As a note, I shut down the automagic tutor after that initial glitch, because it threw me pretty far off my groove, and I was nearly done for the day anyways. Starting it up again today, the phrases and words I heard, but hadn’t been taught, don’t seem to be turning up, and we’re back to where I had left off on the vocabulary progression, so…
… I suppose I just, found a bug, maybe? Lucky me.
If it’s a bug, it’s a very weird one and not something that has happened during testing. No one else has reported it either, so it would be extremely hard to track down. Could you let us know if it happens again, and make a note of the particular words or phrases that come up?
Yes! What I can remember for this time was that, it had just about finished with the vocabulary words from Challenge 8, and then abruptly started sentences that included the word “help” in them. I don’t recall the exact phrases, but I remember being abruptly completely at sea, because I hadn’t been taught that word.
For me, if the automagic tutor has a weakness, it’s that if you get a little too far ahead of yourself, it’s difficult to back up a step or two. Even if I push the “revisit” button several times, or go down a step in difficulty, it doesn’t seem inclined to repeat the definition and first-learning phrases for a recent word, only the more complex phrases, and I end up feeling really anxious and stressed because I’m trying to memorize a word that is only coming up intermittently, and which will often have novel phrases and still more new words piled up on it. I often wish there could be something more like a “wait wait, what was that newest word in there again?” option that didn’t involve blankly staring at the screen in complete unknowing bafflement.
Or maybe that’s the intended method and I’m meant to feel that way? Lately it just seems so much harder… or maybe it’s just me. I’ve never successfully learned a new language before, after all. I don’t really know!
I’m about 7 hours into Auto Magic now. Have to say, I absolutely love it! It’s really noticeable how it is helping me to form sentences from my existing vocabulary too.
From the e-mails you receive, I wasn’t quite sure whether to just do Auto Magic or complete the lessons in the e-mail. So I just did both 
Thanks and well done to all involved in developing it!
Looking at the Vocab List with Challenge 9, “helpu” is introduced there, so I imagine it should be introduced more or less at that same place. With the word “helpu” being so similar to the English word though, surely after hearing it used once in a response you would realise what it meant? One of the skills you need as you progress in Welsh is to be able to listen to Welsh conversation, or the radio or S4C, and pick up new words from context without being taught them. Being able to do that is essential for expanding your vocabulary moving forward.
Diolch for your comments on the “Revisit” function. We’re definitely looking into how that works with an aim to improving it and making it more intuitive.
Remember that any time you feel anxious or unsure of a word, you’re very welcome to ask in the SSiW Community Chat Slack site. The channel #chat-about-automagic is especially for discussing any doubts or comments that you have and you’re very welcome to ask questions in the Q&A sessions as well.
Hope this is the correct place to ask…
I’m doing Automagic Northern Welsh and the sentence below came up.
"Clywes i bo’ ti’n mynd i ddarllen cymaint â phosib penwythnos diwetha’. "
Should it not be “oeddet ti’n mynd”?
I’m still learning obviously, but it didn’t sound right to me.
@des-greene in Welsh the linking “bod” works a little differently to English. You can think of it as “timeless” picking up the timing from the context of the sentence around it.
With your example, you’ve got clywes i so you know it’s in the past, plus penwythnos diwetha “last weekend”, so the bo’ ti picks up the sense of being in the past. In English we have to specify it with “that you were going to” but Welsh doesn’t need it.
If you changed it slightly and said clywes i bo ti’n mynd i ddarllen cymaint â phosib wythnos nesa then the English equivalent would be “that you’re going to”
Many thanks for the explanation Deborah
Just tried the Automagic app. Is that new or have I just never noticed it? 
It’s really good BTW!
With the Welsh course, do you have all three levels up yet? And how long before Cornish is up there? Diolch!
Oh, thanks Des! It’s been there for a while now, but is about to be superceded by the new app, which is a more robust implementation of the same core approach… 
We still don’t have all three levels available in AutoMagic - and in fact we never will now, because we’re prioritising getting them into the new app - which we hope will have all our Welsh content inside the next couple of months
Glad the new app is on its way! 
I’ve been unable to use the old app on Android. Any idea of the release date? Diolch
Hi, I’ve been working on the automagic while we wait for the new app to be released and I am loving it! As it currently stands I am just using this for my learning, should I be doing other things at the same time? Will there come a point where it will be pointed out that I can try and talk to other people or is that something I will just notice myself?
At the moment I am limited to the fact that I enjoying learning Welsh more than anything - which is true
It’s never too early to start using your Welsh in conversations, even if you only have a few things you can say. Real life conversations can be daunting, and it’s not necessarily vocabulary that’s needed, it’s confidence, so getting used to using what Welsh you have as soon as possible really helps build that confidence, and then when you have conversations you’ll pick up vocabulary from other people too. It’s also never too soon to join chats and sessions online in our Slack channels - ask admin@saysomethingin.com for invites to those.
Other things you can do is to ‘absorb’ as much Welsh as you can - find things to watch and listen to on TV, radio and online - but don’t try to understand everything (‘everything’ takes a long time!), just let it wash over you, as this gets your brain used to hearing rhythms and repeated patterns even when you don’t yet understand the words.
I’m sure there’s enough content in there to keep me busy for a couple of months until the new app is out👍
I’ve also been using it get my Spanish brushed up again before a trip to Spain soon. So I’m looking forward to doing the same with my very rusty German when that gets added!
I was checking excitedly to see if the app was out in time for my birthday - alas, not yet. But we’re living in exciting times. I am watching the space.
Penblwydd Hapus! Happy Birthday!
The best guess/assessment on dates for release is over in
(which is also where we’ll announce it when we go live)
Nicola, you’ve had the perfect answer from Siaron already!
Will Automagic be in the new app as well? I have Automagic the best way for me to learn Welsh so far.
Is there a certain level you reach before it starts bringing in conversational welsh? Like how are you today etc?