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[LittleMissWowbib]

Bore da SSIWers. I haven't been around for a while due to not having internet but I have got a small amount now just to be able to tell you about my first try this morning.
I was getting on the bus and was going to ask for a ticket in Welsh. It was the first time I would have used my welsh interactively, if that makes sense and I was nervous but determined. I know it seems silly to get hung up on just asking for a ticket but as I am at uni again now its the only reliable truly welsh encounter I have each day.
Anyway there was a queue and I was getting more nervous every second but more resolved than ever to really have a go. However when I asked for the ticket (ticed tyre pimp i Bangor plis (please excuse the spelling)) he didn't understand me... I paused and then realised he can't speak welsh! The only bus driver in the entire time we have been back in the UK not to do so!
The only thing I think I got out of it is that next time I'll not be so nervous (I hope) as I've had quite a shaky start...
Never mind... there's always next time! There are so many welsh speakers in LLPG at some point I hope to come across one

[Aran]

The important thing is that YOU DID IT...

This reminds me of taking ages to try and get a sentence right, with correct mutations everywhere, to ask for a baked potato with cheese and tuna in my first National Eisteddfod - and finally having the courage to go for it, and getting 'Can you say it in English, please?'...

[sel88]

I share your frustration!

Living in Devon, there is little opportunity to speak Welsh: however, I'm always on the look-out, in the hope of finding someone who could help me practice or maybe join our very small meet-up group.

I joined the village walking group this week and was delighted to meet a lady with a Welsh accent. I took a deep breath and said, "Wyt t'in siarad Cymraeg?" She looked at me with a very blank expression and said, "Sorry....?" I explained what I had said, to which she replied, "Oh, I don't speak Welsh, just English with a very strong Welsh accent!".

During the walk I met three other people who were Welsh (out of a group of 12) but not one of them spoke the language.

I'll keep hoping..........

[Aran]

I took a deep breath and said, "Wyt t'in siarad Cymraeg?"

Having the courage to do that makes it exponentially more likely that you're going to find someone...

You might also like to list yourself on www.ffrinDiaith.org

[Kinetic]

This reminds me of taking ages to try and get a sentence right, with correct mutations everywhere, to ask for a baked potato with cheese and tuna in my first National Eisteddfod - and finally having the courage to go for it, and getting 'Can you say it in English, please?'...

Hah! Been there, done that - at my first Eisteddfod too. Except in my case it was a cyri cyw iâr

[MikeEllwood]

I share your frustration!

Living in Devon, there is little opportunity to speak Welsh: however, I'm always on the look-out, in the hope of finding someone who could help me practice or maybe join our very small meet-up group.

I joined the village walking group this week and was delighted to meet a lady with a Welsh accent. I took a deep breath and said, "Wyt t'in siarad Cymraeg?" She looked at me with a very blank expression and said, "Sorry....?" I explained what I had said, to which she replied, "Oh, I don't speak Welsh, just English with a very strong Welsh accent!".

During the walk I met three other people who were Welsh (out of a group of 12) but not one of them spoke the language.

I'll keep hoping..........

Funnily enough I'm also in a walking group, and there is an older lady and gentleman who speak with very strong Welsh accents (especially the gentleman, who is also very entertaining with it). I've wondered about approaching him about "siarad Cymraeg", but never quite had the nerve. I've a feeling he's from "de" and I'm trying to learn "gogledd", but I suppose in theory that shouldn't be an issue...

[Tahl]

This reminds me of taking ages to try and get a sentence right, with correct mutations everywhere, to ask for a baked potato with cheese and tuna in my first National Eisteddfod - and finally having the courage to go for it, and getting 'Can you say it in English, please?'...

Hah! Been there, done that - at my first Eisteddfod too. Except in my case it was a cyri cyw iâr

I think I tried that same curry truck . . .

There are always a number of people in the food trucks at the Eisteddfod and on the stands for various organizations who don't speak Welsh and who are experiencing the discomfort of being a minority language for the first time. A winner of Learner of the Year several years back, Kay Holder, speaks of her experience in that situation having been the spur that got her to study Welsh in the first place.

[RobertBruce]

Except in my case it was a cyri cyw iâr

I think I tried that same curry truck . . . .

To be fair, the curry stand (it's always the same one at both the Urdd and the National) has upped its game in recent years and can now be relied on to be at least substantially Welsh.

The biggest revelation this year was the wood-fired real pizza stand with 100% Welsh-speaking staff - great food, good value and absolutely no awkward "what langauge are we going to do this in?" moments.

[Kinetic]

wood-fired real pizza stand [...] good value

I kept thinking it looked tasty, but just couldn't bring myself to part with eight quid for a single slice of pizza. Not when the six-quid giant yorkshire pudding full of roast dinnery goodness was just two trucks over.

[RobertBruce]

wood-fired real pizza stand [...] good value

I kept thinking it looked tasty, but just couldn't bring myself to part with eight quid for a single slice of pizza. Not when the six-quid giant yorkshire pudding full of roast dinnery goodness was just two trucks over.

Erm... five pounds I paid for a whole pizza, cooked before my eyes. They must have invented some special prices just for you!

Yorkshire pudding? I don't like foreign food.