‘Try not to turn back to English all the time if you get stuck...’
In the second of our series of articles celebrating Shwmae Su’mae Day – a celebration of the Welsh language – Dani Schlick, from Germany, tells Rob Harries why she became a Welsh speaker...
“ICAME here on holiday and just fell in love with the place.” Dani Schlick lived in Berlin when she decided in the summer of 2015 that holidaying in Wales just wasn’t enough. She upped sticks and moved almost 1,000 miles from east Germany to north Wales.
All she had to do then was learn the language.
“I had been here on holiday and the first time I came I was completely surprised to see how much of the Welsh language there was around,” says Dani.
“I loved it and decided to come here for two summers and try to learn the language myself.”
That was five years ago and two years later she made the move.
Originally from Saxony, she now lives in Menai Bridge in Anglesey and works for Mentrau Iaith Cymru, advising businesses in north Wales on how best to use Welsh in their workplaces and how to promote the benefits of the language.
“I want to raise awareness about the language and make people feel more confident about it,” she says.
“What I did from the beginning is just go out and speak the language and have conversations with people. It can take time but within a year I was confident in my ability to chat with people.
“There are a lot of Welsh speakers where I live, so of course that helps and it gave me an advantage.
“I have friends who have learnt Welsh too and what I gradually started to do is speak Welsh with them.
“With one friend we have totally changed now to speaking in Welsh – to the point where I would find it quite odd if we spoke to each other in English.
“That’s the key thing for learners, I think. You just need to carry on. Just go out and speak Welsh and try not to turn back to English all the time if you get stuck.
“Obviously it’s better to use an English word rather than stopping a conversation, but a lot of people tend to stop speaking Welsh completely at this point – the key is to keep going the best we can.
“People need to be a bit stubborn with it. Luckily for me, I’ve always been a bit stubborn.”
According to a survey by the Office of National Statistics released last month, there are now more than 800,000 people in Wales who can speak Welsh. This figure is up more than 100,000 from 2008.
This is not enough, according to the Welsh Government, who want that number to swell further to one million Welsh speakers by 2050.
“We need to have a high target,” says Dani.
“If, by 2050, we have 900,000 or so Welsh speakers, that will still be progress; it will still be a good thing, so having a high target is crucial to getting more people to speak Welsh.
“Shwmae Su’mae Day can play a big part in that, although it was just like any other day for me. It wasn’t any different because I greet people in Welsh anyway. I did, however, support all the events that were going on to celebrate the day.
“But I definitely spoke to everyone in Welsh, even strangers. Come on, why wouldn’t I? We’re in Wales!”
Danni has now lived in Wales for more than three years, and she sounds more north Walian than she does German. The language she loves so much is obviously a big fan of her, as well.
“If I can learn then it should act as a motivation for others. I’m very happy to contribute to get more people to learn Welsh and, importantly, to get them to be more confident in doing so. I’m so proud to have been asked to be a Shwmae Su’mae Champion and I hope that I can be a positive example.
“I’m very happy with my decision to move here and I hope to stay for a very long time. Dwi wrth fy modd yma.”
■ TOMORROW: Lisa Forrest explains why she’s learning Welsh for the sake of her family