Have finished the first course of SSIW for Southern Welsh and felt it would be wrong not to come on here and give any feedback I can and a pointer to which has helped my listening.
But also to those who are behind the course I wanted to say a big thank you, because you have made my summer a very enjoyable one. I am absolutely over the moon with how much I have learnt and from reading others posts on here it seems I am not the only one. It really is such a good course and when I am back at University in Wales and getting to practise with my welsh speaking friends it will be all thanks to SSIW, so again I can’t thank you enough.
I wanted to give some feedback as I know it is something that you would like but I can’t think of anything that I can fault with the course. I found that Radio Cymraeg was just too fast for me (or I always seemed to be tuning in on the traffic reports so that was probably one reason!) but took a tip from a friend who used to read children’s books in spanish to improve her reading due to its simple level. Therefore to improve my listening I found some old episodes of Sam Tan (Fireman Sam) on youtube, which has helped me loads due to its relative ease as it is aimed at children. Just a pointer if anyone is willing to have that on in the background, as I know this would not be suitable for all!
I assume now that the next step for me to take is to go through the vocabulary lessons? Also would it be best to do the lessons available of the new Level 1 first before Course 2 or just a mix or something?
Thanks in advance for any replies and once again to all for this wonderful course.
That’s a huge achievement - well done indeed! and thank you very much for your extremely kind words, which are a real inspiration to us…
You can go straight to Course 2 or switch to Level 1 - either way is fine - if I were you, I’d opt for Level 1, because the accelerated listening exercises that come in from Challenge 10 onwards are (I think) very important.
I’ll look forward to hearing how it goes with you when you get the chance to use your new language in the wilds of university!..
Thanks very much for the kind words both! I will have to look out for Noddy in Welsh Geth!
That sounds like a good idea and I will be interested to see how it differs from the ‘old’ course 1.
I am very much looking forward to it, especially as my best friend who is a 1st language welsh speaker hasn’t got a clue what I have been up to! Thanks again Aran!
Honestly, I’d suggest alternating between Level 1 and Course 2; both will teach you new things, and it will give Iestyn more time to actually finish Level 1 for the south before you catch up with what’s currently available.
Llongyfarchiadau mawrion mawr, Nando!! This is a massive achievement and now I’m afraid there’s no hiding it, you have to call yourself a Welsh speaker . How does it feel?
Nando9: I assume now that the next step for me to take is to go through the vocabulary lessons? Also would it be best to do the lessons available of the new Level 1 first before Course 2 or just a mix or something?
Good question. If you were doing the Northern course, I would suggest you now do the new course 1. However, as the new southern course only has 12 lessons at the moment and no accelerated listening practices yet; my advice to you would be to carry on as normal…complete the course 1 vocab lessons - at which point you’ll be eligible to do a SSiW Bootcamp (a week of only speaking Welsh!!) so there will be no doubt that at this point you are a true Welsh Speaker!!
And then do course 2 - it is proven to work, myself and many other people here have done it and can now speak Welsh, so don’t think you’ll be at any disadvantage. This will also give Iestyn and Cat time to complete the new course 1 plus listening practises. Once you’ve finished the whole of the second course (cwrs canol), I would then do the complete ‘New’ Southern Course 1.
All the best…and either way, I have no doubt at all that you will become a more and more confident and relaxed Welsh speaker by the day…
With regards to watching Welsh TV, you’ve made a good start with a children’s programme. If you get S4C and you’re around at 7am, there’s an hour of children’s programmes. What makes this even better is that S4C are on twitter for the duration (Ti fi a Cyw - @TiFiaCyw) and this twitter feed introduces the next programme and also translates a few key words for each programme. They will also answer any questions you have.
All the best buddy and enjoy surprising your best friend…I have a feeling that this person will be a huge help to you also…
I have already let Aran know by email how much I have appreciated learning Welsh from this course but would like to acknowledge publicly what an excellent learning experience this has been. Also I’m grateful for the advice from everyone as to where to go next, having finished the first course and begun on the vocabulary lessons. Looks like the new course 1 then.
And finally, the contact for the Oswestry group is shown as Sonja, but when I go to leave her a message, five Sonjas appear. Anyone got any additional info please.
Diolch yn fawr iawn I bawb
Bryro
Mm… sorry about the contact hiccups - that’s something we really need to try and fix for the whole meetups experience… it’s possible that Dee will have an email contact for her, and might see this - otherwise, if you send a request to admin@saysomethingin.com Dee will see it and know if there’s any way to help…
Bryan, first of all congratulations on how far you have got. I cant make the Oswestry group, I live in Market Drayton, and cant get over there in time. But, I go to a chat session once a month at Bellis’ Garden Centre, Holt nr Wrecsam if that is any use to you. A really friendly group, very informal and organised so all standards can benefit. If you would like more details please feel free to PM me.
Diolch for the reply, really am grateful for you to take the time to write such a kind reply and with some useful information! After trying a ‘conventional course’ last year and giving up quite quickly it feels fantastic to have mastered the basics and to be moving on to the second course shortly.
I really like the idea of the bootcamp and am sure that is what really improves peoples Welsh to a new level and hopefully one day I will be able to make one. I will take your advice on board as someone who has gone through the process and is a Welsh Speaker!
I will have to give the early morning starts a go before I get back to University as that does sound very useful at this stage!
Thanks again for your reply mate, it is good to hear from people who have gone through the same experience!
There’s nothing like having to use what you know to make you better at it :). The amount of Welsh I was able to speak without needing to translate in my head absolutely shocked me by the end of the bootcamp. It actually took me a few hours to get used to hearing and speaking English again.
And Chris is 100% spot on about Bootcamp, so if you do get an opportunity to do one, I can highly recommend it!! During my Bootcamp experience I even started to dream in Welsh!! Met some brilliant people that I still speak with on Skype in Welsh and I’ve never looked back since!
Bryan said: And finally, the contact for the Oswestry group is shown as Sonja, but when I go to leave her a message, five Sonjas appear. Anyone got any additional info please.
All I can suggest is that you message the ‘Sonja’ that appears in the list exactly like that - with a capital S and no surname. When we moved over from the old forum some of the forum names changed. Ifan matched them up for me via email addresses and I’ve put the contact names exactly as they were shown - case sensitive. If it’s not the right Sonja let me know and we’ll try something else.
If I were you, I’d jump straight in with Level 1 - but the southern version isn’t fully recorded yet - I think we’ve got 16 sessions available? But if you finish those, then you can always carry on from where you left off on Course 1 while we get more recorded
and thank you very much for your extremely kind words, which are a real inspiration to us…
This is a massive achievement and now I’m afraid there’s no hiding it, you have to call yourself a Welsh speaker 
. How does it feel? 
