Ok so I’m probably being stupid here but I recently came back to learning Welsh with this course and found some changes I’m confused about. I haven’t been on for a couple of years and now I see these ‘Challenges’ up front which seem to have taken the place of the Course 1 stuff which is now listed under ‘Old material.’
What is this about? I’m worried as I have been using the old lessons which were still on my Ipod and now I wonder are they outdated/ wrong? Which should I use?
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Welcome back. There isn’t anything wrong with course one it’s just that the challenges are the newer improved version. If you’ve had a gap in your learning maybe start with the challenges or I’m guessing carry on until you finish course one then head over to the challenges. I’m sure someone will be along soon who can explain better than me.
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Simply put, there are two versions of the course. Both are good; neither is “outdated” or “wrong”, it’s just that they teach slightly different things in a slightly different order. There is material in Level 1 that wasn’t introduced until Course 3, for example (the short forms of verbs), while there’s some material introduced in Level 3 that was in Course 1. For newcomers, I typically recommend doing the newer course followed by the older course (though as more of the material in the older course finds its way into the newer course, that’ll be less relevant), while for people who’ve already started and are enjoying the older course, I tend to recommend they stick with the course they’re doing for now, and move onto the newer one later. Having done both, I’ve found both useful.
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If its been a few years, then it would be interesting for you to try the old material again and see how much has stayed with you, but the best way forward is a personal decision.
The new material is better arranged and is generally easier to follow for the beginner (because it incorporates a whole load of lessons regarding the method that we have learnt along the way).
However, because you have learnt some Welsh already, there is a possible psychological privce to pay, in that a) going back to “lesson” (ie challenge) 1 may make you fee; that you’ve gone backwards, and the different order of the material may mean that you have learnt one pattern, but that we are using another. If you decide to try level 1 and find that it is confusing, or that you are getting annoyed with stuff being different, then you may be better sticking with the courses.
If you made quite a bit of progress through the courses, then you may be better off staying with the courses for a bit at least, to make sure that your confidence and feel for the language is preserved. You can always swap to the levels later (in fact I’d recommend that you do “the other” course once you’ve competed whichever course you follow first)
However, if you only made it through the first few lessons, I would definitely recommend that you start with the levels/challenges now. Please do remember though that there will be some patterns that are different. Don;t let this worry you, even if you use the “wrong” pattern in replies during level 1. You are learning flexibility and variations - I can guarantee that I would use lots of “the wrong” patterns if I were doing the lessons, because I have a wider range of Welsh than the courses allow for. You would have that in common with a natural; speaker!
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thanks all, think I’ll stick with the old course for now as advised, since I’m up to Lesson 8 of the old course already and have done several more beyond that in the past, and seem to be getting on well with it.
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That’s great! If you’re getting on well with it, then there’s no need to try something different - and if you are at lesson 8, you are certainly moving on with it. Da iawn ti!
A lot of people find it fun to start mixing courses at some stage, or to get to the end of a course (ie 1 or 2) then move over to the levels, and you will find that the courses can get a bit boggy in one or two places because we were “learning as we went” with them, but there is nothing wrong with the language you are learning, so as long as you;re moving on, keep moving on.
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I did Course 1 followed by Level 1 and learned new things from each. I’m happy with my choice.
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Is the vocabulary list still available for the South Welsh old material? The vocabulary list that shows up under old material is the new list… or I assume so, as I don’t recognize many of the words!
Mmmm… odd, looks okay to me… which lesson are you on? 
Okay, now I’m a bit embarrassed, but at least you’ll know I’m paying much more attention to the spoken Welsh. I didn’t recognize certain words because they were spelled differently than I expected. I’m on lesson 10 now.
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Don’t be embarrassed - that’s a brilliant sign that you’re doing it perfectly! 
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Right now, Aran, it is incredibly nice to hear I’ve done something right! I’ve gotten through the first 10 lessons in the old version. Now I’m going to go back and do the lessons in the new version, too. I know I’ll pick up new words. As always, thank you for offering these lessons! Diolch!
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Thank you for your very kind words! And yes, you’re definitely doing loads of good stuff to have manage to get through so many lessons - don’t worry about the lack of control, that’s all part of the methodology… Hang on in there and keep us posted!
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I’ve not been up to using a screen, so thought I’d start the older challenges. I thought it would be good for me. It’s so much harder without the text, I’m trying to say the sentence in time, I should be able to as it’s very familiar phrases, but boy am I struggling.
I will keep trying.
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It is harder without the text, but it’s very valuable to get used to the extra difficulty - when even familiar things feel harder, you know you’re doing the work which will help you get into conversations 
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