When I am working through my challenges, I am finding that my brain is not quick enough to translate straight away. If I have the question written down in English then I know the translation. Any ideas on how to speed up my thoughts?
Many thanks Susan
This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but it’s probably the habit looking at your written sentence that is slowing you down.
Everyone has trouble translating quick enough to start with, especially on longer sentences where you can’t even remember what the sentence is, let alone translate it! But that’s normal - you can always use the pause button (but try not to start relying on it too heavily).
The SSiW method works on listening and speaking, and in order to develop these skills, sometimes it’s necessary to take seeing/reading out of the equation - something we’re all very un-used to doing, as it’s the way we’ve usually all been taught.
Don’t be afraid to have to slow down in order to speed up - and remember, you don’t have to get everything right because mistakes can be valuable learning tools!
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Thank you for that Siaron, that is very encouraging and now I know how to carry on. I am enjoying the course very much.
Cofion gorau
Susan
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Hi Susan, as a 69 year old just starting to learn welsh I have a similar problem, although my issue is that I have to repeat the English phrase to myself before translating it. I just can’t seem to translate directly from hearing the phrase spoken without repeating it first. This is quite frustrating but I hope that with practice I will be able to translate without pausing to repeat the phrase.
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Hello Les, I am so glad that someone has the same sort of problems that I have, I just thought my brain had passed it sell by date !! After Siaron’s reply to my post, I have stopped writing out all the sentences in English and am just listening, and now, I do seem to get the hang of it more. I am on Level 1 week 10 challenge 9. I am sure that I will get on better now.
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I hope that this helps -
My brain seems to be converting the form before translating. An example of what I mean is something like, it is changing “I have been speaking” into “I spoke” before translating. So my response will be technically incorrect, but no problem in an actual conversation.
I’m convinced that this is what is happening as I have been learning another SSi language and the same is happening. However, as we are taught to “embrace and enjoy our mistakes”, all is good, as we will not only be quickly learning the different tenses in Welsh, but also reminding ourselves of the English forms.
So don’t worry. Every little helps. 
Thank you, all these little tips are very helpful