Filling 20 minutes of practice with 6 minutes a day

Hello all,

I know that 20 minutes practice a day is a good rule of thumb for learning something new, and I am looking for suggestions on how to fill my time. I’ve just started Week 5, so my brain is cooking nicely.

I have established a pattern 6 minutes per day Monday to Friday, then a 15 minute chunk of the same lesson on Saturday and Sunday. During the day I find myself muttering phrases in Welsh - and I’m sure some of my colleagues think I’m possessed. However, repeating lessons too often is seen as suboptimal (presumably because it messes up the spaced repetition), so what else should I be doing for another 15 minutes to fill up my formal learning time?

All suggestions gratefully received!

Don’t underestimate how useful listening to Welsh (Radio Cymru, S4C, podcasts, youtube, etc) can be - you may not see it as formal learning, but it is really important to hear as many different accents and dialects as you can. Even if you don’t understand much of it yet, it builds up your listening skills and gets you used to hearing patterns in the constructions.

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I’m glad you’ve said that as I have just watched a lovely programme on S4C, most of which I didn’t understand (hooray for subtitles!) and I’m thinking that interspersing speaking practice with watching TV is an easy way for me to keep learning even on the days when I might not have got round to doing any speaking :slight_smile:

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I second the advice here about TV, radio, music etc. I also found it really useful to play with what I’d learned in my own head by trying to do a “running commentary” on what I was doing, and/or having imaginary conversations where I used the structures I’d learned. I also talked a lot to my pets.

Then when you’ve started looking at how Welsh is written, things like road signs, bilingual leaflets and adverts, circulars from politicians (whether you agree with them or not!) are all good for comparing the English with the Welsh and picking up new words. Talking of cooking :wink: , how about a bilingual cookbook (I’ve got this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cymru-ar-Blât-Wales-Plate/dp/184527234X)?

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thank you, all. That is a very helpful tip. I shall tune the car radio into Radio Cymru, and listen on my way to and from work.

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I listen to Radio Cymru in my car and when I’m in the kitchen I have Iaith y Daith on BBC iplayer.