First of all, hello, I'm Claire from Torbay
I'm learning Welsh because my Dad is fluent in it, he grew up in Cwmbran although has been living in Milton Keynes since before he had me. I have a lot of family still in Wales though. I've only now decided to learn because my partner is also Welsh, although he doesn't speak much, just a little from his GCSE years ago. He's also from Cwmbran, although we met in Exeter... Turns out he went to the same school as my Dad, spooky! A few months back, without thinking, I referred to myself as 'English' for which I got told off by my partner, so I thought I'd get one up on him and try to become fluent in Welsh. That, plus the excitement of being able to talk to my family in Welsh, plus having a 40-minute commute gave me the perfect excuse to start learning!I've actually been aware of SSIW for a few years, I was school friends with your very own SparkyCola, although it's only now that I've got round to looking at it. I'm actually on lesson 10 of course 1 (southern), but I've been keeping quiet since I wanted to tell my Dad first
Which brings me on to the encounter... So I phoned him this morning, said "Bore da," he started laughing, then I said "Ti'n iawn?" and he paused, presumably thinking "Hang on, is she actually speaking Welsh?" He then said something I couldn't quite catch, I was planning on saying "Dwi ddim yn gwybod beth wnest ti ddweud, ond (I'm ok, I can speak Welsh, etc)" but panicked and all I could manage was "Mae'n ddrwg 'da fi." I can't believe how nervous I was 
Ho hum. He was pretty impressed all the same, he said my intonation was perfect and he could tell that I'd been learning from recordings, so thank you Iestyn and Cat! 
a chroeso i'r fforwm!
And a warm welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll do great! Those conversations will get better and easier, and before long your dad will be dumbfounded. Pob lwc! 
