Phew… that was a busy 3 weeks. Having not done any Welsh lessons for (cough) several months, I did a very quick whistle-stop tour through course 1 again. It was reassuring how late in the course it started to get difficult (around lesson 19 or 20). I think this probably vindicates what @aran has been saying about learners who come back to courses after long gaps.
So tomorrow I’m moving on to course 2 lesson 1… fingers crossed!
Crossign fingers.
I’m curious how it is … I’m on Level 1 (new) now with quite some troubles. Have to mention I’ve done Course 1 twice aswell but not with such long periode gap inbetewwn them then you did though.
Pob lwc!
Which almost certainly means you’d have been able to jump in at 20 and be fine…
Well done for the gallop! 
Da iawn David! 
Great to hear you’re back into it. Pob lwc with course 2! : -)
By the way, did you get to do your vows in Welsh after?
Sadly not, but it was an amazing day. Cool, crisp, utterly cloudless, and it went off without a hitch. A magical day.
I’m trying to do lesson 25 now (for the first time). I was hoping to smash it but it’s proving difficult!
Planning to do vocab next and then the new level one. Exciting!
Lesson 25 is always going to be a tougher challenge than previous lessons, because there are less clues as to what is coming next. It’s not quite as random as the speaking practices, but not far off, and far more random than a genuine conversation. If you have not quite smashed it on the first run through, then you have one exceptionally well, @robstickler. If you have struggled through and got to the end, then you have done exceptionally well, not only because you’ve obviously learnt nearly all of the material weve rpesented well enough to use it, but also because the tougher the challenge, the more you’ve achieved. Remember, making mistakes, struggling to remember, and genuinely forgetting and haveing to be reminded are all vitally important parts of the process. It’s why SSiW is like nothing you’ve ever done before!
@davidht - well done sir! That is a major achievement, both getting to lesson 20 fairly much problem free, and powering through from there to the end. You’ll love course 2!
Thanks Iestyn, I had lost sight of mistakes being part of the process. I’ll give it another go tomorrow.
@robstickler - Only gve it another go if it was really disasterous. In fact, no, not even then. Move on to something more interesting - new material, new challenges - and come back to it after a few days or weeks. It will still be there, it will still be tough, and it will still be totally unimportant for you to pass any kind of mythical “70% pass mark” or aything that traditional courses would demand. What you will do, though, is remind yourself of a few patterns that were beginning to dim, and come across a few patterns or words that you think “Hey - when did I learn that?”. That’s the process as well. But if you’re already learning other stuff, then your Welsh is imporoving all the time, regardless of whether you get some mutation right, or whether you mix up some words or patterns. The more you know, the more you are able to forget, and importantly, the more you are able to balg your way through a real conversation!
Now, fill yourself with joy and pride about how much you’ve achieved so far, and go do another lesson!
Thanks for this, and for all your encouragement. I am very full of joy and pride!
I can’t tell you how much enjoyment I get from SSiW, quite apart from the satisfaction of finally beginning to learn the language I should have been taught in school.
And probably the way it should have been taught in school - for you and a lot of us, for Welsh and for other languages. Maybe one day languages will be taught this way in school.
Thanks Iestyn! One of the many things I love about our SSiW community is the online support mechanism. “Distance learning” can be hard, epecially for people like me learning Welsh yet living outside Wales, so the support is greatly appreciated.
You 're not alone living outside Wales. I do too and, for the top of the iceberg I am the only one in my country who learns Welsh at all so I know exactly how you feel.
Tatyana -that makes you the best Welsh learner, and probably the best Welsh speaker, in your country
It might be but this doesn’t comfort me at all for already known reasons