How about ‘canolfan ailgylchu’? There’s quite a lot can be learned from road signs! 
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It depends how much the shepherd uses whistles, I think. My first Cavalier took very well to having her name changed, but didn’t always come when called. I cannot whistle, so bought one to blow and hung it round my neck on walks. My little dog soon noticed that I lifted it to call her and came at the lift, and also, soon enough, to her name. Also, when on a long beach, I would open my arms wide and she came to that!
My current little toy poodle is not the most obedient dog on Earth and gets too enthusiast if wanting something, She responds better to ‘paid’ than ‘no’, I think because it sounds crosser!! Sheepdogs are very well trained and obedient, They certainly respond to the commands they know, like ‘away’ and ‘come by’, also to whistles. A dog trained in Welsh would not know the English words and would not obey them.
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I met an old man walking a terrier type dog in the park last week. It was off its lead and ran towards me. As it started to jump up I said “Lawr” to it in a firm tone and it sat down and just wagged its tail at me. When the old man reached me he spoke English with a strong ‘over the border’ accent and told me the dog loved to jump up but if you say “Down” he will obey. Well, apparently his dog is bilingual, or just knows that whenever he tries to jump up if the person says ‘something’ firmly, it means not to 
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Of course, it is context dependent! Toffi knows jumping is frowned upon. But sheepdog training Is more complicated! Mind ‘teach yourself’ sort of works. Farm across from me on Gower, as well as border collies, had little Jack Russell type for kids. She watched sheepdogs and copied them. I was watching from my window… naughty ewe going wrong way, little dog crouches and stares just like collie. Ewe jumps over her. Poor little dog. She perseveres. Then comes the time ewe is running, little dog crouches and stares, ewe stops, turns and goes back! Oh hapus iawn! Little dog dancing for joy! She never saw the border collie that had come behind her and caused the ewe to turn!
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I have been speaking mainly Welsh with my daughter for a few months now but we haven’t spoken any English at all with each other now for nearly 4 days . Something seems to have clicked the last week or so and the Cymraeg seems to be flowing so easily that there is just no need to speak to her in English anymore . It is much easier to speak Welsh with my daughter obviously as there are no nerves involved and I can always take that extra few seconds if I get stuck . It is also easy for me to understand her as I am used to her accent. I’m really happy that Cymraeg is definitely now the 1st language of our home
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That is an amazing achievement
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That’s a genuinely life-changing achievement right there… 
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I think they recruit people for doctor’s receptionists from a special breed with particularly loud and piercing voices. It has its uses I suppose, but can also be embarrassing.
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First skype call in welsh this week. I had got to lesson 9 on the old course, just switched to new one and am in challenge 6 (level1) on the new one. Made full use of all those familiar phrase from the challenge 5 listening practice, I can’t remember how to say what I wanted to say, I’ve forgotten how to speak welsh etc. =D
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I joined a ‘Welsh’ choir this week. Well most of the singing was in Latin and English, but we did some Welsh singing towards the end. The breakthrough was that this choir communicate in Welsh. I made it through without slipping into English and people seemed to understand what I was saying, despite my mistakes.
I understood a fair bit of what the conductor was saying, though her arm waving and non-verbal cues made up most of the gaps. The tough bit was sight-reading off photocopied handwritten music, with hand written Welsh words, especially in the quicker passages where my Welsh reading speed let me down a bit, which i think is fair enough as I had to read the music too. It was nice to read back through the words and able to understand most of the words of the song.
sometimes I get disheartened and confused with not understanding some things on the radio /telly, but live talking with real people and all the visual clues is so much easier.
My brain was melting by the end, but I had got through the practice with popeth yn cymraeg!
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Excellent decision! That was one of the key steps for me, way back when…
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Great idea, enjoy!
I joined a Welsh choir in Cardiff 13 years ago when I first came to Wales, with the optimistic idea that I might just be able to pick up how to speak Welsh with a quick read through a teach-yourself course. We sang the Messiah in Welsh at Xmas, which was slightly bizarre! Then I admitted that Welsh was harder than I thought and gave up…
In another 13 years I may be in a position to try it again! (The choir, not the Welsh.)
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I have huge admiration for anyone who can read music! I can’t sing and sohfah was about the closest I could get to music! I can keep a beat, so got put on the drum in school! How you can read music and Cymraeg I -well, I admire you!
I was just lucky to have been taught young, so I don’t think about it. I even forget sometimes that there are people who can’t read music. If only I had been taught Welsh young too!
So, well, yes, it wasn’t quite ‘popeth yn cymraeg’ there was also some Italian, because Italian is the default language of music [pianissimo, crescendo etc]
I sometimes have Radio Cymru on in the background, and while I don’t (think I) understand much – somehow the sound of the language feels reassuringly and comfortingly familiar. It just sounds “right” somehow. Which I suppose must be worth something
Also, occasionally I think that this interview guest or that one sounds very similar to one or another character in Rownd a Rownd, which is a bit amusing (Also, the voice on the Duolingo course – Ivona’s Gwyneth, I think? – sounds like Llio when they say “nawr”.)
The sound-a-like I’ve heard most often so far is someone sounding like Arthur to me; yesterday there was someone who sounded like Michelle to me.
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Well, if Prys Plismon from Cei Bach can be on Casualty… 
Phew just managed to do the whole parents evening through the medium of Welsh . Obviously the conversation didn’t flow as easily as it would if we were speaking English and although there were a couple of brain freeze moments , there was no need to revert in to English
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Brilliant.
Nothing so good for me this week but today i’m managing to read another short story described as suitable for ks4 to a level…or canolradd to uwch.
Considering reading is new territory for me i’m well pleased. (It’s also written for Hwntws!!!)
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Which book?
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