Hi all. I’ve just started in week 1 of the 6 mth intensive course on ssiw. I noticed there is a vocab list for each challenge. Does anyone have any views on whether to look at that before, whether to look at it during or whether to leave it until the challenge is finished. The reason I ask is that I’m trying to put my assumptions to one side as it says in the intro, but I do love seeing how something is spelt and find that it helps for things that are totally new. But don’t want to go against the ethos of what is said in the intro. Thanks, Elizabeth
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We kind of had our arms twisted into adding the vocab list!.. 
I’d strongly, strongly recommend NOT looking at it until after you’ve finished the challenge - and actually, in our experience, the longer you can go without looking at the written version, the more carefully you will have trained yourself to listen, and the better your accent will be, even if you’re making what you consider a ‘mistake’.
For example, I had someone complain once that because he hadn’t looked at the words, he’d ended up saying ‘beth idesti’ for ‘what you said’, which is, he told me, ‘wrong’!
Technically, yes - ‘what you said’ is ‘beth ddudest ti’.
But here’s the thing…
‘Beth idesti’ sounds EXACTLY like what a first language speaker would actually SAY. [And it wouldn’t in the least surprise me to see someone writing it like that in a non-formal situation, either].
So I recommend you push yourself with this, and see how far you can get before cracking…
Oh, and a very warm welcome to the forum! And well DONE on your first question - we regularly see that people who take the plunge and ask a question end up getting further and doing better than people who don’t get involved on the forum… 
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I’ve just signed up for the 6 month course and, like Elizabeth, this is my first toe-dip into the forum. A good point raised, particularly as having done the courses, I found it easier to speak with clearer understanding once I could see the words I was reading, or writing, but felt as if cheating the golden advice l recall on the original course (“put the pen down now!”). But, I will take your advice on starting this 6m course, Aran, thank you.
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Welcome to the forum, oh most artistic of rodents!
Yes, looking at works always feels more comfortable - but pushing out past your boundaries can be very powerful (as long as it doesn’t make you give in and disappear without a word!). Push yourself, but ask for help if you think it’s not working…
Thank you so much for your reply Aran and for joining my question artrodent! With a big deep breath, I will go with it and follow what you’ve said! Good advice and whilst it scares the hell out of me - nothing ventured, as they say. Thanks for the course, the forum and for the support. Elizabeth
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The nice thing about pushing out of your comfort zone is that you can always lapse back into it if necessary… just don’t suffer in silence!
I made myself tackle some of the SSi Dutch course without looking at any of the vocab. It was quite painful letting go of the visual crutches, but I soon realised that I was listening so much more intently, and really hearing the little sounds in the words.
When I tried my fledgling Dutch out on a Dutch-speaking friend, he was very impressed with my accent, and I still had no clue what the written words looked like. Once you let go and trust that you can do it, it actually becomes kind of liberating
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