Jason A

I left the Rhondda Fach for London when I was just five years old (taking my parents with me), but some of my earliest memories are of older (sadly now deceased) relatives conversing with each other, with neighbours and with the Minister at Horeb in Welsh. Sixty-two years later, I hope to improve the rudimentary bits and pieces of Welsh that I possess to a standard that will enable me to understand much better the programmes on SC4 and the broadcasts on BBC Radio Cymru and bring me linguistically closer to the cultural life of Wales. Unfortunately, in Staffordshire where I now live, there is little chance of me being able to practise conversational Welsh with anyone around here. I am a fluent German speaker, having lived and worked in Bavaria (which enjoys its own fascinating regional dialects) for many years. This has made it a cause of great personal sadness that I do not have command of the beautiful language of my birth. My personal target is to attain a decent level of proficiency in time for my 70th. This is a retirement project, but I have many others. More than that, it will help to fill an emotional void that has accompanied me throughout my life. I’ve obviously left it a bit late in life to achieve a high level of proficiency, but I’m going to give it my best shot. Thank you for creating this inspiring learning resource.