Learning Welsh: finding my sense of place, community and heritage

I applied for the role of Community Mapper back in June 2024. One of the items on the person specification was familiarity with the Welsh language, because it is an integral part of the Public Map Platform project and of the lives of people on Ynys Môn. I had been learning Welsh for around a year since I moved to Wales, so I was pleased to be able to answer the interview question about it in Welsh, and I got the job.

I grew up in England, but Welshness has always been a part of my identity, and my father gave me a Welsh middle name. He traced the family tree going as far back as the 17th Century - not an easy task with a common surname like Jones! My grandmother spoke fluent ‘Gog’ although her English sounded more Scouse than Cilla Black. That branch of the family moved to Liverpool during the Industrial Revolution, carrying their possessions in a hand cart. They came from Llanbadrig, a village on the north side of the island.

During a visit to a windswept church there that overlooks the sea, I wondered how my ancestors lived and spoke Welsh in their everyday lives. The Welsh language is like a thread woven through time and space to connect generations of people and culture on Ynys Môn.

So, when I started learning Welsh, there was something familiar about this mysterious and ancient language, even though I understood nothing. I started an excellent online course, ‘Say Something in Welsh’ and immersed myself in the language by listening to Radio Cymru daily. I started going to ‘Panad a Moider’ a conversation group in Bangor and other events and I connected with the local Welsh language community. I went on two residential ‘Use Work Welsh’ courses at Nant Gwrtheyrn, a Welsh language centre on the Llyn Peninsula, in a beautiful and remote location. Language learning is such a social activity, and I have met people from all walks of life, from all over the world, not just Wales. I am now at an intermediate/higher standard of conversational Welsh, and I credit my success to spending time with the local Welsh speaking community. I have not been to traditional evening classes at all. Welsh is woven into the fabric of daily life on Ynys Môn, and I felt proud when someone in a shop in Llangefni (a place I have mapped) asked me something in Welsh and I was able to answer.

I have always been sensitive to the ‘vibes’ of places and their mental geography. I had an interesting conversation about this with an Architecture student from the University of Cambridge. I met him last year at the Public Map Platform Lle Llais event, and he spoke about his interest in ‘sense of place’ and how this is a field of academic enquiry. I feel a spirit of the land here which is uniquely Welsh, it is ancient like the sea and the mountains. The Welsh language connects me to this spirit in a profound way I cannot adequately explain. One of the special things about Public Map Platform is being able to map abstract things like this as well as material things like houses, roads and shops.

In the words of Dafydd Iwan:

Byddwn yma hyd ddiwedd amser,
A bydd yr iaith Gymraeg yn fyw!

(we'll be here until the end of time,
and the Welsh language will be alive!)