I have just run through lesson 18 of course three and struggled a bit with the mutations - my fault because I usually ignore them!!
Not sure if I am supposed to choose my own lessons though.
S’mae Carolyn,
If you are on course 3, you should not really be “ignoring” mutations. Do you mean that you are mutating naturally now, but sometimes miss them? That’s perfectly normal - your ability to mutate will increase the more you work though the courses and the more you speak to other Welsh speakers. The key is not to get worried about them, but to let them happen naturally.
As far as the online bootcamp goes, you are free to select which lessons you do, with the provisio that (if possible) they should be new to you. So I assume that the last lesson you did before you started out on the online bootcamp was Course 3 Lesson 17?
Hwyl,
Stu
Bora da Stu,
Yes, you are absolutely correct I SHOULD be well up to speed with mutations by now as I have, in fact, finished course 3 BUT I was so late starting three years ago when I was 70 I had to decide to
Sorry the computer froze on the last bit so to continue - choose very carefully what to learn especially as I have never been to classes except for the hopeless week at “The Nant” I decided learn as much vocabulary as possible and go to as many “Bora Coffees” as possible and to pick up the mutations in listening to others speaking and reading a good deal as well. My thinking is that as I will never need to write in Welsh and, quite honestly, I don’t hear many people mutating much when speaking that is why I decided to “Learn as I go”. As to the lessons I am doing on the bootcamp, I have decided to go back to the lessons I found really difficult the first time and haven’t disciplined myself to do again before!! I am already finding it a big help.
Hwyl am a tro,
Carolyn.
carolyn evans: I decided to … go to as many “Bora Coffees” as possible and to pick up the mutations in listening to others speaking
That sounds like the perfect recipe for success. Don;t worry about mutations working out in the lessons. In fact, never ever worry about mutations mot working out. Spoken Welsh is pretty flexible, and as a second language speaker, you will be given even more lee-way than the “super liner-width” lee-way that we allow ourselves as first language speakers. Mutations just add an extra layer of beauty to the language!
However, I’m pretty sure that if you have been following the lessons and getting loads of practice, you will be mutating in a very natural, first language style, “Oh did I? I have no idea why it happened…” kind of way, which will be sometimes grammatically correct and sometimes not so grammatically correct. I’m even more certain of this when you say that you don’t hear people mutationg. It’s probably because you don’t even notice them happening. Welcome to Welsh speaker-dom!
I would say, keep doing what you’re doing - it’s obviously working very very well!
Many thanks for that Iestyn, you have really given me some encouragement/hope!!!
Diolch eto,
Carolyn.
Carolyn, if you’ve already cracked ‘not worrying about mutations’, for heaven’s sake don’t change that for the online Bootcamp! You’ve already got exactly the right attitude…
That aside, I think you’d be well advised to do some completely new lessons for this experience - have you done the new stuff in Level 1? Although it’s not the end of the world if you do 18 onwards in Course 3, if you really want to stick with that…
OK - will try that as I was intending to start them when I finished the bootcamp.
Have finished writing my “Conversation” and will act it out tomorrow, the friend has been warned!!
Hwyl,
Carolyn.
That sounds as though you’re doing excellently - keep it up!..
What I didn’t say before was that as I go to North Wales frequently and have many friends living in and around Conwy Valley (Bodnant area) I thought when I went onto the new lessons I would do the Northern one which I have just completed - it was brilliant and I really enjoyed it. Thank you for getting me out of struggling over re-doing the last lessons of course 3 although I will have to do them again before too long.
Back in touch tomorrow,
Carolyn.
You can almost certainly leave the last few lessons of Course 3 for a couple of months or so - there’s good evidence that your brain will be doing general housekeeping on them during the break!
So great to hear that you’re enjoying the new Level 1 stuff - movement and enjoyment matter so much with all this…
I am a day behind on all the lessons because I pressed the “Start” button on Sunday evening by mistake!
Here is yesterdays challenge to write and memorise a short conversation - words suggested by a friend:
Helo Menna, gwnes ti mwynhau yr Eistddfod wythnos ddiwetha?
Ydy Sian, oedd e yn bendigenig, yn enwedig i gweld a grando Daffyd Iwan, beth amdanati?
Orn’in digon ffordus i cwrdd gyda Eistyn ar ol grando arno fe am dair blynedd.
Beth meddwlesti amdanofe?
Ma fe yn hyfryd iawn, neisach na Aran sy roddod her i fi i ysgrifennu hwn arol wedaisi allwni dim ysgrifennu o gwbl .
O sut angharedig!!! (Note treiglad Stu)
Dwi’n cutuno.
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the writer!
Translass
Hello Menna, did you enjoy the Eisteddford last week
Yes Sian, it was wonderful especially to see and hear Daffy Iwan, what about you?
Oh I was lucky enough to meet Eistyn after three years of listening to him.
What was he like?
He is lovely, much nicer than Aran who has a challenge to write this after I said I couldn’t write at all.
Oh how unkind!!!
Yes, I agree.
I will take this to Bora Coffi tomorrow to act it out and report back.
Good work - and here’s some fine-tuning for you:
Helo Menna, wnest ti fwynhau’r Eisteddfod wythnos ddiwetha?
Do Sian, oedd e’n fendigedig, yn enwedig gweld a gwrando ar Dafydd Iwan, beth amdanat ti?
O’n i’n ddigon ffodus i gwrdd gyda Iestyn ar ol gwrando arno fe am dair blynedd.
Beth wnest ti feddwl amdano fe?
Ma fe yn hyfryd iawn, neisach nag Aran roddodd her i fi i ysgrifennu hwn ar ol i mi ddweud allwn i ddim ysgrifennu o gwbl.
O, am angharedig!!!
Dwi’n cytuno.
Looks as if that’s going to be very useful conversational fodder for you…
Everything is going along nicely, on my day of translating everthing people said into Welsh, I went out to supper with friends in Abertawe and was muttering under my breath the translations and the man on the next table asked if he could help me because he thought I could understand English!! Had a quick chat with him in Welsh to explain what I was doing and he thought I was totally mad.
Yesterday’s challenge was easy because I had already tried to say the following sentence in Welsh and got into a complete knot:
It would have been great if I could have had it in time to alter it so that I wouldn’t have had to type the
whole thing again.
New course one Northern going really well - I think Northern is easier than Southern.
Hwyl am y tro,
Carolyn.
I finished the bootcamp last Thursday and spoke Welsh only for an hour at a weekly Bora Coffi with friends and managed not to speak a word of English the whole hour, which was much more of a challenge than it should have been with the friends (Now ex friends) trying to catch me out and make me use an English word!!
I have really enjoyed the bootcamp and it has been good to get back to the discipline of learning the lessons - full report to Aran when he comes back from Scotland.
hwyl am y tro,
Carolyn.
Full report, please!
If you spoke only Welsh and no English at all for an entire hour, you have (as I’m sure you already know) achieved something genuinely remarkable…:seren: