I’ve just emailed ffrinDiaith users - so with luck this thread will be an unnecessary extra - but…
There are some questions about the future of ffrinDiaith - not surprising, since the whole of Welsh for Adults is pretty much up in the air at the moment, what with all the restructuring…
So - now would be a very good time for you to let us know your stories (good or bad) about ffrinDiaith - either by answering in detail in this thread, or by emailing me at admin@saysomethingin.com - the amount of feedback we do or don’t get is likely to make a real difference to the future of the project…
@louis - I know you’ve suffered a lot because of ffrinDiaith, so I’m looking at you to share with us all…
I signed up to ffrinDiaith when it first appeared a couple of years ago, as it seemed like an excellent idea for a learner like myself who is not living in Wales. Although I visit Wales quite frequently, the opportunities for f2f contact are limited. I contacted one woman but she said she wouldn’t feel comfortable communicating online. No-one else has contacted me since. I have two queries: a) to what extent is it about meeting f2f, speaking via the phone or speaking via email, Skype or through some other social media. Not sure how clear this is in the blurb.
Perhaps the lack of contact is my own fault, since I’ve not been more pro-active. If there was any possibility of having a mentor and/or someone to speak Welsh with regularly (particularly if they were about my level of language learning) it would be really useful. You have reminded me to checkout the programme once again - thanks! Jan
What’s your level? I’ve had exactly the same problem - I want to talk via Skype or Facetime but it’s hard to find people who are happy to do that. Maybe we could chat to each other?
I’ve finished Course 3 and also (sort of) finished the Sylfaen Course. Currently doing the Pellach revision course. I hardly ever see anyone to talk to, and would love to practice speaking more often.
Isata
I haven’t been very successful myself - but I believe that ffrindiaith is a good idea if you can meet up with someone compatible. The first person I contacted was into sports and drinking which are not me at all, but he did reply and we understood why we weren’t compatible. The second person hasn’t replied and I haven’t contacted anyone else and there are no details expect name and I don’t like contacting someone blind. The scheme should continue but maybe some revision and a little bit more information supplied.
Hi,
A a Welsh learner I believe that having an opportunity to converse with someone who is fluent in Welsh or learning Welsh is paramount. Your FfrinDaith is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, although I signed up to ffrinDiaith I have not been able to find anyone near to where I live, Anglesey who is available to converse in Welsh with me on a regular basis. A mentor would be fantastic but I imagine that mentor’s may not want this type of commitment without significant remuneration. When I have contacted people through ffrinDaith most people have failed to respond and one person met me but was unable to meet me again due to other commitments.
I have completed Pellach and am completing UWCH at Bangor University. Perhaps you could contact the University to ask them if learners would also like to join ffrinDaith or you might put an advert in local newspapers or other media promoting SSIW and ffrinDaith. I use both the university and have also learned a lot from your first course - Thank you for your help.
Marilyn Hughes
I’ve attempted to contact a couple of people through ffrinDiaith. One never responded, the other said he’d be happy to help me somtime around September (this was in June, I think), but has yet to contact me again.
I did find it a little disconcerting that many people don’t have descriptions about themselve, so you are in effect contacting them blind.
I was at the introduction of ffrinDiaith during the Dinbych Eisteddfod, and remember thinking that this was a fantastic plan - but that it probably did not apply to me because I don’t live in a Welsh speaking community, in other words that there would be more deserving people who could participate. I mumbled as much into the microphone of the interview team that was waiting at the end of the ffrinDiaith announcement.
I did register, expecting not much of it for a while. But then Aran made the very generous and kind offer that he become my ffrinDiaith buddy. It would mean weekly-ish Skype chats, on average it has worked out to be fortnightly or less, I think.
Have I suffered, as Aran says? No way, a few nervous moments because of tiredness, due to time differences and Aran speaking purposely very fast (I think )
Has it benefited me? You bet, my recent trip through Wales was, thanks for a great extent to ffrinDiaith, full of Welsh conversation with all and sundry, without anyone commenting on my Welsh except the lady from Merched y Wawr suggesting I enter Dysgwr y Flwyddyn and two shop girls in Caerdydd challenging me and then in a fit of giggles admitting that I spoke way more than they did
What do I think is important? Regular and fixed dates and times, and duration, but with flexibility. The medium - Skype, face-to-face, etc - in my experience is less so,
Being pro-active, as mentioned earlier in the thread, is also important, ffrinDiaith is a dialog, and both mentor and mentee have their own lives to lead as well, and either party will need reminding/prodding from time to time.
In summary, ffrinDiaith is great, and I hope it continues and expandsf
I finally got round to trying this last year and made contact with a lovely lady in Cardiff. We had several long chats over Skype, which were incredibly helpful and great fun, (Well, for me anyway!) And once she prompted me to take my kids to the Eisteddfod yr Urdd the following day, which we enjoyed immensely.
It did peter out in the end, as although she was clearly an enthusiast in principle, she had recently returned to work after having a baby, and was obviously even more busy and stressed than I was! After making it very clear how much I appreciated it, I didn’t contact her unless she offered as I was feeling all too aware of the inequality of the situation!
For the matter in fact, you managed to post a reply to yourself. However I’ve understood you prefectly clear that you’re replying to @janjones_1 so I believe there’s no worries …
Hmmm … this shoudl be some guidance to me for tomorrow …
Ah, and I always thought ffrinDiaith is something what condition to sign in is to actually live in Wales. Now I at least have some more horizons cleared for this matter. .
I responded to this original request but as it doesn’t appear here I probably pressed the wrong button or something!! My note referred to the lack of response I had received over several months of trying to find a partner. I wrote to more than six members, sometimes with a follow up request, but received only one reply. Given that the members volunteer their services I found it difficult to understand that they would not at least acknowledge a request even though they may not wish to pursue it. A possible explanation has now occurred to me that the requests are probably forwarded to the member’s SSIW in-box, rather than their own personal e-mail address. If this is the case the recipients would not be aware of the requests unless they regularly opened the ffrinDiaith web page to check for e-mails. I do not imagine that the ‘teacher’ members would have the need regularly to visit the members page other than (hopefully|) they were themselves seeking pupils!
johngwilym
Nope, it was set up to send reminders to personal account. I can only imagine that people might have been a little overwhelmed with requests - the project never got the numbers of Welsh speakers that we’d hoped for, I’m afraid…
Many thanks. If this is the explanation it is a shame that the individuals concerned did not just check the ‘Make me unavailable’ option on the web page!
I’ve looked at the ffrinDiaith site a few times but here are some reasons I’ve not yet signed up
How much of my location data is given out to others? There are people with bad intentions who target people they know have children to scrape up an acquaintance to groom children or other vulnerable people etc, and people need to be cautious about giving out location data on the internet for good reasons. Can you explain if/how people’s details are kept reasonably secure?
What happens, how does the site work inside? I have seen accounts here on the forum of people being shown a map with flags or similar. It would help if there was a talk through to click on about what exactly the site provides before needing to sign up.
Is it intending just for people in Wales or is it anywhere? It’s not clear to me from the frontpage.
Offering these in the spirit of ‘this is what has stopped me, and hence might be things which have stopped others signing up’, I hope they are helpful if any improvements or relaunch are planned.
Do you know, I have no idea if it works at all! I’ve signed up, searched, contacted, nothing. Seems like an excellent idea that’s just no where near met it’s potential
I would have really liked to use ffrinDiaith; it seemed such a useful scheme. The first person I tried did reply and the only information I got from the site was how many miles away she was from my address. However, in her profile she had included the area in which she lived. When.arranging dates and times to contact via Skype she took a long time to reply and then I heard no more.
That was right back when ffrinDiaith was new. I have tried several more people but haven’t had a single reply, I have been checking for messages each time I log in but after two years I think it is time to give up!
Thanks for that, Alice - we’ll definitely bear those points in mind if we get to the stage where it looks possible to relaunch ffrinDiaith. I’m afraid it never attracted the critical mass of Welsh speakers that it needed for long-term success, unfortunately.
)
Oh yes…
However I’ve understood you prefectly clear that you’re replying to