Twitter in Welsh - #dysgu

Are you learning Welsh and want to try it out when you have a spare moment? Maybe your cat, dog or hamster isn't that responsive when you try it out on them. Well, I am a learner who needs to practice (Rhaid i fi ymarfer!) and I am doing this when I can on Twitter. It has the advantage of letting me type up to 140 characters .. therefore I get to try out short phrases that we have used in class and it forces me to think about how I can say something about what I have done or I am doing. I don't feel that I need to create long complicated sentences that are beyond me at the moment.

I have started to add the word #dysgu to my posts. In this way, if someone searches for #dysgu on Twitter, they will see all of the posts. Anyone can post to this topic - all that you need to do is get a Twitter account, enter your message and add #dysgu (including the hash) into the message; it does not matter where you put #dysgu - it can be at the start, in the middle or at the end. When anyone searches for #dysgu, they will see all of the posts. For example, you could create a new message such as 'Bore da pawb. Sut dych chi? #dysgu'.

You can see some posts I have made at http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23dysgu. Ahem, yes, there are some (a lot of) mistakes, but it is only by trying to type some Welsh that I actually ask questions about ... 'do I need a mutation there?' or 'how would I say...?'.

There is nothing magical about #dysgu, it is simply a common term. I am on a mynediad (entry) course. Maybe you are much more advanced - if so, you could choose a suitable term, e.g. #canolradd, so that people can search for messages that are at a level suitable to them.

If you are not familiar with Twitter, I have created a short video on YouTube that shows the main points. You can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhnlqrD2h9M. 

I am going to continue to post on #dysgu. If you would like to join in and try out your Welsh, simply go to http://twitter.com/ and start tweeting.

P.S. If you are a Mac user, you may be wondering where the # key is. You need to press the Alt key and 3 at the same time.