The BBC
A self-taught Welsh learner has travelled more than 4,000 miles to sit an exam in the language.
Jeff Narvil, 57, an administrative law judge from Jackson, Mississippi, has spent the past 14 months studying Welsh, largely on his own, often in the early hours of the morning.
In January, he travelled to Cardiff to take the A1 Welsh-language exam, which tests reading, writing, listening and speaking.
He said the experience had been challenging but rewarding and he hoped to carry on learning the language.
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, he has learned Spanish, French, German and Irish, and said returning to language learning as an adult felt like revisiting something he had once loved.
“I have always had an interest in learning other languages”, he said, explaining Welsh appealed to him because it is spoken by choice rather than necessity.
“Everyone who speaks Welsh also speaks English”, he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
“Nobody’s required to do it, but they do out of love for their culture, and that was really attractive to me.”
He began studying Welsh in late 2024 using apps, textbooks and online resources, but said the lack of people to practise within the US made learning difficult.
Time difference added to the challenge, with some online courses scheduled for the early hours of the morning in Mississippi.
“That just doesn’t work”, he said, explaining he sometimes had to wake up before 03:00 to take part in lessons.
“It would be a dream if I became fluent and people tried to guess which part of Wales I was from,” he added.
