I am 75. I have been learning every day and we all do. Enjoying it is the icing on the cake! Realising you enjoy it is the
on top!!
Iâve just had the great pleasure of a Skype chat with @sharonmonks. too (diolch yn fawr iddi hi). I think this Skype thing might catch on. 
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Just thought I would put a few remarks on progress⌠before I forget.
I have been reviewing some of the earlier challenges. x1 feels too slow, so doing them at 1.2.
When producing Welsh, I have one of four experiences.
- Welsh is shorter than English⌠This often causes me to trip as I think âit must be more complicated than that!â
- Welsh is produced before I have thought about it. English brain checks it over. (This is a bit like doing mental arithmetic - the answer is produced and then the conscious brain checks it over during the next few seconds.) This feels like magic. âWow, it really has gone in.â A bit like muscle memory.
- Part of the Welsh is produced before thought. Brain engaged to come up with rest. (On the course this is a bit like the way Aran described another studentâs experience of swimming half way across, pausing for air and then continuing the sentence.)
- New gear. Conscious brain engaged for whole thing. (This sometimes happens on a change of gear - unconscious brain says âI have no idea, over to you conscious brainâ). It feels most difficult, but you canât drive a car without learning to change gear!
I am now listening to chipmunks at x1.2. Mad!
Lots of unformed thought there, but thought I would get it on record before I forget!
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I watch S4C recorded on Sky so I can fast forward through the adverts. I routinely have my TV set for subtitles, because my aged ears and modern diction seem not in tune. Mainly, my brain ignores the sub titles unless I have failed to hear. On S4C, I often find myself checking to see if their English agrees with that I have just heard in Welsh. I suspect that is a similar process to your (2) above, but itâs funny when there is a glaring error! (These happen in English programs too!)
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What, on top of their original 2x nature? I like your style, sir! 
And that youâre now running the challenges at 1.2 - that is hugely, hugely interesting. [Do also remember to press on with new material as well!]. Fascinating that you already seem to be adapted for that to work as well as you describe here.
Yes, those 4 steps sound very familiar - but particularly good to see them put together like that - can I nick them for a booklet Iâm writing about it? [With credit, of course!].
Please feel free to use/nick my undigested comments. I just wanted to get the thoughts/feelings down before they passed into history and were forgotten.
Part of the x1.2 thing is that I donât want to lose the neural adaptation that was so difficult to come by. I am going through a bit of a review and I am finding that comforting. During review, I am amazed at how early some things were introduced. My memory was telling me that things were introduced around challenge 7, when they actually appeared in challenge 1 or 2.
I will press on. While comfort is, well, comforting, it is not necessarily the best means of advance.
One final piece of the experience that will, like the others I have listed, probably be common to that of others on SSiW, is that my ability to âresolveâ words is improving. I will try to put the experience into writing: âLon lower goroundâ became âllon llower gorawnâ became âllond llaw go iawnâ. It is all part of the exciting journey and I hope that others will be encouraged by it.
(This does have the negative effect that when I hear my neighbouring town of Llandybie pronounced âCland-y-beerâ my toes now curl. I donât know how native Welsh speakers are so tolerant, but thank goodness they are.)
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Ah, yes - thatâs genuine wisdom right thereâŚ
Did the June '17 5DSiâers survive?
They did. I promise. Yes, I know I need to provide some evidence, but give me a couple of days before anyone calls the police, okay?
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I had a fantastic time, made some lovely new friends and absolutely loved the whole experience.
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And I didnât just set that account up myself to pretend that Penny is okayâŚ
No, really.
[They were an eye-wateringly good group, and worked their socks off - hugely, hugely impressive.]
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Yes, still alive! Off to Tafwyl tomorrow, canât wait to immerse in Welsh again 
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Glad to find out that there were at least two survivors⌠would love to find out about your experiences on the course and afterwards. Did you feel as if your brain was being re-programmed (in a good way)? What did the whole experience feel like? What opportunities have you had to use your new skills since the course? How has it affected your ability to speak with speakers of Cymraeg?
(I am very nosey and really interested to find out)
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Just been reading through this thread. Congratulations everyone. I see the 5 day has morphed a little since the first test. Discussions in pubs? Sounds fantastic!
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One little update that I hope will encourage other SSiWers. Against advice, I have repeated much of the course and got as far as I did on the 5DSi. On the repeated journey there were some sections that I could have sworn that I had never heard before. That said, I was pleased to find that the very long sentences had gone from impossible to interestingly challenging (and occasionally easy⌠leap for joy). When ânew vocabâ was introduced, I already knew most of it.
In other words, even though I couldnât remember having learned some of the stuff, it had gone in.
I think that I would summarise by saying that SSiW is about teaching you how to learn a language. Itâs like being given a car, some driving lessons and a map. It doesnât drive you to your destination, but shows you how to get there.
âThank youâ to all who have worked on it. It gives me joy every day.
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That was going to be the best thing I read todayâŚ
But then this beat it⌠
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Yesterday was a bit of a landmark. I finally got all the way through Level 2.
That is not to say that I got even 50% of the responses right in session 25. It was a bit like the raggedy running you see at the end of a double marathon. If it was about getting into deep water, then the water was about a foot (30cm) over my head.
I do think that the ârun up at umpteen sessionsâ is beneficial, so I will be leaping back a bit now and having a run at the last 10 again. That said, I was producing things today that I was convinced were impossible yesterday. (I think that sleep does that - someone goes round in your brain and puts together all the shards that were thrown in there the day before. If only someone would do that to my office.)
I have taken to listening to music with Welsh lyrics in the car. Suddenly realised that I understood a bit more today âcynâ was the magic word yesterday. I donât expect to understand every word, as I donât understand most lyrics in English!
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Thatâs brilliant news â congratulations mawrđ. Iâm currently on level 2 - 23. Hoping to finish in the next few days but also about to become a grandmother for the second time so not sure if my concentration levels are where they need to be.
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