Hello from South Yorkshire!

Hello! Newbie here!

Firstly, many, many thanks to Aran, Catrin Iestyn and Cat, and to all the learners who have gone before, for such an amazing resource.

So why am I learning Welsh? I want to move to Wales, but to do the job I currently do (public sector), I will need to be able to speak Welsh. It was a new years resolution to do something about it, and amazingly one month on I already have much of the vocabulary I need to say that in Welsh.

Progress wise, I’m currently on 6.1. I still have a couple hang-ups with 5, mostly with the pronunciation of llefrith. Doubly annoying as I’m allergic to the stuff, so really do need to be able to say it!

Jane

A warm welcome to the forum, Jane, and well done on having got off to such a great start… :sunny:

With an attitude like that, I’m sure you’re going to do extremely well… :star: :star2:

Hi and Croeso!

I hope you enjoy being here!

:slight_smile:

1 Like

Croeso, Jane! Sounds like you are doing great! Dal ati, and never hesitate to ask a question on this lovely forum.

1 Like

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! Will definitely be back when I’ve got some questions, and to keep you updated on how I’m getting on.

2 Likes

Croeso, @Jane! I think it is a good thing that you are aiming to go to Cymru Gogledd (North Wales), as I think you’ll find that accent easier, presuming you have a Yorkshire accent now!?? :smile:
I lived in York from1952-1956 and Harrogate from 1969-1972!! I know Harrogate isn’t typical, but my friends were normal Yorkshire folk, save for my compatriot who came from Caerfyrddin. Lwc dda! You are learning the best way to converse. You may need lessons when you get to Cymru for written, Public Sector papers!!!

I’m long overdue a progress report. Lesson 6 took a surprisingly long time to get to grips with, so briefly diversified into the Challenges whilst it sunk in. This added some useful vocab that the lessons has yet to cover (things like dysgu, ymarfer, cofio, yn y Gymraeg), but the only downside has been that the Lessons have felt like Welsh ‘on speed’ ever since.

Sadly, bronchitis has totally stopped play for the last two weeks. Now back on track (with pause button to cope with occasional coughing fits), and making progress through lesson 11 and challenge 3.

At the end of Feb, successfully ordered a can of coke in a cafe in N Wales almost entirely in Welsh (although I did have to ask what a can was first). Had a huge grin on my face for most of the rest of the afternoon. Hoping April might provide a couple more opportunities for practice. Off to Pembrokeshire for a weekend later in the month, so any suggestions of Welsh speaking opportunities there would be very welcome.

2 Likes

Does this mean you’re repeating lessons? You might find it a bit of an eye-opener to try going through the course once without any repetition, and seeing how much the spaced repetition that’s built into the lessons helps you… :sunny:

To a certain extent. I only seem to be able to take in a certain number of new words or new patterns at a time. As a result, it can take two or three days to get through a new lesson, particularly when a lot of new stuff is introduced.

I think this is in part due to my braining having to get used to a new way of learning. I’ve become very good at learning dead languages (Latin to GCSE, Greek to A Level, Old Norse to Master’s Level), and can learn great long lists of vocab no problem, providing I’m only expecting to see the words in a written context. I used to cheat and learn French in the same way at school. The net result was that I could read and write reasonably in French at the time, but I couldn’t speak it for toffee.

SSIW seems to breaking down that barrier, by not letting me rely on the written form when learning new grammar or vocab. Hopefully, as I get more used to it, I’ll be able to speed up some more.

I’m trying to push on with lesson 12, but wanted to check that I’m hearing something right before I get too much further ahead:

Wnaeth yr hen gi yfed y dwr (last phrase in lesson 11)
Wnaeth y ci ifanc drio gwneud o (first phrase in lesson 12)

Many thanks!

Those both sound perfect… :sunny:

I’m sure you’re right about the process of getting accustomed to this method - but it might also be worth bearing in mind that we are notoriously bad at assessing how well we’re learning - so your ability to ‘take in’ new material might actually be your ability to feel entirely confident with new material - and we see regularly that the more someone is willing to accept the loss of control, the more quickly they can progress.

Have you ever tried doing a whole lesson in one sitting, without using the pause button? :sunny:

Sorry for gatecrashing, @Jane, but I would like to know what @aran suggests if one’s mind goes blank!!! It will end up as a Listening exercise with me doing an impression of a goldfish and nothing emerging! I am taking about 5 days per challenge at the moment and I stop because I have reached the goldfish stage!!

Make some sound - any sound - to try and get your mouth moving, and to let your knee-jerk responses (which will often be near the mark) come out.

If you go the whole way through an entire session trying to make sound in each gap, and don’t manage to say anything at all, then I’d agree that you’ve hit a wall, and need to take a little time off and possibly even go back a few sessions. But hitting the wall for a few phrases and then stopping isn’t the same thing - it’s always worth trying to push through and see what happens next.

It would be interesting to know what your hit/miss rate is - I wouldn’t be surprised if you were considering yourself to be in ‘goldfish’ mode any time you make more than a couple of mistakes - and we certainly know that the learning process continues successfully with a fair higher level of mistakes than most people find comfortable…

I wouldn’t like to have to add counting number of goldfish moments to all else!! I finally finished Challenge 1.15 today. I had glances at the Vocab for 16 and know it, which helps!!
That is the real problem, @aran, because I am trying to remember, rather than learn from scratch, I get too used to moving quickly as I simply say what I remember. If I hit a glitch, I try the Gog version, usually find the words I know, and simply say that to @Iestyn thereafter!! When I really hit something I have totally forgotten or never knew, I can get totally bogged down!!
Still, the English Government have taught me what a subordinating conjunction is, so maybe I can learn Cymraeg after all!!!

But you must have a rough sense of it? Are you talking about getting 1 in 10 right, or missing 1 in 10? Some kind of an idea of what you consider the goldfish stage would help me figure out where your expectations are…

Otherwise, what you’re describing mostly sounds like ‘not enjoying mistakes’ - which is one of the single biggest blocks to learning. The more you relax about mistakes, and trust the process, the faster you’ll be able to go, and the more you’ll enjoy it… :sunny:

Just when I can consistently say the ll sound, I’ve found myself a new pronunciation headache - the ew in mewn. I see from a quick scan of the forum that I need to accept mewn/i fewn as it comes, but can I just check that I’m hearing this phrase right?

"Dwi ddim yn mynd i roi fewn i ti” (lesson 13, 12:25)

1 Like

Yup, that sounds right - although you’ll find people changing to taste there - ‘dwi ddim yn mynd i roi mewn i ti’ would be absolutely normal too… :sunny:

Ouch! I plead guilty! I think too much! I hear a long sentence and hit pause because I don’t think I’ll have time. Then I think, “Oh, what is ‘meet’ again?” By then, I’ve forgotten the rest of what @Iestyn said and am in goldfish mode!!
Started Challenge 1.16 yfore and got on so much better, although I thought llyfr was pronounced with the ‘y’ like in Cymru, not like llifr???
Anyway, I promise to leave my naughty finger off pause and launch into something, even if it is wrong!! This will eliminate the goldfish at once!! :fish: <- wedi marw!

That sounds potentially like a huge step forward for you - go for it! :sunny:

Already am! And, please, how do you say, “llyfr”?

Southern Course 2, Lesson 9, about 4 minutes in.

1 Like