A New Welsh Speaker?

My early relationship with Welsh was fairly typical. I went to English-medium schools in Wales, where Welsh was a compulsory subject up to GCSE. I did well, leaving school with an A* in Welsh and a solid conversational ability - around Canolradd level. Even so, I never truly considered myself a 'Welsh speaker'. 

The label felt… off. Too official. Too native. It seemed to belong to people who used Welsh naturally - at home, in shops, in everyday life. People who perhaps lived further north, celebrated the Eisteddfod every year, and actually knew what the Mari Llwyd was. A 'Welsh speaker' just wasn't someone like me.  Welsh didn’t live in my world. I didn’t hear it at home, or in town, or among my friends. So when I left school, I left Welsh behind too - not with any grand decision, but gradually and passively. Over time, I stopped using it, and then I stopped thinking about it altogether.

It wasn’t until I began my undergraduate degree at Swansea, where I studied linguistics, that my perspective began to shift. I took modules in language policy and planning, and found myself drawn to stories of minoritised languages - the politics, the power dynamics, the survival strategies. Welsh, of course, featured in those conversations. But now it was more than just a school subject - it was a cultural and political issue, a social identity, and a cause for debate.

But even then, I didn’t pick the language back up. That shift in perspective didn’t translate into action - or into learning. If anything, it brought with it a new kind of discomfort: a quiet sense of embarrassment that I couldn’t speak Welsh. Especially as someone studying language, talking about identity, reading policy - it felt like a gap I should have filled long ago. 

But, like I said, my case isn’t unique. There are thousands of so-called “new Welsh speakers” - those who’ve learned the language in school but don’t continue using it afterward. For many, Welsh remains tied to the classroom, never quite making the leap into their personal or social lives. And after school, it slips away quietly - just as it did for me. 

Student to Teacher

After completing my degree, I trained as a primary school teacher. During my placements, I stood in front of classrooms and saw my pupils repeating the same patterns I had lived through: treating Welsh as a subject to endure rather than a living language to embrace.

One particular series of lessons stands out. I had asked my pupils to explore the idea of 'identity.' Over several weeks, we studied the vibrant, imaginative artwork of Rhiannon Roberts, whose pieces capture elements of Welsh geography, pop culture, mythology, and language. The children responded well to the visuals, the colour, the storytelling. As part of the project, they chose images that represented aspects of their own identities - football, their pets, favourite foods, family members, and favourite places. But when I asked whether they felt Welsh was part of their identity too, many said no.

"Am I Welsh?" some said. "I don’t speak Welsh."

That tension stayed with me. I began to wonder whether what I was seeing in the classroom reflected a wider pattern. Not long after, I came home from school one evening and turned on the news. Professor Colin Williams appeared, discussing the latest census results. There had been a noticeable drop in the number of Welsh speakers - including a shocking 6% fall among children aged five to fifteen. I paused the programme, grabbed a notebook, and scribbled down everything he said. I realised that my personal experiences and classroom observations weren’t just interesting - they were researchable.

Teacher to Researcher

That moment became the seed of my application to the Welsh Government’s Social Science Studentship Scheme. I developed a research proposal in the margins of my teaching life, making use of my evenings and stolen moments in the staff room. I found a supervisor, submitted the application, and went through the selection process, including an interview. Today, I’m studying attitudes toward the Welsh language in education - how they form, how they’re shaped by policy, culture, and lived experience, and how they connect to deeper questions of identity and belonging. 

However, as my research proposal developed, so did a quiet but pressing realisation: I needed Welsh. Not just to analyse policy documents or interpret learner perspectives, but to engage meaningfully with the very people and places my work was about. I couldn’t rely on translation or second-hand accounts. To understand how language shapes identity, I had to experience that process myself. So I returned to Welsh — admittedly, not out of nostalgia or a sense of civic duty, but out of necessity.

At first, it felt awkward and slow. I stumbled over grammar I had long forgotten and hesitated before speaking. But I also began to notice moments of connection — in conversations, in texts, in classrooms — that simply weren’t accessible to me before. Learning Welsh again became less about proving fluency and more about listening, noticing, and participating in a linguistic world that had always been close, but never quite mine. It’s a process I’m still in the middle of.

I began taking formal classes with Dysgu Cymraeg, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from tutors whose passion and patience make every lesson feel purposeful. My classmates, too, have made the process encouraging and often unexpectedly fun. Alongside this, I started ‘sponging off’ my friends in the Welsh department at Swansea — picking up phrases, asking endless questions, and practising awkwardly over coffee breaks and corridor chats. Their generosity, often casual and unspoken, became a quiet but vital part of my language journey.

What began as a practical necessity has started to shift into something more personal. As I relearn Welsh, I find myself thinking more deeply about what it means to be a learner, a speaker, and a participant in Welsh cultural life — not just academically, but socially and emotionally too. It’s still a slow process, and I’m often uncertain or self-conscious. But gradually, the language has started to feel less like something I study and more like something I live in. And that shift has given me a richer, more grounded understanding of the very questions my research is trying to explore.

Reclaiming Welsh

Relearning Welsh hasn’t just supported my research — it’s shaped it. Returning to the language classroom has reminded me what it feels like to be a learner: the awkward pauses, the small wins, the ever-present fear of getting it wrong. It’s also reminded me just how emotional language is — how it ties into identity, confidence, and the need to belong.

That lived experience now sits at the heart of my research. I’m not just analysing attitudes from the outside — I’m living them. I now get up an hour earlier most days to study Welsh before work, even if it’s just revising vocabulary or reading a paragraph aloud. I try to be a little braver with fluent speakers, pushing past the instinct to switch to English. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it doesn’t. But every small risk builds a little more confidence.

And this is what I wish more young people understood: you don’t have to speak perfect Welsh to reclaim it. You don’t need fluency to feel connected. Welsh isn’t something you either have or don’t. It’s something to which you can return. It’s never too late to begin again.

Want to know more?

• https://dysgucymraeg.cymru/ - The national centre for learning Welsh, offering free and paid courses for all levels across Wales and online.  I’ve learned so much through this programme and highly recommend it. 

• https://wgsss.ac.uk/ - For those curious about how my research into Welsh language and society is supported

• https://www.rhiannonart.co.uk/ - The artist whose work helped spark meaningful classroom conversations around Welsh identity. 

• Professor Colin Williams (https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/emeritus/williamsch). A leading scholar in Welsh language policy and planning.

• https://www.saysomethingin.com/en/automagic/ - SaySomethingInWelsh. A popular audio-based Welsh course that focuses on speaking and confidence-building. Great for beginners and returners.