Starting Out: Welsh Beginner Award

Liz Day was made redundant in August 2020, after her employer announced it would be cutting 12% of its workforce due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite being a stressful time, Liz was determined to turn a negative situation into a something positive. So, after being made redundant, she began an intensive Welsh language course with Learn Welsh Cardiff just days after leaving her former employer.

Just over a year later, Liz is speaking Welsh confidently and has been awarded the ‘Starting Out – Welsh Beginner Inspire! Award in recognition of her commitment to mastering the Welsh language in a short amount of time.

Liz said: “I’d wanted to learn Welsh for a long time but kept putting it off. It always seemed like there was something getting in the way. I loved my job, but I was ready for a new challenge. With redundancy I thought, ‘there’s no better time than the present.’”

Liz began her journey into learning Welsh when she started her intensive course with Learn Welsh Cardiff.  “I had some self-doubts initially about joining the intensive course remotely and without any previous knowledge of the Welsh language. Despite that, I absolutely loved it.”

“For the first time in ages I had plenty of free time and I wanted to put it to good use. I knew how long it would take to become fluent and I wanted to get there as quickly as possible.”

After beginning her Welsh course, Liz started her own podcast and blog, ‘Liz Learns Welsh’, to document her journey and inspire others to learn Welsh.

Reflecting on her learning journey so far, Liz said: “I now feel more connected to the culture of this wonderful country. Although going through redundancy was worrying and upsetting, I’m so grateful for the chance to be learning again and excited to keep using my Welsh skills.”