The Welsh Government’s current Welsh language strategy aims to create a million Welsh speakers by 2050 (Welsh Government) and recognizes the key role played by new speakers of Welsh in achieving this aim. Indeed, research on adult new speakers from different ethnic backgrounds is an increasingly important field of study that warrants further research (Rosiak, 2018; Tilley, 2021). This paper will discuss the findings of a study into six non-UK economic immigrants’ motivations to learn Welsh, their learning experiences, and opportunities afforded to them due to their Welsh language skills. A plethora of studies on 78 motivation to learn English exist. The two dominant models of studying motivation employed are the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei et al., 2006, 2009), which is deeply rooted in psychology, and the socio-educational model developed by Lambert and Gardner (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner, 1985). However, sociolinguistic research on minority language learning, both by children in schools and by adults, in particular research on new speakers, show that language ideologies have a significant impact on the commencement of learning and its continuation at a higher level of advancement (Piller, 2015; Duchêne, 2008; Rosiak, 2022). Our paper, then, will discuss (1) whether and to what extent the sense of belonging to the Welsh community motivates/motivated economic migrants who speak the Welsh language at a level of at least B1 to learn the language; (2) whether and what role reactance played in their psychological case; and (3) whether and how linguistic ideologies influence/influenced
their motivation to learn Welsh.