I am on challenge 22 level 1. I find I’m doing stupid mistakes, like leaving isio, or angen out of the sentences, etc. I have been shielding for 6 months lasy year, and now again till march. I’m not sure if it’s that affecting me, as I can’t practice my Welsh with local people, due to shielding, (many do not speak it here anyway), or if it happens anyway in the process. I have a zoom meeting once a week with another learner, that helps, and I’ve been on the Wednesday Q&A, and the speaking practice after, but I’ve lost my confidence to go to the speaking practice only. Anyone else experienced this? I’d be grateful for some advice, as although I look confidant, I’m not.
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Don’t be hard on yourself Irena - things like that are just bumps in the road, and although they can be discouraging, they don’t have to end the journey. The fact you are still talking with another learner is great, and a sign that you can still do it, even if your brain is telling you you are lacking in confidence! I’m afraid the only way to build confidence is to jump in and keep doing the thing you think you haven’t got the confidence to do. Mistakes are good learning tools - especially when you can recognise them, so don’t be worried or embarrassed about making them with others.
I’ll be honest with you - I speak Welsh as a second language now, but even so I come across situations that I don’t feel confident in even if I might look like I am, but avoiding those situations (whilst sometimes being impossible to avoid anyway) would, I know, do me more harm than good.
Look at how far you’ve come since challenge 1 - the path might get steeper here on in, but the view is worth it! Dal ati!
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Diolch yn fawr Siaron, for taking the time to reply, and with such encouraging words, I really appreciate it. I will try my best to go to the speaking practices. Your encouragement and kindness has helped me a lot, so thank you so much.
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Don’t worry. Learning Welsh is a journey and we all have periods when things seem to be getting worse. Having reduced oppurtunities to speak due to Lockdown doesn’t help and that will affect both your confidence and slow down learning, but it doesn’t stop you learning.
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You could be talking about me! I have a memory like a sieve at the moment. I bet you remember far more than you think you do.
Keep on going.
Sending lots of encouragement and empathy,
Best wishes,
Mary-Ann
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@mary-ann-nossent thank you so much for your encouragement, and kind words, it’s a relief to know I’m not on my own! I’ll definitely keep on going, but I felt like I was sinking, I’m going back on the practice sessions on Wednesday now, diolch yn fawr. I really appreciate your support
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@Y_Ddraig_Las, Diolch yn fawr, for you kind words of support, it really means more than you know. I’m going to go on the practice sessions again. Diolch I ti hwyl
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I want to thank you all again for your support, pob lwc evo dy dysgu cymraeg.
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pob lwc
Irena, you are doing brilliantly.
Keep at it.
If it helps, I use to be in the same situation. What I did was go back three lessons and get my confidence using the words and be familiar with them so when I got back to the lesson where i had trouble remembering/saying/understanding, it would be a lot easier me to digest it.
Other times I would just play the challenge and listen. They would be no pressure on myself and would just enjoy it.
You are doing very well.
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Yep I have fallen way way behind, I have two children in Welsh medium schools who are now home schooling and working full time from home for nearly a year ssiw has been very much on the back burner all I ever seen to keep saying is …wyt ti’n barod… A answer cysgu
Irena, don’t worry you’re not the only one, I’m on lev2 ch6 and I still regularly forget to put in the odd simple word ! I have not been able to get out and try speaking Welsh in the “real world” yet because of lockdowns etc, or had time to do the zoom meetings etc, so you are probably doing better than me in that respect. Keep at it, and use the forum and slack for support, they both help me
@bryn-jones, hello Bryn, thank you for taking the time to reply, it means a lot. I felt I was going backwards… it’s difficult isn’t it trying to get out in the wild so to speak, to practice our Welsh? so I can empathise with you there. I went on a q and a yesterday, but I made a silly mistake and felt terrible at the time. I’m a bit anxious about the speaking practice now too, but I’ll give it a go. I wish you good luck with your Welsh, I’m sure you’re doing better than you think. Diolch. Hwyl.
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Hi Irena, as others have said in their comments, it’s s journey and bumps just happens!
I live in Italy so I cannot practice locally and not knowing when I have the chance to travel again to Wales safely my motivation has definitely fallen down!
I know there’s plenty of online meeting, but I just didn’t feel like doing that either - except about once every two months or so in the past year.
But for me the main thing is about keeping learning Welsh being enjoyable like it had been since the beginning
. Of course it takes an effort, but when it becomes filled with anxiety, feeling guilty for not doing enough or not doing what ai should, I think it’s not going to do any good in the long run!
So I just take it easy, listen to songs I enjoy, sometimes watch S4C, read a chapter of a book, do a Duolingo lesson, read this forum or learner’s groups on Facebook and make sure to keep in touch with the language and in a positive mood towards it.
But I still want to learn to speak well, so I’m sure sooner or later I will and I’m sure you can too! 
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I’m 100% sure we are both doing better than we think, a few weeks ago I felt like jacking it in as I was feeling like it wasn’t sinking in ,but I post on slack ot read other people’s posts and I always get support and realise we all go through these times. I tend to do each challenge twice then move on, so keep at it 
Diolch, Bryn, I was like you, I felt like throwing in the towel, but the support is very good, and it got me through. It’s just downheartening when I get it wrong, or forget, but that’s all about learning I suppose. I think maybe we are too hard on ourselves. Are you shielding too? I am , and it has affected how I feel at the moment, hopefully it’ll be better soon. 
good luck, keep at it, let me know how you get on.
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My lockdown experience has been wonderful because so many Welsh language providers have put weekly, Saturday and weekend courses on line mainly Zoom - plus there are so many chat groups all over Wales as well, mainly on Zoom. Go to DysguCymraeg. The short courses are either free or they are between £5 and £15 (Abertawe 5 days). You could chat in Welsh every day if you want to, and people from all over Britain and even much further afield are taking advantage of this golden opportunity. This is the silver lining that’s come out of the pandemic. Grab it while you can. All these courses - incl Duolingo and SSiW supplement each other. I’ve met lots of happy SSiWers in the Zoom groups.
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Hi Irena,
I did Level 1 and 2 last year, and has a weekly speaking practice with another learner. It was going fairly well (although I had zero confidence in speaking) and then I lost my job in March and lost all interest. I have started Duolingo in the meantime for writing practice, but want to start speaking again, so if you would like to have a speaking partner then I’d definitely be up for that. Although I did do a little bit of speaking, I definitely have my L plates on so please don’t worry, we can bumble along together 
I set aside half an hour a week (and we would have a phone conversation where I would write notes on what I wanted to say and would have Google Translate open just in case I needed it or we have conflicting ideas on what something should be.
We have 11 months to tell ourselves that we can be fluent speakers by Christmas! If you would like to have a chat each week then do let me know as it would help both of us. I am now back on Level 1 lesson 6 and am trying to going through one a day.
You CAN do this, we can ALL do this. There will be hurdles, there will be times we don’t want to and that’s OK. Leave it for a few days but come back to it refreshed and motivated.
@dylan-jones, hello Dylan, I’m so sorry that you lost your job. These are difficult times. Good for you coming back to your Welsh, it takes a lot not to just walk away and give up. That would be great thank you, very helpful for both of us. We will bumble along together , but I’m sure we’re both better than we think. do you do zoom at all? Hwyl
@varada-gottanama, well done to you for writing on here for the first time, and replying to me. I also always use the pause button, because if I don’t when Catrin starts to talk before me it puts me off what I was saying, I found that I learn better that way, as my mind doesn’t then go into panic. I only pause it for a second or two, any longer and I let it go. I too am too anxious for the speaking practice, I’ve done a couple of Q and A but my confidence is nil, although they are absolutely lovely in there, I find I can’t face it. If ever you want to chat in Welsh, then please let me know, perhaps a one to one would be better. Pop lwc, keep on, you’re doing better than you think.
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