…other than a few fleeting visits when I add new course notes after new challenges appear, and receive an email where I’ve been tagged, or from topics I follow closely that is! I have been rather busy these last few months though it’s fair to say! Mostly, its been work - I have been putting in some long hours lately. Also I’ve been dealing with a personal problem I’ve battled with for some years - my weight. I now have this at a level I’m happy with and I’m looking to maintain this.
With my Welsh, I have been using it quite a lot over the last few months, but not so much verbally! I do use Welsh a fair bit on social media, which is great as far as writing Welsh is concerned, but spoken Welsh tends to still only get used when I go to the monthly meets at Y Mochyn Du in Caerdydd (when I’m not working, that is!) and visit known outlets where Welsh is used such as Yr Hen Lyfrgell and shops such as Bodlon. There has been one or two occasions where I’ve used my Welsh at work when some passengers greet or part with me in Welsh too - noticing my bathodyn oren “Cymraeg” on my tie or jacket, but sadly this is few and far between also.
Today, I was not needed at work, so I decided to catch up with the forum, and I see there are quite a lot of posts to go through! I would like to get back into contributing here as soon as possible, as I’m making forum contribution part of my plan to improve my Welsh skills over next year (which I’m keen to start from now!). This plan will involve continuing certain practices I have in place now, like using Welsh at home in all aspects (I have Post-it notes around my “office” area with notes all written in Welsh, shopping lists and to do lists in Welsh, Cymraeg setting on my laptop, Radio Cymru and S4C usually on for immersion, and even telling myself what I need to do in Welsh - because there’s no one else here to talk to! Every little helps right?), using more services in Welsh where I can, finding more places to visit where Welsh is used, and communicating more with Welsh speakers I know in Welsh. I also intend to routinely run through past challenges to keep my mind refreshed, and use other resources like Duolingo and Memrise to further keep up with my Welsh skills.
I have made quite a list of personal goals I would like to achieve in 2017, but ‘Improve Welsh Skills’ is at the very top of this list!
It will take a while to get back into this I should imagine, but I will get through the backlog of 167 unread topics eventually, and hopefully it will keep me from using Facebook too much as well!!
Holidays permitting, I may even throw myself into another bootcamp next year too - but we will see about that (that’s finances permitting also!). It is good to see the regular SSiWers still contributing of the forum, and a number of new contributers and learners emerging as well. I’ve missed this place I have!
It is…but the Facebook app only works language settings by the phone’s language settings (so, I have the iPhone 6s, there is no Welsh language support for iOS devices as yet, but you can set your calendar to appear in Welsh) - so in Facebook, the interface is in English, but the post dates appear in Welsh! It’s bizarre, but I work with what I’ve got! On the main site, Facebook is set to Cymraeg, meaning when I get notifications even on my phone they appear in Welsh also!
I do have a sparsley used Wordpress account where posts are um… ‘Multi-lingual’ (Years ago I was posting blogs in Spanish and (very poor) German!). But more recently its been a mix of Welsh and English, depending on what I write about. I think the last blog I did was about my plans to move here, so tha gives some ides as to how often I blog!! But Facebook, as you know already, I post and comment in both Welsh and English.
The lap top at home has FB in Welsh, which I set to to and I hadn’t even realised that my android phone FB app is in English. That shows how observant I am! On looking there is a choice of language for the FB app on my phone but Cymraeg isn’t there. Slovenian? Yes. Cymraeg? No.
I’ve recently started a blog in Welsh, posting two or three times a week, which probably isn’t very interesting, but keeps the brain cells going.
Croeso nol @faithless78. I’ve missed you on here and was wondering what happened. You seamed prety thin when I’ve met you in August so your weight battle was probably at the very end. I’m just sad we couldn’t sit together for some time and chat when I was in Caerdydd. I hope (although it’s not very likely though) there will be next time and a chance to have a little chat in Cymraeg of course.
I was at Y Mochyn du the first Monday in August when I was in Caerdydd but didn’t notice it would anything speciall Welsh happen. Even personal didn’t sepak Welsh at the time and I asked one of the employees if there’s anything happening, a chat group or so but I was told that this occurs only every first Sunday … So, except those who came from Eisteddfod and occupied Y Mochyn Du there was nothing going on while I was there.
Whatever … they have a good beer and Whyskey. - hehe
Yes, it was a very brief meeting. I only recognised you from across the road while I was on my meal break and thought I would quickly say hello before your bus arrived! It was good to meet you though and have a quick chat with you
Well, I’m one of those new learners so I don’t know you from previous times, but I did want to say diolch! for the course notes thread for level 2 south - they are invaluable and your efforts are appreciated very much
Shwmae Samantha! You are more than welcome, and I’m glad to hear the notes are of good use to you.
I deliberately leave the English translations out of these lists so learners can find the words themselves when they review the challenges (after the first play, of course!). I find it helps further the learner to recognise the words for themselves and leaves it up to them if they wish to write the English by the words (or the phonetic pronounciations if they help at all). I did this myself when I was learning the old course, making a list called a “Raw Materials List” - an idea I got from the FAQ pages on the SSi website. The guides that existed for the old course were written in this style, and showed me how you would spell the words if they were written, so I would put the English by them as I learned these new words and it helped me to retain them in memory. Of course, different methods work for different people, but this was what worked for me when I was doing the Old course, so I continued the style of the old course guides for the new Levels as well.
It’s good to see you’re doing so well already as a new learner - although I should imagine you have been here for a whiile now. Felly, da iawn ti, dal ati a joio y gweddill o’r gwrs!
Croeso 'n ol @faithless78. I noticed your absence and hoped all was well. Glad it was and
on the diet! Also, your come-back caused @Samantha to post the above and stick a sharp dig up my back, as she only just started and is already in 2 and I am still lurking in mid-level 1 Challenges. OK, my motives are different - hiraeth treatment and re-learning, but I really must progress!!!
Ahh…but then you make the best progress only by moving along at the pace you’re most comfortable with don’t you? You have good reasons for taking your time and it’s important to have focus when learning, so take your time and let things flow at your pace. Before long you will be ahead from where you are now and importantly, you will retain what you’ve learned.
Diolch a gorau o lwc i chi!
Ah, its an absolutely brilliant resource for me, because I can’t always quite hear the different sounds (there are other threads dedicated to this, so I know it’s not just me). Once I’ve seen the word/phrase written and know how it should go, I can hear it perfectly well!
I stick it all in an editable format and add the English to it - this is a useful exercise for me too - it’s kind of a little vocabulary test and it’s surprising what I can remember after doing a lesson once. I’m a pretty visual person, so it helps it stay in my head (I need all the help I can get!)
@henddraig - you give me far too much credit really - I’ve been doing this for… about 3 months (!!!) and I may have motored on with the lessons (literally haha as I am lucky enough that I can listen on my work journey (apologies!)) but definitely not everything sticks! I think F78 is right, you have to go at your own pace… I think I’ll have to repeat both levels to feel confident enough to speak to someone out loud!
Hi Gav, it’s nice to see you back! (Gav on the forum is the first step to putting the world to rights!) I’ve not been around a lot recently either - been feeling a bit down about my failure to build up a proper bit of my life in Welsh really, and having the odd impermissible thought along the lines of ‘what’s the point?’ I expect it’ll probably pass though.
However one of these days I’m finally going to nail you down for a coffee in Y Barri, I am!
Ha ha! Yes, eventually you will do! But I do seem to be spending more time in Cardiff than at home if truth be told. I’m only ever here to sleep these days, ha!
I typed a whole message on those lines… click here to see it!
It sort of implies, “Get with that coffee!!!” Have a micro-bootcamp!
To @Samantha I totally agree! You are much better organised that me, but I need to see what I cannot catch and reading helps me remember. It’s quite good for spelling too!!
I have also been feeling a bit like what is the point.
I don’t know how to get past the point where I can understand better. Also my hubby is still refusing to learn so when we go to school/do school things it has to bee in saesneg
I think it’s just a long haul to learn a language to a high level, and understanding just comes from experience and can’t really be rushed. As long as you’re enjoying the journey, you’ll get there in the end!
Forgive me, but I’m not sure if I know you in person - don’t make Barry meet ups very often… If you’d like to have a coffee on Thurs or Fri in school time, drop me a line and we’ll see if we can fit it in! (No guarantee, life is a bit mad…)
No, I don’t think I have met you in person. I am in North Cardiff and do try to go to the mochyn du, but especially when it is dark I often stay in.
There is a direct train to barri so that would be easy
I expect it’ll probably pass though.