Some very small breakthroughs - I’ve always gone to Clwb Ifor (or as I’ve called it until recently, Welsh Club, to my eternal shame) in Cardiff on a Saturday night for as long as I’ve lived here, but only lately have I realised the sheer amount of Welsh being spoken there on a night out (even ar ol gwydred neu ddau 
)! I’m not sure if it’s altered my accent but I’ve had a few people come up to me and ask “ti’n siarad cymraeg?” which has lead to a few embarrassing situations where I’ve just panickedly told people “I’ve just started learning welsh for about 3 months now!” (yn gymraeg) but every time they say “ooh wow well you sound good!” or “it’s good that you’re learning!” or equivalent. Sometimes I’ve even gone a bit further and kept talking - bits and pieces, but it feels really good, and it’s great to have the support.
I’ve also been trying to text my friend, who is first language, in welsh 90% of the time. I did ask him the other day whether he does this with his friends, but apparently it’s just me and his mam 
.
I’d ask him before starting to text his mam 
Ond it might be great practice.
I had an interesting Cwmtawe Welsh conversation today with my First Language friend about gardening. It turns out that when he was teaching, a bolt came loose from the gardeners strimmer, was flicked through the air, penetrated the classroom window and grazed his forehead.
Fair play, I’m gonna struggle to beat this one.
Bendigedig. Da iawn ti
I had a lovely one-to-one slack chat with Iona the other day, during which I realised that I could tell her yn Cymraeg that I have a daughter who is 27 and came home to stay for Easter! Real conversation 
Diolch Iona.
That’s the beginning of the most important stage of all - well done! 
Diolch 
That means a lot x
It’s not a tremendous breakthrough but it made me feel a bit better about my learning 
I’ve been listening to Radio Cymru most days after my practice and they have a feature where you need to guess the words from the description…no idea what it’s called but it’s a fun phone in.
Anyway, last week I was pleased because I was able to answer one or two of the descriptions for ‘yn yr ardd’ in the garden. Today I was able to answer nearly all the descriptions for blasau hufen iâ’ ice cream flavours. I even worked out caramel before the time ran out…ahhh little things 
Now, if only I could understand what is going on when they don’t give me a topic as a clue 
…he wasn’t busy yet as musicians don’t wake up before midday!
It seems like a lot of creative people are night owls, and don’t get up very early. Which must be why I have the habit of staying up until past midnight the vast majority of the time. (That reminds me, I really need to get some writing done on my fantasy stories soon. 
)
Yeah, on a couple occasions, I’ve been thinking, “How am I supposed to remember the entire sentence and try to translate it? It’s so long and… what was I doing again? ARGH…”
I’m only on the third practice session, yet I’m already familiar with those giant sentences. Though a fair share of the problem is that I’m struggling just to put together a handful of words, sometimes even when the sentences are simple. Dwi isio dysgu Cymraeg, achos dwi’n barod i fethu. 
(Actually, I find the mistake-making kind of annoying, though the nonsense I create can be amusing at times.)
The mistakes are gold dust - the mere fact that you notice them is a sign that your brain is busy encoding more information each time - the more you can love the mistakes, the faster you’ll go… 
Don’t sell yourself short - these are BIG, PROMISING signs - this is exactly how the journey goes - getting chunks when you have enough clues - and then eventually those chunks start to bleed into each other and form larger moments of understanding - so this is IMPORTANT stuff, and you should be VERY proud of yourself… 
I instigated my first conversation yn Cymraeg last week with my nurse in hospital. I noticed she was wearing a “Cymraeg” badge on her uniform, so off I went! I was surprisingly proud of myself that I managed a small conversation and although I didn’t understand everything she was saying, I got the gist! 
She also seemed surprised at how much I’d learnt in 7 weeks and said she was impressed, which gave me a big smile!
Had a wobble this week on challenges 13, 14 and 15, but hopefully pushing through now. Pob lwc everyone!
Totally normal!
Sorry, I’ve just seen this. That’s hilarious. Thank you Siaron. 
A conversation after 7 weeks? Try that with traditional classroom lessons! Imagine where you’ll be after 3 months, or 6 … or even a year. Wow!
As I was getting my stuff together and starting some painting (decorating type painting) today I put Radio Cymru on my wireless headphones…
…I turned on in the middle of Beti George talking with Dilyn Hughes from Cwmni Da.
It/ he was very interesting and in fact, a couple of minutes later - as I was painting - I thought - ‘oo what does that word mean again ?’…and I realised that I had been listening and understanding - in Welsh - without even thinking about it!
I have to say that he speaks very calmly and clearly - I caught about 30 mins or so - and he seemed to use vocabulary that I mostly knew - (very fortunate)…but I’d like to thank him most sincerely for that!
Whilst this is a lot about luck and isn’t generally true, caveat, caveat, etc., etc…,this still felt like a mini breakthrough.
One of these days…you never know…!
Rich
[quote=“rich, post:999, topic:6708”]
and I realised that I had been listening and understanding - in Welsh - without even thinking about it!
[/quote]eak
As I always say, that moment kinda creeps up on you, doesn’t it?! And it’s more than a mini breakthrough when it does, it’s a huge breakthrough!
I guess I ought to go and find it on catch-up and listen to it myself now!
Sometimes when my friend got exasperated with me, she would accidentally call me Emma. Emma is her dog. “What does this say about the relationship you have with your dog?”
I tried ordering tee shirts for my son from Cowbois. I explained to the lady I spoke to that I was learning Welsh and she was very patient and encouraged me to use as much as possible, including my fcredit card number. (She read it back in English to confirm it was right).So, a combination of SSIW and previous Welsh lessons!