The number of people on Dysgu Cymraeg courses has risen by 61% since 2017, as people in Wales rediscover the ‘poetry’ of the language
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linor Staniforth from Cardiff hated Welsh lessons at her English-medium school – after her GCSEs, she said, she “forgot all about it”. Winning a place at Oxford University, however, made Staniforth reassess her identity and relationship with the language.
“I suddenly became very aware of being Welsh,” the 28-year-old said. “There were only two Welsh people in the whole college. People would ask if I spoke Welsh, and I’d have to say no. It’s like a switch turned on while I was at uni. I was thinking that I’d missed out on something.”
Staniforth graduated and moved back to Cardiff shortly before the Covid pandemic broke out, so she began learning Welsh in an online class. She was a finalist for the Cymraeg Learner of the Year prize at the 2024 national Eisteddfod, and now teaches the language herself.
