Hello,
I haven’t been on the forum for a while, but I wanted to let you know I finished course 2 a couple of days ago and I’m very happy about it 
I must say I was a bit disappointed with myself after I finished course 1 and then went to Wales for two weeks without me speaking any Welsh…just because I was too shy…(correction: I did order ice cream in Welsh in Tresaith We went to the beach there one week before bootcamp). When we came back home I was a bit demotivated and asked myself what was the point in learning Welsh when I’d never speak it.
I don’t know what got me motivated again, but in September I started course 2 and it went surprisingly well until lesson 16 or so and then I struggled a ‘bit’ more with the rest of the lessons. I thought lesson 24 was terrible, so I skipped it after 5 tries, and went on to 25, which went better, so I hereby declare course 2 finished 
…ok, still have to do the vocabs…
My biggest problem remains that I don’t get enough practice in speaking Welsh. I know that if I could speak more, I’d start to understand it better and get more fluent.
You know, I lived in Norway for a year as an exchange student, with host parents who spoke little to no English and my class mates were told not to speak English to me, and that’s how I got fluent in Norwegian, by a year long bootcamp…
So, I should find a way to speak more, and when I’m in Wales, I shouldn’t be so shy
Well, I want to go on bootcamp in July, so that’s a start.
On to the vocabs now, and then course 3 I think…
S’mae bievanravestyn?
You should also consider working through the new Level 1 course (maybe in parallel with the Course 2 vocabs). The level 1 material presages some of Course 3, so that is a good heads up, but its also built around a more conversational style and benefits from everything Aran has learned about designing courses over the past few years. The new listening exercises are fantastic as well - required listening even if you decide not to go though Level 1 itself - and they use accelerated recordings to really tune your ear into the language and get your brain processing the sounds of Welsh at a greatly increased speed. Normal speech actually starts to slow down for you, giving you that little bit extra time to comprehend what is being said.
Ta waeth, da iawn i ti am orffen cwrs 2, a phob lwc efo dy Gymraeg yn y dyfodol!
Hwyl,
Stu
Helo, bievanravestyn
I can well understand your feeling after being in Wales. I experienced the same. I had finished course 1 and about 10 lessons of course 2, when I went to Wales. There I started every conversation with “bore da”, but when my partner replied in English, I was to shy to insist in speaking Welsh ( too afraid, that maybe I missed some words, made mistakes, couldn’t understand most of what was said etc).
I booked a place on a bootcamp the following year and since that bootcamp, I think of myself of a Welsh-speaker. (still with many missing words, making many mistakes, can’t understand everything that is said).
So please, keep on learning and maybe we will meet in July in Tresaith.
Dal ati
Pob hwyl
Brigitte
Diolch Stu,
Well, I actually did the first 10 lessons of Level 1 simultaneously with Course 1, but then I just went through with the rest until Level 1 is finished (I’m doing Southern), but I guess it doesn’t hurt if I do the Northern listening exercises. I think it would be a bit confusing if I started doing Northern Level 1 now. I might go through the available Level 1 lessons again though.
Hwyl
Bie.
Wow, you were more courageous than I was. We were staying on a working farm where the man was a Welsh speaker and I never even told him I was learning Welsh (I’m a chicken, I know…)
I’m sure bootcamp will help a lot, because there won’t be any other choice but to speak Welsh. It would be nice to meet you there
Many congratulations on having got so far! You’ve done superbly, and you have far more of the language than you fully realise 
I think it’ll probably be more than just a start… I think it’ll be exactly what you need to realise that you have actually already become a Welsh speaker 
I thought I’d give a little update. A couple of weeks ago I started revisiting Level 1. I did one lesson a day without using the pause button. Lesson 13 and 14 were quite hard, but lesson 15 went pretty ok, except I didn’t get one single sentence right in the last 5 minutes or so. I didn’t repeat the lesson though and took a pause for a couple of weeks. I did the 15 again yesterday and well, it went smoother than I thought (got 3 sentences right in the last 5 minutes! But, don’t worry, right? )
I went on to 16 today and still didn’t have the feeling I needed the pause button, which I can’t say was the case with course 2 for which I think I used it every time and where I had to repeat every lesson 2 or 3 times. So, on to 17 tomorrow and see how it goes 
I really like this new course!
In the meantime I’ve also booked a place on the July bootcamp and I’m quite excited about it
I’m still a bit worried about speaking though. The lessons are going pretty well, but I have the feeling that gives me a false sense of security, if that makes any sense. I just think that I’ll go completely blank when I have to speak Welsh. The way I did this Summer…I don’t know why, because it’s not as if I’m not used to speaking other languages, so I don’t know what makes it different with Welsh. I’d very much like a bit more practice with just chatting to get a bit more confidence and to learn the language better. So, if anyone is interested in having a Skype-chat with me sometime, just let me know…
Hwyl,
Bie.
You probably will at the beginning, but that’s absolutely normal. The key is not to switch back into English - and the more time you spend not allowing yourself to switch back, the more you’ll trigger the very considerable amount of Welsh you do already have
Little update again. Didn’t do much Welsh after finishing Level 1 challenge 23. What I did do was finishing the vocabs for course 2 while cleaning the house. The first day I did 4 of them, the second day 3 and the third day 2. Then I did lesson 10 about a week later, but I was very disappointed that it seemed I almost couldn’t remember anything. Started doing this lesson a couple more times, but it just wasn’t very motivating…Well, I decided to start Cwrs 3 instead and I’m glad I did, as it’s going a lot better (thanks to level 1 I think). My goal is to do one lesson a day, and that will mean I’ll be finished with all the available lessons when bootcamp starts…I’m on lesson 3 now, so we’ll see if I succeed…
In the meantime I have weekly skype-chats on Wednesdays, but I should speak less English and more Welsh…the words just never come, it seems…
Oh, and I spoke Welsh to a Welshman for the first time…A couple of months ago I asked one of my favourite bands if they wanted to come and play in Belgium, as they were playing a festival in Germany and it wasn’t that far away. To my surprise they said yes and the rest is history. Well, they happen to be from Wales (Ammanford), but I didn’t know if any of them spoke Welsh, but it turns out their drummer and their bassist went to Welsh medium school. Didn’t talk much with the bassist. (He was a bit the silent guy of the band…must be a bassist thing…). The drummer on the other hand was very talkative and we chatted a bit in Welsh. I’m glad to say I understood him quite well. He also gave me a compliment about my pronunciation, and well, it was fun
Ok, now on to lesson 4 and bootcamp in 4 weeks…
If you can talk Welsh to drummers, you’re doing particularly well!..
Haha…I see what you mean, I’m married to one