I do recognise this actually… aw aren’t those boys gorgeous! Seven years ago… they’re probably all married with kids now! Or not. Bless em.
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OK this may seem a bit irrelevant, but I have been feeling very depressed today, and now listening to Only Boys aloud singing in Welsh has lifted my depresson off me… thank you for talking about Calon Lan… now I know the cure for my blues… wahoo! I was listening to a Welsh version of merry christmas , just beautiful
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I didn’t watch it, but they would have sung the latter, for sure. Not too difficult to learn the 1st verse and chorus.
I found this version quite good for learning the words:
English translation on the screen, Welsh in the notes beneath, and he speaks the words clearly.
There are versions with the music, but often the words aren’t as clear.
The tune isn’t difficult once you’ve heard it a few times.
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whatever they sung, they won, so it obviously works!!! Cymru am byth!
Another version on the same channel, this time with the tune plus Welsh words on the screen.
So you have a chance to either sing or speak them, accompanied by the tune, but not drowned out by other singers. 
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Last one: Welsh words on screen, and spoken, so you learn the sound with the written version:
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I’m absolutely delighted that this rendering of Calon Lan has had such an uplifting effect on you as it always does on me. My cousin’s grandson has sung with Only Boys Aloud on other occasions. When his mum christened him “Aran”, I knew he was destined for greatness. Here he is (circled in red) singing with OBA in my home town Ebbw Vale / Glynebwy,
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ahhh there’s lovely for you. To be honest, listening to them sing made me proud to be Welsh even though I’m English… that’s a transformational effect if ever I heard one! Bless you, keep flying the dragon and happy Dydd Dewi San. 
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oh ps I like the hat tipping to Aran. Aran is a really nice name anyway, I’m not just saying that to curry favour, honest… no I have always liked the name.
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Me too…it’s got a nice weave to it…bringing our people closer together-like. Now there’s lovely indeed 
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On a high note from myself, after Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant gwasanaeth (the Saint David’s Day service) I might have just off the cuff said to a visiting lad from Caernarfon that I heard him speaking Cymraeg (statement) and where in Cymryu do you come from? He answered me yn Cmyraeg without hesitation before I had to answer saying that I was Gwyddeleg and had only been learning for 4 weeks. We dropped into pidgin (mostly Saes) but he did compliment us (my lovely Cymraes had joined us) on our efforts and wished us well.
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what a beautiful picture! Where’s that from? Not Ebbw Vale is it? :} or is it the isle of Aran???
Now there’s a hint. No-one knows if it is a particular family from Aran or not, but that obscure Book of Kells itself has traveled…
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I had a feeling it was the book of Kells. I don’t know a huge amount about that but I recognised the rather wonderful artwork
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Hi Frances,
I’m sorry you had a bad time on the course, sounds like it was awful and I can understand you feeling put off. Please be assured that not all the courses/tutors are like that but I also like the SSiW setup of being able to do it in your own time and working with people online.
A few years back I did the level 1 (Cwrs Mynediad) Welsh for Adults course (well I did about half of it as life got in the way) but I still have all the course work which definitely has a section on grammar as well as a pronunciation guide, a section on mutations, a bit on yes and no in Welsh and a vocabulary/dictionary bit at the back (which notes the feminine words), I would have to scan the sections to PDF but I would be more than happy to share this with you if you think it would help. There are also CD’s which I ripped to MP3 but I don’t know that I would be able to share those easily (file sizes might get a bit on the large size), as well as the weekly units (60 of them) although I’m not sure they would be that helpful without the MP3’s.
However, I can scan and upload the sections I mentioned above today/tomorrow and post a link if you think it would help?
If you are looking for something a little less complex/detailed than that I have a scan of the Welsh in Your Pocket leaflet which covers some of the basics including mutations (I actually think this is a much better one when it comes to mutations, I think the less complicated you make them the better):
You can actually buy these on Amazon, they come in a plastic wallet and they are about credit card sized when folded up so handy to keep on you if you are out and about. They gave them out free at one of the Eisteddfodau recently so don’t know if you could get one by popping along to the next one but they aren’t particularly expensive and you can always save and print the ones I’ve linked above 
)
When I did the course the tutor advised us to think of a Welsh place name beginning with all the letters that mutate (B, C, D, G, Ll, M, P, Rh & T) which we would find it easy to remember, for example, I grew up in a place called Brynamman and then I lived in a village called Cwmgors for a while and I also lived in a place called Pontardawe so I easily remember those places and then it’s just a matter of remembering how those names mutate (or memorising the mutation table from the Welsh in Your Pocket leaflet ), obviously the places that are more meaningful for you will be different, they might be bigger towns/cities as I believe you are based in Somerset? I don’t know if you have lived in Wales or not but I’m sure you can come up with places you find it easy to remember for you
I’m like you, I like to understand the background and the ‘why/how’ of a thing that I’m learning although I have the benefit of having been raised Welsh speaking, until I was 9 and then I gradually lost the language over the following decade but I obviously remember a lot of stuff too (my pronunciation isn’t too bad for example ;), sometimes though, I think this can be more frustrating than coming at it fresh as I sometimes recognise things in Welsh but I struggle to remember them in the other direction, I am going to give SSiW a good go and see if their way works better for me than the more traditional language learning methods you get on courses etc. I’m hoping this way of just speed programming my brain will work better for me I don’t want people to think I am coming here and suggesting other courses or anything, I’m not! I just thought I might be able to help you with some extra stuff that might satisfy your desire to learn the more detailed stuff like grammar etc.
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So much generosity and resourcefulness in this community! The effort taken to share materials is appreciated years on by those who find them later too!
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You’re post reminded me of something but I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time but I have since remembered… the BBC’s Learn Welsh department published a book called: Grammar Guide specifically for learners, ISBN: 9780862437305, if you want a more in depth approach
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Sarah
Sorry it took me a while to reply to your kind offers. I really appreciate the materials you have shared. I would like to save you the time of scanning in a lot of course materials for me, unless you wanted to do it for others as well, as currently I have quite a lot of stuff already to work through. I bought a handy little book when in Swansea recently that covers a lot of the basics, not grammar, but how to say handy things! The little bit of stuff you’ve shared is very nice, thank you. Diolch yn fawr. Frances
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Ok Sean-O point taken and a good point it is too
I didn’t reply straight away as I was aware that if I am posting for people in the future (potentially years from now) the links would need to be available and working forever to all intents and purposes. While one or two PDF’s and JPG’s are easy for me to keep permanently in my Google Drive or on my website hosting, the whole course might be more of a problem particularly if I need to free up space for something else, I’m a natural problem solver though and I’ve been giving it some thought in the back of my mind and I decided that the solution is to create a new Google account just for this and to pop them in the Drive for that, I can pretty much forget about them then and they should work as long as Google is around
I will start scanning them today, hopefully the files for grammar and pronunciation etc. won’t take long at all and I can post them in the next few days I share the printer/scanner with other people at home so I have to use it when they aren’t (I also have to use someone else’s computer for scanning the scanner is next to this computer in the office, where as my computer is in my bedroom and I don’t fancy running back and fore turning pages over etc. so I have to work around others but I will start on it today, will be a good opportunity for me to listen to my SSiW lessons at the same time ).
I already have some of the Units scanned (I like to have scanned backups of my paperwork and stuff like this generally, I find it easier to find on my PC and it’s reassuring to know you have a backup copy should something happen to the hard copy) although I think I may have stopped when I stopped attending the course, so that might take me a little longer to work though.
I do have all the MP3’s of course and I even have some nice backups of smart playlists which can be imported to iTunes for those who use Apple devices.
Once I’ve finished scanning and uploading I’ll update this post, perhaps I will post a new thread with the links as well… I’m not sure future people searching for resources will necessarily check all the way through this thread so a dedicated ‘resources’ thread might be a good idea… unless there is one already (I’ll check before posting )
But rest assured I will get on this now, as I said I like to have stuff backed up anyway so it isn’t really extra work, just means I must stop putting it off/procrastinating
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