Hi
I chose to study south wales welsh as that’s where I come from and I’ve just completed level 3. I’ve started to look at the advanced content which seems like jumping from GCSE to A levels so far. I noticed that a lot of it seems to be north wales welsh so I don’t recognise a lot. (I could be mistaken) Can anyone recommend particular extracts/chats to study which are in the south wales dialect? Or is there something I should be doing before starting these?
Thanks
Andrew
From some notes I had taken, these are interviews with Southern accent: 13, 19, 20, 24, 31.
Some of the most recent ones (Stori Dwy Steddfod) are Northern, but way shorter - therefore easier to deal with, in my experience.
Also 033 Beca Brown is shorte, although there are different opinions about it being easier or not! 
In general, it seemed quite a jump from the challenges. But since there are transcriptions and translations, it’s way better than listening to the radio, for example.
I have to say I’m also getting more used to the accents. After all I expect to travel a bit all over Wales, meet people, watch TV and listen to programmes with people speaking all sort of accents so it’s not bad getting used to them - I guess.
It’s going to take a while before I can understand more than the topics, a few full sentences and a bunch of words , though!
Hello.
Thanks for your reply. I will take a look at those stories. I was thinking more about the dialect than the accent though. Also I was wondering in there was some material/story that included all the vocabulary in levels 1-3 so far?
Thanks again
Andrew
Hi, Andrew.
Yes, there’s a thread somewhere with PDFs of the vocab, but I think levels 2 & 3.
I’d say the only prob with selecting only the Southern sgwrsau is that It could be tricky jumping in at a high number. Perhaps just me, but I feel that the first ones are less advanced, admittedly not to the same extent as the challenges. Also theres a limited glossary at the end of each sgwrs as you will know.
Anyway on the No pain no gain front, I find that the average sgwrs needs considerably more time to grasp than a single challenge. Probably something like 2 hrs during a week. The gain/magic is that you will suddenly find yourself being able to understand conversations on the radio and in the wild with people from all over Wales.
Nope, not yet, if you’re talking about a listening exercise kind of thing, although it is on my shopping list… 
Um, full translation, I think?!
One approach that might work better than aiming for a new sgwrs every week would be to drill down on one and just keep repeating it until it starts to feel too easy…
Ha ha. Yes sorry, the excellent translations and transcripts as well as the dialect footnote. I forgot about them after my night shift 
.
But seriously, I love the Northern stuff and even sneak in the odd word when talking to the Northern England part of my family. 
Thanks everyone. I’m very pleased with my progress so far and so I want to make sure I don’t lose momentum!
Moooooveee… towards… the… light…
I have just got up to Beca ai Phobl 32. I have been gently doing these excellent sgwrs for a while, but I have really come a cropper with this one. It is so quick ,and the dialect is so different I find it difficult even to understand the Welsh transcryption. But the content is so interesting (a student doing a project about bilingualism) that I am working very hard to get it right. But I can hardly believe the language is so different from what I am used to. Although I know it is the Llanrug dialect as Beca also omes from there and I have to admit I usually understand the answers and not Beca’s questions. It will really help me understand Gog speech, I hope!
Bydd yn ofalus ! @beca-brown is trying to turn us all into Gogs - it’s a well known fact - we have to stick together! 
I agree I think Beca’s questions seem to be in her own private dialect!
Rich
Yeeees…it has been mentioned that I’m difficult to understand!!! I talk too quickly and change direction mid-sentence!
I like to think of it as a challenge for you all - if you can understand me you’ll manage anything!
It could also be that in this case, both the interviewer and interviewee are from Llanrug! So maybe Llanrug people talk very quickly?!
Yes I would think two people who know each other, talking in the same dialect, are likely to speak faster and use strange words! It is quite a challenge, but an enjoyable one, and rewarding I hope!
Yes, I have found that the geographic area-specific dialect stuff has really helped me to tune in.
It has also given me the encouragement to get my “Southern” friends to use their own dialect a bit more on me, instead of feeling the need to water it down a bit.
I admit that it has taken me many months, but now I am surprised at how much I understand.
On the minus side, I am starting to find the vowels of RP English more and more difficult to follow