Mae Nicky Roberts wedi cofleidiad y Gymraeg ac wedi dysgu yn gyflym iawn. Er mae e’n dalentog gyda’r ieithoedd, mae e wedi cymryd pob tro i ddefnyddio’r iaith, gan gynnwys symud i Aberystwyth! Yma, mae e’n dweud e stori…
Nicky Roberts has embraced Welsh and has learnt exceptionally quickly. Although he is talented with languages, he has taken every opportunity to use Welsh, including moving to Aberystwyth! Here, he tells his story…
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| Mis Mehefin 2016, Ffrainc: Roeddwn i yn y bar Parc des Princes yn Paris, aros am y gêm yn erbyn Gogledd Iwerddon i ddechrau, joio siarad efo ddyn tu ôl y bar tra bod roeddwn i brynu ychydig o ddioddyd ar gyfer fy ngwraig a fi. | June 2016, France: I was at the bar in the Parc Des Princes in Paris, waiting for the game against Northern Ireland to start, enjoying speaking with the man behind the bar while I was buying a couple of drinks for my wife and I. |
| “J’aimerais prendre deux pintes de Carlsberg s’il vous plait? Et aussi, est-ce que tu a des frites ou quelque chose comme ca?” | “J’aimerais prendre deux pintes de Carlsberg s’il vous plait? Et aussi, est-ce que vous avez des frites ou quelque chose comme ca?” |
| Gwnes i anghofio i ddweud – Roeddwn i (a dal…) hollol yn rhygl yn Ffrangeg. A roeddwn i joio y cyfle i ymestyn fy ceg mas efo fe. | I forgot to say, I was (and still) am totally fluent in French, and I was enjoying the chance to really stretch my mouth out with it. |
| Gwnes i brynu’r diodydd ni a ddechrais i gerdded yn ôl y sedd fi, a clywes i rywun bod fydd newid fy mywyd fi am byth. Clywes i ddyn efo accen Cofi yn ddeud “Ti’n iawn efo hwnna ie mêt?” | I bought my drinks and started to walk back to my seat, and I heard someone that would change my life forever. I heard a man with a strong ‘Cofi’ accent say “Ti’n iawn efo hwnna ie met?” |
| Gwnes i deimlo yn ofnadwy. Roedd dim byd oeddwn i gallu gwneud ond jyst gwennu at fe a dweud “Sorry mate, my Welsh is terrible” Dweddod y dyn yn ôl “Sorry. I was just checking if you needed a hand” achos wrth cwrs – Roedd gyda fi dwy dwylo llawn efo dwy beintiau a phaced o greision a fy nhocyn. | I felt terrible. There was nothing I could do but just smile at him and say “Sorry mate, my Welsh is terrible” The man said back “Sorry I was just checking if you needed a hand” because of course, I had two hands full with two pints and a packet of crisps and my ticket. |
| Roedd dyma fi, Cymro – yn Paris, hollol rhygl yn Frangeg, ond oeddwn i ddim yn gallu siarad efo pobl o fy ngwlad fi yn ein iaith ni. Byddai’n disgriffio y teimlad rhywle rhwng embaras a chywilydd. | Here I was, a Welshman – in Paris, totally fluent in French, but I couldn’t speak with people of my own country in our language. I would describe the feeling as somewhere between embarrassment and shame. |
| Ti’n gwybod y gwedill o’r stori (Wnaethom ni enill erbyn Gogledd Iwerddon, gwnaethom ni enill erbyn Gwlad y Belg cyn colli yn erbyn Portwgal!) Mae’r stori go iawn yw’r stori o beth oedd digwydd nesaf. | You know the rest of the story (We won against Northern Ireland, we won against Belgium and we lost against Portugal). The real story is the story of what happened next. |
| Felly des i adre a ddechrais i feddwl am beth roeddwn i’n mynd i wneud amdani. Sut oedd fi mynd i ddysgu Gymraeg? Achos wrth cwrs, roedd hynny yn teimlo fel y step nesaf naturiol. | So I came home and started to think about what I was going to do about. How was I going to learn Welsh? Because of course, that seemed like the next natural step? |
| Tyfu lan yn y Cymoedd Mae’n bwysig i fi i ‘set the scene’ neu ddweud bach am fy hanes i. Dw i’n boi o’r Rhondda a dw i’n falch iawn o’r ffaith ‘na. Dw i wrth fy modd y cymoedd – beth bynnag mae rhai pobl yn ddweud amdano nhw, mae’r cymoedd yw lle hyfryd i dyfu lan. Mae pobl yno yn gwych. Fyddai ddim yn fod yr un person nawr heb y cymoedd. | Growing up in the Valleys It’s important for me to ‘set the scene’ or say a little about my story. I’m a Rhondda boy and I’m very proud of that fact. I love the valleys – whatever some people say about them, the valleys is a lovely place to grow up. The people there are great. I would certainly not be the same person as I am now without the valleys. |
| Es i'r Ysgol Gynradd Tre-william pan oeddwn i ifainc cyn symud ymlaen i Ysgol Tonyrefail pan oeddwn i 11 oed. | I went to Williamstown Primary School when I was young before moving onto Tonyrefail School when I was 11. |
| Gwnaethom ni dipyn bach o Gymraeg pan oeddwn i Ysgol Gynradd ond doedd e dim byd arbennig – pethau fel ‘Bore da’, ‘Nos da’, ‘Sut wyt ti?’, ‘Rydw i’n iawn, diolch’ Ti’n gwybod? Mae pethau syml – am hanner awr wythnosol. | We did a little bit of Welsh when I was in primary school but it was nothing special – things like ‘Bore da’, ‘Nos da’, ‘Sut wyt ti?’, ‘Rydw I’n iawn, diolch’ You know? Simple things – weekly for half an hour. |
| Dyw e ddim fod ni ddim yn teimlo Gymraeg yn y cymoedd – dim o gwbl. Ond mae’n eithaf annodd i ddysgu’r iaith yn y cymoedd heb mynd i Ysgol Gymraeg – ac oedd jyst un ysgol Gymraeg yn Cwm Rhondda yn y wythdegau, Ysgol Gyfun y Cymmer. | It’s not that we don’t feel Welsh in the valleys – not at all. But it’s quite difficult to learn the language in the valleys without going to Welsh school – and there was just one Welsh school in the Rhondda Valley in the eighties, Ysgol Gyfun y Cymmer. |
| Mae’n drist iawn, ond i glwyed yr iaith yn y stryd neu lawr y dafarn yw rhwbeth eithaf prin. Am lawer o pobl yr unig cysylltiad sydd gyda nhw a’r iaith yw’r anthem ‘Mae hen wlad fy nhadau’ a dyna’r unig cyfle mae nhw’n cael i ddefnyddio’r iaith yn bywyd go-iawn. | It’s very sad, but to hear the language in the street or down the pub is something very rare. For a lot of people the only connection they have with the language is the anthem ‘Mae hen wlad fy nhadau’ and that is the only chance they get to use the language in real-life. |
| Pan oeddwn i yn Ysgol Tonyrefail, ges i athrawes Cymraeg pwy gwnaeth hi casau plant – mae’n od ond yw e? Pam dysgu os ti’n casau plant? Dw i’n casau plant a dyna pam gwnes i tyfu lan a ddim yn dod athro! Ta beth! | When I was in Tonyrefail School, I had a Welsh teacher who hated children – it’s weird isn’t it? Why teach if you hate children? I hate children and that’s why I grew up not to be a teacher! Whatever! |
| Hyd yn oed efo hwn, wnes i joio Cymraeg llawer iawn, doedd hi ddim yn gallu dysgu dosbarth llawn o ‘Valley commandos’ ond roedd yn hywl. Yn anfoddus, dw i’n ddigon hen i gofio amser pan doedd dim rhaid i chi gwneud Cymraeg ar gyfer TGAU o gwbl. Wnaethom nhw ddechrau rheola ‘na y flywddyn ar ôl gwnes i ddewis fy pwnciau ar gyfer TGAU. | Even with that, I enjoyed Welsh very much, she couldn’t teach a classroom full of ‘Valley commandos’ but it was fun. Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember a time when there you didn’t have to do GCSE Welsh at all. They started that rule the year after I chose my subjects for GCSE. |
| Roedd rhaid i fi dewis rhwng Cyfrifriadur, Hanes a Chymraeg – tri phwnc gwnes i joio, a tri phwnc allwn i wedi dewis os oedd hawl gyda fi. | I had to choose between Computing, History and Welsh – three subjects I enjoyed, and three subjects I would have chosen if I had the right to. |
| Roedd fy swydd freuddwyd yn gweithio efo cyfrifriadurau fel Systems Architect neu Computer Programmer – felly roedd dim ond un dewis gyda fi, i ddewis astudio Cyfrifriadur, a trist iawn – dyna oedd y farw o fy Gymraeg i. | My dream job was to work with computers as a Systems Architect or a Computer Programmer – so there was only one choice for me, to study Computing, very sadly – that was the death of my Welsh. |
| Roeddwn i ddechrau i anghofio bopeth oeddwn i wybod yn Cymraeg a pan wnes i gorffen sixth form yn 2000, allwn i ddim yn cofio unrhyw Cymraeg o gwbl. i fod yn teg, un yr ffordd allwn i ddim yn cofio sut photosynthesis yn gweithio, sut trigonometry yn gweithio a hefydd pam Charlotte Bronte wedi ddefnyddio ‘symbolism’ eithaf aml yn llyfrau hi. | I started to forget everything I knew in Welsh and when I finished sixth form in 2000, I couldn’t remember any Welsh at all. To be fair, in the same way I couldn’t remember how photosynthesis worked, how trigonometry works and also why Charlotte Bronte used ‘symbolism’ quite often in her books. |
| Es i'r brifysgol, ces i degree a ches i swydd – fel pobl normal yn gwneud. Doedd dim angen arna i ddefnyddio’r iaith achos oeddwn i fyw yn De Cymru, gweithio am cwmni Japonais – oedd iaith o’r swyddfa yn Saesneg. | I went to university, I got a degree and I got a job – like normal people do. There wasn’t a need for me to use the language because I was living in South Wales, working for a Japanese company – the language of the office was English. |
| Dechrau gyda Say Something In Welsh Fel llawer o pobl, dw i'n wrth fy modd gyda pêl-droed. Fel llawer o bobl roeddwn i euog o ganu geiriau’r anthem heb ddeall beth sydd gyda fe. Dw i’n gallu cofio chanu’r anthem cyn bob gem, heb rili deall y geiriau o gwbl – ie, ‘Mae hen wlad fy nhadau, yw annwl i mi’ – The land of my fathers is dear to me. Dw i’n deall hynny, ond beth oedd y ‘chantorion’? | Starting with Say Something In Welsh Like a lot of people, I love football. Like a lot of people, I was guilty of singing the words of the anthem without understanding what it meant. I can remember singing the anthem before every game, without really understanding the words at all – yeah, ‘Mae hen wlad fy nhadau, yw annwl i mi’ – The land of my fathers is dear to me. I understand that, but what was a ‘chantorion’? |
| A dyna pam mae rhaid i fi ddweud diolch i’r dyn pwy wedi stopio fi yn y Parc des Princes er mwyn ofyn os roeddwn i eisiau unrhyw helpu efo fy mheintiau – achos heb fe, dw i ddim yn gwybod os allwn i wedi ddechrau dysgu’r iaith – felly, diolch met! | That’s why I have to say thank you to the man who stopped me in the Parc des Princes to ask if I wanted any help with my pints – because without him, I don’t know if I would have started to learn the language – so, thanks mate! |
| Gwnaeth e gymryd ychydig o mis am y syniad i symud o gwmpas fy mhen i, ond dw i’n gallu cofio dod yn ôl a meddwl ‘Reit, mae rhaid i fi gwneud e’. Gwnes i gael Say Something in Welsh, ar fy ffôn symudol, a dechrais i trio defnyddio hynny. | It took a couple of months for the idea to move around my head, but I can remember coming back and thinking ‘Right, I have to do this’ I got Say Something in Welsh, on my mobile phone, and started to try and use that. |
| Roeddwn i’n cymryd bob cyfle ces i er mwyn dysgu’r iaith. Os oedd hanner awr sbar gyda fi, byddwn i wneud gwers ar y ffôn. Roeddwn i wneud ychydig o wers bob dydd – os ti’n meddwl o’r pethau rydym ni’n neud fel gwylio EastEnders, Neighbours a Traffic Cops. Bydd rhaid rhywbeth mwy productive? | I was taking every chance I got to learn the language. If I had a spare half hour, I would do a lesson on my phone. I was doing a couple of lessons every day – if you think of all of the things we do like, watching EastEnders, Neighbours and Traffic Cops. There must be something more productive? |
| Dechreuais i ddisgwyl fel ‘bach o weirdo’ ar y stryddau o Porth, Cwm Rhondda – lle oeddwn i fyw pan oeddwn i ddechrau, achos oeddwn i gerdded o gwmpas yn mhobman efo headphones a jyst siarad efo fy hunain, dod mas efo pethau rili weird oeddwn nhw dysgu fi, fel “Maen nhw'n disgwyl fel llond llaw go iawn” a “Mae gyda fi mab yn ei tridegau, mae fe’n gweithio ar gyfer y cyngor” jyst heibio siop sglods. | I started to look like ‘a bit of a weirdo’ on the streets of Porth, Rhondda – where I was living when I started, because I was walking around everywhere with headphones and just talking with myself, coming out with really weird things they were teaching me, like “They look like a real handful” and “I have a son in his thirties. He works for the council” just passing the chip shop. |
| Gwnaeth fy ngwraig Lara ddechrau i ddysgu’r iaith yn yr un amser a fi. Mae hi’n dod o Abertawe yn wreiddiol a wnaeth hi TGAU Cymraeg, ond oedd hi’n teimlo yr yn modd a fi ac oedd hi’n cofio yr un a fi, bron dim byd. Felly roedd yn ddiddorol, aethom ni’r dafarn lleol i ymarfer gyda’i gilydd – dyna oedd hollol ddoniol. | My wife Lara started to learn the language at the same time. She comes from Swansea originally and she did GCSE Welsh, but she felt the same way as me and remembered the same as me – almost nothing. So it was interesting, we went to a local pub to practice with each other – that was totally funny. |
| Yr un peth dw i’n gallu chofio eithaf da oedd – oeddwn i moyn dysgu’r iaith yn glou. Dw i’n meddwl bod unrhywun sy’n dysgu’r iaith yn wych a chwarae teg i chi, chi’n helpu gadw’r iaith yn fyw. Ond doeddwn i ddim yn moyn treulio blynedd dysgu’r iaith fel mae rhai pobol gwneud yn dosbarth nos. Oeddwn i moyn dechrau defnyddio’r iaith yn syth, reit nawr. | The one thing I remember quite well – was that I wanted to learn the language quickly. I think that anyone who learns the language is great and fair play to you, you are helping keep the language alive. But I didn’t want to spend years learning the language like some people do in night class. I wanted to start using the language straight away, right now. |
| Ar ôl deg diwrnod neu rhywbeth fel ‘na o dysgu Cymraeg oeddwn i lawr siop lleol Cymraeg ym Mhontypridd galw Siop y Bont ddechrau i boddro dyn tu ôl cownter efo fy Nghymraeg ofnadwy! Roedd yn cyfle gwych i ymarfer yr iaith efo pobl go-iawn, ddechrau i gael teimlo am sut mae pobl ar y stryd defnyddio’r iaith. Doedd dim hyderus gyda fi yn yr amser, ond oeddwn i moyn siarad yr iaith a dyna pam doeddwn i ddim yn ofyn gwneud camgymeriadau – wnes i ddim yn ofal o gwbl. | After ten days or something like that of learning Welsh, I was down the local Welsh shop in Pontypridd called Siop y Bont starting to bother the guy behind the counter with my terrible Welsh! It was a great chance to practice the language with real people, starting to get a feel for how people on the street use the language. I didn’t have any confidence at the time, but I wanted to speak the language and that’s why I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. I didn’t care at all. |
| Aethom ni dafarn Cymraeg lleol ym Mhontypridd galw ‘Clwb y Bont’ jyst i gael cyfle archebu ddioddydd yn Gymraeg. “Ga i beint o Budweiser, os gwelwch yn dda?”, “Ga i baced o Ready Salted, plîs?” ti’n gwybod, pethau hollol syml. Ond mae gyd wedi cyfri. | We went to the local Welsh pub in Pontypridd called Clwb y Bont’ just to get a chance to order drinks in Welsh. “Ga I beint o Budweiser, os gwelwch yn dda?”, “Ga I baced o Ready Salted, plis?” you know, totally simple things, but it all counted. |
| Ar ôl dwy a hanner wythnos dysgu’r iaith, pendyfernais i ddechrau sianel YouTube o'r enw Learn Welsh with Nicky jyst i ddweud stori o sut oeddwn i fynd i ddysgu Cymraeg. Doeddwn i ddim yn disgwyl unrhwyun i ddilyn fi i fod yn onest. Roeddwn i jyst defnyddio fe fel cyfle i glywed fy hun yn siarad gobethio fod rhywun bydd tanysgrifio i fi a gweud wrth i lle oeddwn I’n mynd angywhir a beth oeddwn i wneud yn gywir. | After two and a half weeks of learning the language, I decided to start a YouTube channel called Learn Welsh with Nicky just to tell the story of how I was going to learn Welsh. I wasn’t expecting anyone to follow me to be honest. I was just using it as a chance to hear myself speaking and hoping that someone would subscribe to me and tell me where I was going wrong and what I was doing right. |
| Ym mis Rhagfyr 2016, aethom ni ar venywthnos bant yn Aberystwyth, er mwyn treulio amser bant o waith a chael cyfle i ymlacio. Gwnes i lawer o benwythnos bant yn 2016 yn Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Malmo, Vilnius, Paris ar gyfer Ewros, Manceinion, Paris unwaith eto – achos pam lai?, Brussels, Budapest, Amsterdam cyn gorffen yn Aberystwyth. Roedd hynny yn rhan o peth od wnes i ar ol dim ond cael pasport yn 2015! | In December 2016, we went on a weekend away to Aberystwyth, to spend time away from work and get a chance to relax. I did loads of weekends away in 2016 in Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Malmo, Vilnius, Paris for the Euros, Manchester, Paris once again because why not?, Brussels, Budapest, Amsterdam before finishing the year in Aberystwyth. This was part of some weird thing I did after only getting a passport in 2015! |
| Pan oeddem ni yn Aberystwyth wnaethom ni ymweld Y Cwps – mae dafarn lle clywes i fod pobol yno yn siarad Cymraeg llawer, felly oeddwn i’n meddwl bydd cyfle da i ddefnyddio’r iaith yn lle wahanol. Bore nesaf, gwnaethom ni trefnu symud I Aberystwyth – un fis wedyn, oeddem ni rili symud i Aberystwyth! | When we were in Aberystwyth we visited Y Cwps – a pub where I heard that the people speak Welsh a lot, so I was thinking it would be a good chance to use the language in a different place. The next morning, we arranged to move to Aberystwyth – one month later, we were really moving to Aberystwyth! |
| Dyna oedd y peth i fi. Symud i Aberystwyth. Efallai mae fe’n swnio od i rywun arall, ond pan wnest ti dyfu lan yn lle fel Tonypandy fel wnes i, rhywle fel Aberystwyth jyst teimlo fel y lle mwyaf Cymraeg yn y byd. Mae gyda fi ‘Siop Y Pethe’ yn y canol o’r tref lle ti’n gallu brynu llyfrau, miwsig a phopeth arall yn y Gymraeg, ‘Morgans’ bach lan y stryd lle ti’n gallu gael ‘Chip Butty’ am £1 tra archebu yn Gymraeg, ‘Y Cwps’ ar un ochr, ‘Yr Hen Lew Du’ ar yr ochr arall. Gwnes i deimlo fel dw i wedi symud i planet arall neu rywbeth. | That was the thing for me. Moving to Aberystwyth. Maybe it sounds odd to someone else, but when you grow up in a place like Tonypandy like I did, somewhere like Aberystwyth just feels like the most Welsh place in the world. You’ve got ‘Siop Y Pethe’ in the centre of town where you can buy books, music and everything else in Welsh, ‘Morgans’ a bit up the street where you can get a ‘Chip Butty’ for £1 while ordering in Welsh, ‘Y Cwps’ on one side, ‘Yr Hen Lew Du’ on the other side. I felt like I had moved to another planet or something. |
| Fy ngwraig a fi wedi eistedd lawr a wnaethom ni dewis “Reit, rydym ni’n gallu byw ein bywydau hollol yn Gymraeg os dyn ni’n moyn fan hyn” a dyna beth oeddem ni ddechrau i wneud. | My wife and I sat down and we decided “Right, we can live our lives totally in Welsh if I want to here” and that is what we started to do. |
| Oeddwn i dal yn gwneud ‘Say Something in Welsh’ ond nawr oeddwn i’n defnyddio’r iaith bob amser a phob cyfle ces i. Dechreuais i wylio ‘Pobol y Cwm’, ‘Hafod Haul’, ‘Hansh’ a phethau fel ‘na. Dechreuais i gwrdd pobl lawr ‘Y Cwps’ fel ffrindiau fi Geraint, Ifor, Dilwyn, Llinos, Talat, Jeff, Rhodri, Alicia, Ian a llawer mwy dw i wedi anghofio yn barod, pobl sy’n nabod fi dim ond fel siaradwr Cymraeg – ac i siarad efo unrhyw honno nhw yn Saesneg bydd od iawn nawr. | I was still doing ‘Say Something in Welsh’ but now I was using the language all of the time and at every opportunity I had. I started to watch ‘Pobol Y Cwm’, ‘Hafod Haul’, ‘Hansh’ and things like that. I started to meet people down ‘Y Cwps’ like my friends Geraint, Ifor, Dilwyn, Llinos, Talat, Jeff, Rhodri, Alicia, Ian and lots more that I have already forgotten, people who know me only as a Welsh speaker – and to speak with any of them in Egnlish would be very odd now. |
| Dechreuais i ysgriffenu ar Facebook a Twitter yn y Gymraeg. Roedd hen ffrindiau fi yn y De fydd ofyn I fi ‘Why are you writing on Facebook in Welsh all the time now?’ Oedd rhaid i fi ateb ‘Well it’s because all my friends up here are Welsh speakers and I’m mostly talking to them’ a dyna oedd anodd yn gyntaf, achos dw i wedi colli ychydig o ffrindiau pwy oedd yn fed up o glywed fi yn siarad Cymraeg dros Facebook. | I started writing on Facebook and Twitter in Welsh. My old friends in the south would ask me ‘Why are you writing on Facebook in Welsh all the time now?’ I had to answer ‘Well it’s because all my friends up here are Welsh speakers and I’m mostly talking to them’ and that was difficult at first, because I have lost a couple of friends who were fed up of hearing me speaking in Welsh over Facebook. |
| Ychydig mis wedyn, gwnaeth Lara a fi dechrau mynd i sesiwn ‘clwb clonc’ yn Siop Y Pethe yn y tref. Un awr wythnosol lle ti’n gallu cwrdd dysgwyr arall fel ni a wnaethom ni ddechrau i wneud llawer mwy o ffrindiau, pob un a stori eu hunain. Heulwen, y fenyw busnes efo galon o aur, Emily, ferch hyfryd pwy wnaeth hi ddysgu Cymraeg, anghofio fe a dysgu fe unwaith eto, Llio, cefnogwr arall o tim pel droed Cymru pwy oedd deg flynedd ifainc na fi, ond aeth hi dwbl gemau es i – ferch efo accen cryf Dyffryn Nantlle a Chris dyn yn ei saithdegau, pwy oedd dod i fyw yn Aberystwyth o Lloegr a roedd eisiau dysgu Cymraeg er mwyn teimlo rhan o’r ardal. | A couple of months later, Lara and I started to go to a ‘Clwb Clonc’ session in Siop Y Pethe in the town. One hour weekly where you can meet other learners, like us and we started to make a load of friends, every one of them with a story. Heulwen, the business woman with a heart of gold, Emily, a lovely girl who learnt Welsh, forgot it all and then re-learnt it again, Llio, another supporter of the Wales football team who was ten years younger than me, but she went to double the games I did. A girl with a strong Dyffryn Nantlle accent and Chris, a man in his seventies, who came to live in Aberystwyth from England and wanted to learn Welsh to feel part of the area. |
| Roeddwn i rili cael hang of it nawr. Roeddwn i’n ddechrau meddwl yn y Gymraeg, oeddwn i’n ddechrau i siarad efo bobl arall heb gyfieithu geiriau yn fy mhen i. Gwnes i stopio siarad Saesneg o gwbl, jyst nawr a ‘te I cymryd rhan yn 'conference calls' yn fy ngwaith i. | I was really getting the hang of it now. I was starting to think in Welsh, I was starting to speak with other people without translating the words in my head. I stopped speaking English at all, just now and then to take part in ‘conference calls’ in my work. |
| Cyn rhy hwyr, roeddwn i ffeindio fod pobl fel Alun Williams, dyn gwych o Bore Da ar S4C oedd ddechrau i ofyn fi i dewch ar y sioe a dweud wrth o nhw beth wnes i a sut wnes i fe. Felly, wnes i wneud cyfwelliad efo Alun ar bwys traeth Aberystwyth – y bore ar ôl y etholiad cyffredinol 2017, ar ôl dw i wedi aros lan tan 7yyb aros am y canlyniadau Geredigion i ddod tryw. Roedd ddiddorol a dweud y gwir! Nodyn- mae cyfweliad gyda Alun yma sy'n sylw Nicky. | Before too long, I was finding that people like Alun Williams, a great guy from Bore Da on S4C were starting to ask me to come on the show and tell them what I did and how I did it. So, I did an interview with Alun near the beach in Aberystwyth – the morning after the 2017 general election, after I had stayed up until 7am waiting for the Ceredigion results to come through. It was interesting to tell the truth! Note- an interview with Alun that mentions Nicky is here. |
| Ond gwnes i joio fawr iawn. Roedd Alun yn wych efo fi, gwnaeth e neud fi teimlo ymlacio ac oeddem ni siarad am ychydig awr am bopeth: bywyd, pêl-droed, siop kebabs yng Nghaerfron lle ti’n gallu brynu kebabs tryw Cymraeg – dim byd o hynny wedi gwneud e ar y teledu, ond oedd yn hwyl iawn. | But… I enjoyed it a lot. Alun was great with me, he made me feel comfortable and we were speaking for a couple of hours about everything: life, football, kebab shops in Caernarfon where you can buy kebabs through Welsh – none of that made it on the TV, but it was a lot of fun. |
| Ers hynny, dw i wedi ei bumpio i mewn Alun ychydig tro o gwmpas Cymru, a mae fe’n wastad hapus i weld fi, fel dw i’n wastad hapus i weld e. Tro diwethaf oedd ddoniol iawn achos oedd fe’n gwneud commentary ar gyfer Radio Cymru a Radio Wales at yr un amser lawr Parc Avenue (maes cartref CPD Tref Aberystwyth) ac oedd fe’n gweud bo fe’n ffeindio fe annodd weithau pan mae rhaid i fe newid rhwng Cymraeg a Saesneg yn sydyn dros y radio. | Since that, I’ve been bumping into Alun a couple of times all over Wales, and he’s always happy to see me like I’m always happy to see him. The last time was very funny because he was doing commentary for Radio Cymru and Radio Wales at the same time down Park Avenue (Home ground of Aberystwyth Town FC) and he was saying that he finds it hard sometimes when he has to switch between Welsh and English suddenly over the radio. |
| Un peth sydd yn bwysig i fi yw jyst i trio gael mwy o bobl siarad yr iaith. Mae’r iaith yn mor, mor bwysig i fi, dw i ddim yn gallu dychmygu bywyd heb gymraeg nawr, bydd od iawn i fod yn onest. Dw i wedi bod yn gwneud bach o ‘kamikaze Cymraeg’ a dweud y gwir, achos dw i wedi bod yn trio ymweld siopau dros Aberystwyth, efo CDs llawn efo ‘Say Something in Welsh’ ar mp3 am rheolwr i rhoi mas i’r staff er mwyn helpu nhw disgyu Cymraeg. Hefyd, dw i wedi bod yn gwneud bach o ‘siarad cyhoeddi’ efo grwpiau er mwyn helpu nhw dechrau. Ychydig wythnos yn ôl ces i wahoddiad oddi wrth Menter Iaith Maldwyn i rhoi presentation i ddyswyr am sut dw i wedi dysgu Cymraeg. | One thing that is important to me is just to try and get more people speaking the language. The language is so, so important to me, I cannot imagine life without Welsh now, it would be very weird to be honest. I have been doing a bit of ‘kamikaze Cymraeg’ to tell the truth, because I have been trying to visit shops in Aberystwyth, with CDs full with ‘Say Something in Welsh’ on mp3 for the manager to give out to the staff in order to help them learn Welsh. Also, I have been doing a bit of ‘public speaking’ with groups to help them start. A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Menter Iaith Maldwyn to give a presentation to learners about how I learnt Welsh. |
| Dyna’r peth. Dw i’n nabod llawer o pobl pwy sy’n gallu siarad digon o Gymraeg i fyw yn yr iaith, ond dw i’n ffeindio nhw weithiau rhy ofn. Does dim angen i fod yn ofyn o gwbl. Mae pobl moyn i ti i siarad yr iaith, pob siaradwyr sy’n dechrau dysgu’r iaith yw un mwy cadw’r iaith yn byw a saf am y dyfodol. | That’s the thing. I know a lot of people who can speak enough Welsh to live their lives, but I find they are sometimes too scared. There’s no need to be scared at all. People want you to speak the language, every speaker who starts learning the language is one more keeping the language alive and safe for the future. |
| Mae pobl ofyn fi ‘When did you feel like the language clicked in, and you could actually speak it?’ Mae’n cwestiwn annodd, achos mae e dwy dro sydd yn stick out. Un o rhain oedd gwylio Elis James chwarae gig comedi ym Machynlleth eleni, mae fe’n mor ddoniol – ond jyst i fod yn gallu wylio fe, chwerthin a ddeall popeth oedd fe’n dweud oedd rhywbeth rili arbennig i fi. Yr arall oedd mynd i wylio Yws Gwynedd chwarae yn Llangrannog yn y Haf – jyst i weld pobl ifainc rili cael stuck into it all. Dyna’r peth – pobl sydd yn gweud bod yr iaith yn farw achos dim ond pobl hen siarad yr iaith yn hollol angywhir. Edrychwch at Yws Gwynedd yn yr Eisteddfodd eleni (2017, Ynys Môn), chwarae o’r blaen 10,000 pobl neu mwy – bob llais gweiddi y lyrics am Sebona Fi tan mae nhw colli eu llais. Peidiwch â dweud wrth i fod yr iaith yw ddim yn bwysig i bobl ifainc! Pan mae pobl ifainc rhedeg y wlad, bydd ‘Sebona Fi’ anthem o Gymru yn lle ‘Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’! Mark fy geiriau! | People ask me ‘When did you feel like the language clicked in, and you could actually speak it?’ It’s a difficult question, because two times stick out. One of them was watching Elis James play a comedy gig in Machynlleth this year, he is so funny – but just to be able to watch him, laughing and understanding everything he was saying was something really special to me. The other was going to watch Yws Gwynedd play in Llangrannog in the summer – just to see young people really getting stuck into it all. That’s the thing – people who say that the language is dying because only old people speak the language are totally wrong. Look at Yws Gwynedd at the Eisteddfod this year (2017, Ynys Môn), playing in front of 10,000 people or more – every voice shouting the lyrics to Sebona Fi until they lose their voice. Don’t tell me that the language is not important to young people! When the young people run the country, ‘Sebona Fi’ will be the national anthem instead of ‘Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’! Mark my words! |
| Does neb yn ofal os ti’n defnyddio geiriau Saesneg nawr a ‘te, does neb yn ofal os ti ddim yn gwybod am treigladau. Mae’n debyg bo ti’n becso mwy na nhw am fe! Disgwyl at fi. Dw i wedi bod yn dysgu’r iaith ers un blwyddyn (un blwyddyn wythnos ‘ma a dweud y gwir), dw i byth wedi dysgu sut i ysgriffenu o gwbl (yng Nghymraeg!), dw i ddim yn gallu sifallu o gwbl, ond dw i’n gallu siarad efo ffrindiau, sgwrs efo HMRC dros y ffon (dw i wedi!), gwneud y siopa, cael rhacs a byw fy mywyd hollol yn y Gymraeg – ac os fi’n gallu gwneud e, trustio fi – ti’n gallu gwneud e hefyd. Dw i ddim yn arbennig o gwbl. | No-one cares if you use English words now and then, no-one cares if you don’t know about mutations. It’s likely that you’re worrying more than them about it! Look at me. I have been learning the language for one year (one year this week to say the truth), I never learnt to write at all (In Welsh!) I cannot spell at all, but I can speak with my friends, chat with HMRC over the phone (I have!), do the shopping, get wrecked and live my life totally in Welsh – and if I can do it, trust me – you can do it as well. I’m not special at all. |
Mae Nicky yn rhedeg sianel YouTube yma: youtube.com/learnwelshwithnicky. Dych chi’n gallu cysylltu â fe yma: [email protected].
Nicky runs a YouTube channel here: youtube.com/learnwelshwithnicky. You can contact him here: [email protected].
Ymwadiad / Disclaimer
Ysgrifennwyd rhai o’r erthyglau ‘Dysgwyr’ gan bobl sydd eisoes wrthi’n dysgu Cymraeg. Efallai y dewch ar draws rhai camgymeriadau ieithyddol yn y Gymraeg o bryd i’w gilydd. Yn yr erthygl hon, mae Nicky wedi sgwennu fel mae e’n siarad.
Some of the ‘Learner’ articles have been written by those who are still learning Welsh. You may therefore come across some linguistic errors in the Welsh from time to time. In this article, Nicky has written how he speaks.
