Four up for Welsh learner award

The four finalists - left to right Zoe Morgan Pettinger, Meggan Lloyd Prys, John Burton and Dominic Gilbert

Three English people and an American are waiting to see if they have been crowned the 2009 Welsh Learner of the Year at the National Eisteddfod.

They include a self-taught law student from Manchester and an Ohio classroom assistant who took her marriage vows in Welsh, a month after arriving in Wales.

The winner will be announced in Bala, Gwynedd, on Wednesday evening.

A panel of three judges will decide who to choose as the 26th Welsh Learner of the Year.

Last year, the prize was won by Madison Tazu, who was born in England but has an Irish family.

The winner will receive £300 and a trophy in memory of author Marged Jones, from Bala, who died at the beginning of the year.

The runners up will each receive £100, and all finalists receive subscriptions to Welsh magazines.

The four finalists are:

JOHN BURTON

Born in Crewe, Cheshire

John, 32, moved to Penmachno, Conwy in 2007. The following year, he met his wife, Iona, and since moving to Wales has been learning Welsh in the Eagles pub in Penmachno, taught by Gerwyn Edwards from Bala. John worked for the National Trust on the Ysbyty Estate near Penmachno, and also does some forestry and farm work.

Iona, his wife, is a Welsh speaker and she helps him by putting stickers on things around the house with their Welsh names.

He said: "It was difficult but it was also enjoyable, so that made it really easy to stick with.

"The way I learned, in the pub, made it more interesting and that's what kept me at it. A pint definitely helps you relax and try and speak the language, because that's what a lot of people struggle with - the confidence."

He still goes to Welsh classes in the pub, and John and Iona's home is now a Welsh-speaking home.

ZOE MORGAN PETTINGER

Born in Fareham, Hampshire.

Zoe, 35, moved to Aberystwyth in 1992 to study drama and English. While there, she had a job as a dancer in a show that was mainly in Welsh. This had a huge impact on her and she decided to learn the language.

After university she went travelling, but returned to Wales in 2005 to live in Trisant, near Aberystwyth, with her partner. In October 2005 she started Welsh lessons in Aberystwyth, then went on to study a higher education diploma in Welsh studies in Lampeter.

She also completed an Wlpan course. In 2006, she won the Dan Lynn James scholarship which helped her to continue her Welsh studies, and in that year she decided to become a Welsh tutor herself. She now teaches adults Welsh at Trinity College, Carmarthen, and continues to use Welsh through drama and dance for children and adults.

She said: "It's been a bit challenge but at the same time learning Welsh has helped me through a really difficult time.

"I was looking after my mum who was suffering terminal cancer, so the studies became something for me to focus on.

"Mum started to learn Welsh with me because she thought it would provide some support and she saw how much it was inspiring me. She passed away in October 2007.

"I have brought some of her Welsh notes with me today. I know she is up there looking down on me."

MEGGAN LLOYD PRYS

Born in Ohio, USA.

The only overseas competitor, teacher Meggan, 29, now lives in Rhiwlas, near Bangor. She first started learning Welsh at summer school in 2006. She now works as a primary school classroom assistant in Llanfair PG, Anglesey, and also teaches Welsh to adults.

In 2005, she was studying an MA in Ohio, where she met her husband Cynog on the same course. A year after completing their studies, the pair married. She started learning Welsh on the day she arrived in Wales three years ago. A month after arriving here, she took her marriage vows in Welsh.

She said: "Being in the final four means such a lot after all the hard work and all the practising. It started after I met my husband while both of us were studying in Ohio and he had been awarded a scholarship to promote Welsh culture.

"We only spent a month together in the states, then after a year I moved here and started learning the language the day I arrived.

"To win would be a huge honour, it's a really special competition because it shows people are able to learn to a high standard and live and work through the medium of Welsh."

DOMINIC GILBERT

Born in Manchester

In 2005, Dominic, 27, went to Aberystwyth University, where he heard the Welsh language everywhere he went. He became interested in the language after hearing it spoken in pubs and clubs, and by reading subtitles on S4C. He says people in Aberystwyth encouraged him to learn, and began to speak Welsh to him.

He is a self-taught Welsh speaker, now living in Beaumaris, Anglesey, and has just finished a post-graduate law course in Bangor. He decided to move to north Wales to be with more Welsh speakers and to embrace Welsh language and culture. He is a pianist with the Cofnod choir in Caernarfon.

He said: "It's a really difficult language to learn because you have things like mutations, which mean the words change, and that's pretty difficult to get your head round.

"But my sons had been really supportive. I'm entirely self-taught so it's been mainly through the help of friends, and watching lots of Pobol y Cwm."