I’ve been learning Welsh since 2019, starting with the audio approach of SaySomethingInWelsh. I joined Cymdeithas Madog for the first time at the 2023 summer Cwrs in Burlington, Vermont, and liked what I found so much that I wound up volunteering for the position of Secretary of the Board. That was a bit more of a risk than I’d planned on taking, but it has worked out very well: I have found the Board to be a pleasure to participate in, as well this community being a delight to learn Welsh with!
I’m a confirmed introvert and word nerd, and learning Welsh is as much, for me, about getting to learn new words and all sorts of cool new ways to put sentences together, as it is about Welsh culture and community; but being human, I do need a little bit of community now and again, which makes the Cymdeithas Madog events just right for me in their frequency and format.
For my daily-ish Welsh learning, the SaySomethingInWelsh format works well for me. I download their audio onto my MP3 player, so that I can listen and talk back when I’m out walking or hiking, or really at it any time I don’t need my language skills for other things like writing in English or change ringing or solving complex problems in a computer language or in one or another of my various engineering-type projects, such as sewing and concertina making. Currently (2024) I’m working through the Level 4 materials produced by SSIW and by Cymdeithas Madog.