‘People may think it’s a difficult language to learn – but it isn’t’
Today is Shwmae Su’mae Day – a celebration of the Welsh language. Proud speaker Iestyn ap Dafydd tells Rob Harries why it’s important...
“If EVERYONE who speaks Welsh just got one friend to learn the language, there would be more than one million Welsh-speakers in 2019.”
Iestyn ap Dafydd lives in Llandysul, Ceredigion, and almost a decade ago he co-founded an online Welshlanguage website called Say Something In Welsh. It includes a course that, if completed, guarantees that learners will be able to speak Welsh within six months.
So when I ask him if the Welsh Government’s oft-derided ambition to have one million Welsh speakers by 2050 is unrealistic, Iestyn passionately answers in the negative.
Iestyn is 47 and lives with his English wife and their four children. They are all aged between five and 11, and all attend the same Welshmedium school.
They all speak English, but not with their father.
“I’ve never knowingly spoken English with them, because I just don’t want that to be the routine,” says Iestyn.
“My wife is from Manchester and she speaks Welsh and English with them. She learned Welsh before the kids were born because she knew that I’m so passionate about
Welsh that I would naturally want to speak the language to the kids, so she realised that she had to learn!”
Good for her. A lot of people are trying to learn Welsh, but the task is not without its challenges.
“Like everything worth doing, it is time-consuming and difficult, and can even be intimidating in some of its nuances. It’s easy for me, I learnt Welsh before I learnt English, so it’s just there, in my head. Iestyn says it doesn’t need to be difficult for anyone, no matter how little they know or at what stage of life they’re at.
“The oldest learner we have at Say Something In Welsh is 92,” he reveals.
“We also have children learning with their parents and people in their 20s who feel like they missed out on something in their education days and want to learn it now.
“The biggest obstacle is that people don’t have the time and that they might think it’s a really difficult language to learn, but it isn’t.
“What we do is introduce a few words and get people using them in a sentence, then we learn a few more and we go from there.
“We run three or four boot camps in Tresaith every year. Learners come and relax and enjoy themselves for a week – it’s a holiday, basically – but they aren’t allowed to speak English. We invent this artificial world where nobody speaks English. That’s when you find out how much you’ve learnt and how much you have to learn.
“The idea is that it stops people from switching back to English as they normally might when they get stuck. It’s too easy to do that when you feel uncomfortable speaking Welsh, but when you have some fun with it and you are told you have to carry on speaking Welsh, you will feel better about it.
“So when the Welsh Government says they want one million Welshspeakers by 2050, I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all. If everyone who speaks Welsh just got one friend to do the six-month course, there would be more than one million Welsh-speakers in 2019.
“This is where Shwmae Su’mae Day can play a part, too.
“It’s so important not only for people who speak Welsh, but for people who are currently learning Welsh, because people sometimes have difficulties finding others who speak the language. This day gives people an excuse to go out and start a conversation with people.
“And it’s a good way of finding that Welsh-speaker in the local shop or the local pub that you didn’t know existed. If you find that, it will all help to you becoming a Welshspeaker.”
So, how is Iestyn going to spend Shwmae Su’mae Day?
At his local community and leisure centre, and online, talking to people in Welsh for 24 hours, obviously.
In the early hours of today, he will have start the Shwmaeathon – a live online chat, talking with Welshspeakers from all around the world.
“We use technology to teach Welsh to people anywhere in the world,” he says. “So I decided to use the same technology to have a global conversation in Welsh. It’s never been easier to learn Welsh, nor to help Welsh learners by speaking with them, wherever they are.
“People think of the Welsh language as something that’s only spoken in Wales, but apart from the obvious communities in Patagonia and England, there are Welsh-speakers and people who want to speak Welsh all over the world. So we thought, ‘Let’s be the connection!’”
To join in with the fun, you can go to YouTube.com/SSiLanguages on Shwmae Su’mae Day.
As Iestyn says, if we can convince just one person to learn Welsh, the language will be stronger than ever, and we won’t even have to wait another 32 years for it to happen.
And who knows, perhaps that guy down the pub can speak Welsh, after all.
■ TOMORROW: Rob Harries speaks to Dani Schlick, who is originally from Germany but now advises businesses on how best to use Welsh in their workplaces.