Then what I thought was omg that’s scary, I’ll never learn this, just seems to slide into place… And suddenly becomes interesting, exciting and no I don’t want to stop, because it’s fun and interesting !
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