Decided to come out of lurker mode to talk about this.
I’m a semi-regular reader of the Cymru subreddit, it’s a bit inactive but there are people there. About 2 months ago this was posted and stickied http://www.reddit.com/r/cymru/comments/23e2vk/cwrs_cymraeg_ar_duolingo/ and at the time I didn’t use Duo or really know what it was, I’ve since started using it for French and I’ve learned quite a bit from it so I can vouch for its effectiveness.
The Duolingo incubator is open for any and all languages, provided there are dedicated fluent speakers there to build it from the ground up, from what I gather the OP is the only one who has applied to Duo so far (I could be wrong though) and so far there doesn’t seem to have been a response, I think if we could get a few fluent speakers from here to apply as contributors we could get the requests noticed and thus get this course off the ground, I understand if the mods want to focus on finishing this course before moving onto Duolingo but I’m sure we could get some other fluent speakers to lend a hand in making this a reality.
Here’s a link to the incubator if anyone’s interested in helping out: http://incubator.duolingo.com/ I’d apply myself but I can hardly string a sentence together in Welsh, let alone passionately explain why I want this to become a course, and then translate it to English.
Sorry if this has been brought up before, it doesn’t seem to show up on the forum search and I wasn’t around when the old forum was here so I wouldn’t know if it had been mentioned there.
Heya! I think I wrote a post about the duolingo incubator on the old forum but like you have the problem of not being fluent enough to be a contributor. Will be interesting to see what happens with this…
Shwmae pawb, I am finding Duolingo interesting from the point of view, it is keeping me up to date with my French. I am also using it to back up the Spanish I’m learning with Aran and SSIS. Not only that, but I’m trying out the Italian as well!
Now then, I’ve been wondering when if at all someone would get the Welsh language on to Duolingo. Could it fit into the pattern of these languages I’ve mentioned, I wonder. Someone please have a try!
Thomas: I understand if the mods want to focus on finishing this course before moving onto Duolingo
I’ve been using Duolingo to scrape the rust off of my schoolboy German, and it has been great for that, but if there were a “Say Something in German” I would start it today. If for some reason I could not do both Duolingo and SSiGerman at the same time, I’d leave Duolingo in the dust in a heartbeat. Aran and our other friends at SSi international are really onto something unique and innovative and I certainly hope they stay where they are making more materials.
That said, if there were a Duolingo Welsh course, I’d probably do it. My reading of the duolingo forums suggest that it will not happen soon, if at all. But much probably depends on the success of the Irish course, which is about to graduate to beta status this week or next.
I have been using Duolingo too to brush up my schoolboy German - but I too would dearly love to see a SaySomethinginGerman. SSi has an approach of incomparable quality for learning to converse - in my opinion, anyway.
So I’ll see you at SSiG the moment it happens. Till then … ich spreche bitte Deutsch,
[quote=“JustinandEirwen, post:6, topic:499”]
ich spreche bitte Deutsch, [/quote]
???
Ich spreche “bitte” Deutsch.
Sorry, no offence meant, @JustinandEirwen but what should this supposed to mean? I mean, I understood perfectly what you’ve written but am not sure if this is what you did actually try to tell us.
One more candidate to “fix” what’s forgotten in terms of speaking/writing/reading Deutsch. I forgot many things on German side also …
You have saved me from a lifetime of humiliation. Ever since I mistakenly copied what I thought I heard a teacher say when I was about 14 years old I have been making a ‘‘bisschen’’ fool of myself.
Worse - whenever I met a German I repeated this mangled phrase and when they smiled I thought they were admiring my fluency.
Now I realize they were smiling because they thought I was a half-wit. Eirwen is smirking at this moment and I read into that look that she thinks they may have been spot on recognising a fool.
Ah, Justin. You know from Cymraeg … Paid becso! They understood you’re still learning a language and that you want to appear as much fluent as possible. Probably they were a bit amused with how you used the language, but still. It would maybe be better if one would mind that much to correct you though the way you wouldn’t feel bad or that you wouldn’t think you appeared a fool.
But you know … we often more appear fools to ourselves then to those who potentially noticed our mistakes so … calm down. Nothing drastically bad happened yet. I’m convinced you’re doing just fine.
But if it seams to you I’ve still saved you from whatever … then thanky you. I’m glad I could be of any assistence.
Es kommt darauf an. It depends how you are using it. But it looks like “ein bisschen Deutsch”, wie Justin geschrieben hat, ist OK.
BTW, for any potential or actual learners of German, dict.cc online dictionary and translation forum is a wonderful resource. Lots of sound samples. It supports other languages besides English<>German, but I think that pairing is the best supported.
I think the course is progressing rapidly, but not quite as fast as Duolingo is reporting. The Facebook group that was involved in starting the course recently reported it was actually at 40% completion and a previous post indicating a January/February release, https://www.facebook.com/groups/welshduolingo/ which is still very quick progress in comparison to other course that have been in the incubator for far longer
