I am so wonderfully intrigued by the statement on Level 2 Week 4…
“Most people who get used to life without the pause button can manage 10 challenges in a single intensive day, and it’s an experience that can change your perception of language learning.”
I’m currently on week L2 W14, but tracking bacj to just settle more firmly what I have been over as I am a repetition learner.
Seeing this statement last bank holiday made me think - ooh maybe that’s a good one for this bank holiday weekend coming up?
I did one sprint day last year and loved it, but I really would love some advice on how to get the most out of it and getting the “changing your perception of language learning” sensation…
Should I track into the unknown and do the weeks ahead, or should I go back and around?
Any tips, wisdom or advice on health and safety equipment warmly welcomed!
Forge ahead Stuart! One day when it was too hot to anything else, I sat under an umbrella in the garden and did 10 - no pausing, no repeating - and it really accelerated my progress! If you’ve got the time to put in in a big chunk, its well worth the effort!! You can get 10 weeks ahead in a day and your confidence will increase dramatically! Go for it!
I’m planning to do this, but I have to wait for my ADHD hyperfocus to hover on over back to Welsh. am still keeping up with practice as best I can, but there’s nothing quite like just inhaling lessons one after another for several days
When I am doing lessons heavily, I feel like my best advice is that you can always go back if you feel you rushed too much - and even then, I find I’ve still retained quite a bit
I find the idea daunting! I have finished levels 1-3 (new course, south) and am now plodding my way through the old course. I’m approaching the end of level 2 and although I’m not repeating the lessons, I’m using the pause button more.
What’s going on? Well - I find that as I have learned more, I prefer to think more, so that I choose the right structure. If I don’t do this I very often get it wrong and despite what we’re told about mistakes, I have a feeling that endlessly getting things wrong isn’t going to help me. It is very discouraging, apart from anything else!
The idea of doing 10 or 18 or 35 challenges on the trot is horrifying: at the end my brain would be total porridge and I suspect that everything I said would be wrong. Is that really a good way of learning? Maybe my head just isn’t cut out for that approach…
It’s certainly not for everyone @ruth-32. When we used to run intensive 1:1 sessions, we always did a series of tests with people first to make sure they had a good chance of succeeding. If someone finds the prospect horrifying, then they are definitely not the type of person to give this a go.
But on the other hand, if you’re the type of person who loves really challenging yourself in this way and pushing yourself way beyond your comfort zone, then it might be something to consider.
Depends on how you learn. I have tried not using pause and got very discouraged and demotivated by constantly getting it very wrong. However, I can see that using pause too much can lead to over reliance on it and slow progress. I’ll always try to say the Welsh without pause if I can, but if I need a few seconds to think, I take it.
I would encourage anyone to give a marathon a go and see how it goes. If it works for you, great. If not, find a way that does work for you and make the most of that.
Hmm, interesting idea! I am currently just done with Challenge 10, level 1 of SSIW south.
I am also studying with the free Welsh sentence bank in the Glossika app and it seems that the speaker is from North Wales . Also, my iTalki tutor is from North Wales.
So, (father forgive me) I am going to bash through the first 10 challenges of SSIW north tomorrow with the thought of possibly changing horses and continuing with that version of the course.
Could be in a horrible muddle by tomorrow afternoon. We shall see.
Short update. I got through the first 7 of the SSIW North challenges today. She who must be obeyed had put a few other things on my to do list, and there was Arsenal vs. Brighton to endure, etc etc. Anyway, 7 challenges scattered throughout the day. No hitting the pause button. Interestingly, a lot of the phrases seemed quite easy to recall but I put that down to the fact that they are the same in both versions. I did stumble over some of the expressions that differ between north and south but that lessened as I kept at it. Things like ‘Galla i’ vs ‘mi fedra i’ trip me up still. Brain fog now and time to stop.
Hi Margaret. See my edited note above. Brain hurts but I do feel that it was worth it. I’ll do challenges 8, 9 and 10 tomorrow and then decide if I want to continue with the North Wales version of this course.
A side effect,of spending so much time yesterday going through the SSIW North challenges is that now, it is Monday morning, 6am, my usual time to spend an hour studying and I really am avoiding and not wanting to start. Yesterday’s long effort has really drained my enthusiasm. I am going back to an hour a day.
It could just be your brain telling you “Hang on a minute! I need to sort and process all this input you’ve given me over the weekend before I tackle anything else!”
Resting is also important during language learning, so don’t worry if you have to have a little break every now and then.
Thank you yet again Deborah for your encouraging words. I did complete challenge 11 this morning; that is to say, I went through it from start to finish without internalising much. Will do so again later this afternoon perhaps. I’m already feeling the urge to get back at it.
Well done @brian-lewis. It’s not for everyone, but it’s what some people do, and they get a lot out of it. And you probably have too, you just don’t realise quite how much, yet.
At a bŵtcamp I went to several years ago there was a young woman who said, at the start of the week that she’d been learning Cymraeg for two and a half months. At the end of the week she confessed it was actually only two and a half weeks! She did really well during the week. Just get out there and use what you’ve learned!
One day when it was too hot to anything else, I sat under an umbrella in the garden and did 10 - no pausing, no repeating - and it really accelerated my progress! If you’ve got the time to put in in a big chunk, its well worth the effort!! 
You can get 10 weeks ahead in a day and your confidence will increase dramatically! Go for it!