Has anyone else had a complete crisis of confidence after having had to take a break of about a month. I’d completed the first set of lessons, not too many problems and also the first couple of the 2nd batch.
I seem to have complete brain fog.
My guess is that it’s not news to anyone. I have tried going back to midway in the first set and repeating, then I’m getting cross at myself for forgetting the simple things.
Strategies for moving forward would be welcome.
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First - congratulations on getting to the ed of the first set of lessons! That takes a lot of work and commitment, and shows that you can do this!
I am sure that your experience is not far off universal to different degrees, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating, does it? I know when I don’t speak French for a while, I suddenly find myself struggling for the most basic of sentences, and make a right fool of myself. But by now I’m so used to it that I just roll with it and wait for everything to come back.
Because you’ve learnt exceptionally fast, you’re going to lack the experience that will lead you to accepting these things (you will get used to total brain fog at the most inconvenient times - it’s part and parcel of learning a new language, I’m afraid!). You then get angry at yourself because you really should be able to say all this stuff, and that feeds into a vicious circle of frustration, pressure, and not being able to say what you know you should be able to.
Am I somewhere close to your experience?
If so, the really, you need to relax, and make sure that you’re not criticising yourself for little mistakes / memory lapses. If you really have forgotten all the stuff you’ve learnt, then that’s a problem, but you’ve almost definitely just forgotten one or two key points - a word here, a word order there - that is throwing you off completely. If you really look for stuff you are doing ‘wrong’, you’ll find loads, whether that’s in your Welsh or in your English. But look for what you do remember, what you are getting right, and what is working, and I bet you’ll find loads there as well!
I hope that’s a bit of help, although it’s not actually a strategy as such. hopefully someone who’s experienced what you are finding (there will be plenty of people who have!) will come in and give you more concrete advice.
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Summed up pretty well Iestyn, diolch yn fawr am dy anfon. Back on track yn y bore ma.
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Sounds pretty much like my “but I could do this yesterday and I thought I was getting better” days, weeks…I think part of the problem is the break makes you hyper aware of mistakes rather than focusing on things you can do now but didn’t know yesterday. If you know what I mean. I’m going through one of those this week too! Sometimes it’s because I’ve been working at something else (listening) rather than speaking so I’ve been doing short chunks and stopping when I start getting frustrated. Also replacing SSiW with Welsh music helps calm the critical beast and I can fool myself into thinking it’s work too!
The main thing is don’t despair it’s very normal.
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Thanks, that’s reassuring . I’ve been listening to Radio Cymru and have discovered quite a bit of Welsh music on Deezer. I’m hoping that that it will help with some brain retuning.
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@evans-louiseh Welcome to the real world 
! Your experience sounds normal to me. From what you’ve written, it seems that you’ve started to learn Welsh relatively recently. You’ve already done some lessons, which deserve a big CONGRATULATIONS anyway.
There seems to be a consensus that people have both short-term and long-term memories. You’ve taken a month’s break. I would suggest that perhaps a lot of what you’ve learnt was in your short-term memory only, and so it seems to you that you’ve forgotten a lot. But there’s probably more in your long-term memory that you don’t even realise. The fact that you’re back on track suggests that this is indeed the case. A month is a long time to take a break at a new thing and maybe the answer was to just go back quickly over the first set of lessons, although you yourself said that things seem to be on track now.
I’m no psychologist, but your experience does seem perfectly normal. Keep at it and you’ll get there - pob lwc (good luck)!
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Hi Louise, I don’t have the kind of practical tips that fellow learners can give you from their own personal experiences, but just to let you know that I’m here if you think there’s anything I could help you with. I think you’ve done brilliantly well, and from what other learners tell me, plateaus are pretty normal. Dal ati, ti’n gneud yn wych 
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Thank you. Diolch
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Diolch Beca. O’n i’n teimlo fel y pwdin, ddoe. 
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Awww… 
I too am suffering from crisis of confidentce, completed level one, started level two but lots of personal stuff happens and have to put off a few times. Supposed to be on level 15 and 16 level two but feel I may have forgotten anything I might have known.
Not sure whether to plod on or go back to maybe level 15 onwards level one just to boast confidence. Do have quite a good vocab of welsh words but somehow cant make sentences easily and totally dry up if anyone speaks to me in welsh.
Any advice appreciated.
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This is absolutely normal, so please don’t worry about it - if you feel it will make you happier to go back, that’s fine, as long as you don’t get stuck on aiming for perfection… are you doing your listening exercises regularly? If you are, the only other thing it sounds as though you need to add is some time where you stay in Welsh only, to start to force your brain to build sentences a bit faster - I’d recommend starting with 5 minutes in Welsh only with just 1 other person, and trying to build up to doing one 5 minute session every day - and then gradually extending the time so that once a week you keep going for 10 minutes, then 15 and so on… that’s the structure that will kick your brain into using what it’s been learning… 
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I have experienced a similar problem. I recently took a two week holiday in Germany so had to sideline some of the time I was spending learning Welsh {with SSiW and Duolingo} so I could brush up on my German. I feel I was flying before going away, I was flying through the weekly lessons at a very satisfying rate and doing most of the additional activity (although Sound cloud seems impenetrable to this day). Since returning from my holiday I’ve found it necessary to temporarily pause my learning. I reached level 1 Challenge 10 and even found the double speed listening exercise 2 not too difficult but I’m struggling with part of Challenge 11 and decided to try to move on to challenge 12 but that was a big mistake. I think it’s going to take me a few weeks to recover the situation but whilst that’s frustrating I think we need to do what works for us because I’d hate to put myself under so much psychological pressure that I lose interest and quit. Learning this language to a point at which I can have some basic conversations is an important goal for me. I think you should do what works for you. There’s a big support network we can call upon in this forum.
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Your vocabulary is brilliant, and I think you’re doing better than you realize. I’m here anytime you want to run through any of Aran’s excellent suggestions either on slack or face to face. So just ask me. I’m no great shakes but I’m happy to help if I can.
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Diolch Catrin
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Diolch Caz .
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Hi, Your experience is very very familiar to me.
For me it is the first week of 2020 and also the first week after 6 weeks of forced break (december was crazy). I am rushing through the backlog (weeks 20 and week 21 just signed off yesterday and today), and feeling “frusturated”. And so, diolch yn fawr for this opportunity to lament and mope in a reply 
I havent started talking to other people yet, havent been looking for a welsh speaking partner either tbh. There’s one or two people i might ask. I suppose there is only going forward, and leave the self-loathing at the door whilst doing the exercises. I have found putting the laptop at 3 paces keeps me from stopping and rewinding. It is excruciating Keep at it - i wont give up if you dont 
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