I am very proud to be Welsh and particularly to be from the Rhondda Valley, but before the Eisteddfod came to Pontypridd, just 10 minutes away from my home, I had never considered going for one really simple reason - I can't speak Welsh. My parents don't speak Welsh so I went to English-medium schools where it was obligatory to study Welsh until the age of 16 and take a GCSE in Welsh as second language. While I had weekly Welsh lessons from the age of 11 to 16, I can honestly say I don't ever use a word of it.
I am very clearly Welsh - you can't hide my Rhondda accent - and proud of it, but I never really had a good experience learning the language in school, and I thought it would be embarrassing to go to the Eisteddfod and not be able to understand or speak to people. READ MORE: Eisteddfod mural artist reveals the sweet story behind stunning artwork READ MORE: I went to my first ever Eisteddfod and was blown away by one thing I don't look back on my Welsh lessons at school with any fondness and many of the others in my class didn't see the point in learning the language, not helped by the constant focus and repetition on writing basic sentences about Tom Jones and Charlotte Church, or Casualty being filmed in Wales. It wasn't the fault of my teachers who always seemed to be fighting an uphill battle, but there was a general lack of desire to learn Welsh, which for some reason wasn't the same when it came to studying other languages, like French or Spanish.
The lack of Welsh.