Hi, I am currently working through lesion 6.2 and wonder if anyone can clarify something for me ? Fyddi di ddim sounds like vivadivim. I’m not sure if the dd should be pronounced ‘th’ or ‘v’. I don’t want to get into a bad habit this early on.
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I always tend to say dd as th (what I hold is right) but with Fyddi di ddim I find it quite hard in times. I many times have to concentrate on to say it correctly as there’s also d in the whole structure.
It’s the same thingy as with cerdded (to walk). When not listening carefully it can be heard as v sound but it’s actually th. Yup, one more of those hard ones I just am not able to cope with entirely …
Pob lwc!
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S’mae Sally?
fyddi di ddim is pronounced as VUH-thee di thim, where the “th” is as in “the”. For me, it really paod off to just keep saying the words over and over, as to begin with they (and others to come) can be a bit tongue-twisty!
Hwyl,
Stu
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Thank you both getting back to me so quickly. I will definitely re-practice them to get it right. I’ve also been saying ddim ( as in no ) as vim, so do I assume that this should be pronounced ‘thim’ too ? I’m learning while I drive to work and back, so probably not the best acoustics for hearing the words clearly.
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Spot on 
Stu
I couldn’t agree more Stu about just saying some things over and over again. I found the lessons 6. 1 & 6. 2 (northern) extremely challenging to say… I can clearly remember that when I was required to answer the questions with 'Byddaf, bydda i’n… ’ or the even more nightmarish 'Na fyddaf, fydda i dim yn… ’ I actually thought I would NEVER be able to say it. I thought it un-say-able for the English tongue! Please, please stick with it Sally. You will surprise yourself. I now find the above mentioned an absolute doddle to enunciate. Infact, remembering how hard I DID find it has helped me enormously when in subsequent lessons I have met other challenging words or groups of words, because I now know they can be mastered even if you do have to say them countless times.
- I would recommend listening through earphones. My lessons are on my phone and I always listen in the car or when walking my dog. I invested in a good set of earphones so it goes straight in my lugholes with clarity, it is no good if it’s not loud enough or clear enough to catch the exact way it is said.
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Thank you all for all your help. This is the first time I’ve used the forum and will definitely be back.
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Just for the knowledge … all "dd"s are said as “th” so that iw dould be easier to determine how to say things when you hear the nest word …
Pay attention to safety when driving car. I don’t want to preach but having earphones on when driving car isn’t the most good idea (unfortunately).
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I agree Tatjana that you must be very careful when driving. It has been scientifically studied apparently that driving uses a different part of the brain than language. I find if I drive with earphones in, so can hear really clearly, it isn’t distracting. It would be very distracting if I was struggling to hear though, as used to happen when I just had phone propped up in the centre console with volume as high as it would go!
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As long as you still can hear happenings around you besides the lessons you listen to it’s OK.
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On this kind of subject, there is a type of earphone available called bone-conduction earphones. This type of kit has apparently been available for the military and police etc, for years, but the ones I’m thinking of are for the ordinary consumer.
I’m aware of only one brand of them currently available, but I heard there was another major manufacturer planning to come out with them later this year. I won’t give a brand name, but if you search at one of the popular online retailers for “bone-conduction earphones” you should find them.
The thing about them is that they don’t go in the ear, but attach (by a kind of spring pressure) to the skin above a bone near the ears, and the idea is that the sound is transmitted directly to the cochlea by vibration through the bone of the skull. This means that the ear canal is still open and (theoretically) you can still hear everyday sounds from outside, in addition to what you are listening to via the earphones.
They are actually intended for e.g. joggers, walkers and cyclists, who need to be aware of sounds around them, but I guess they’d work for drivers as well. The reason I wanted them was that I thought they might help with a particular kind of hearing problem that I have, which is that I can apparently hear sound better through the bone than through my eardrums (or at least one of them) - known as an “air-bone gap” apparently. They do help to some extent, although I’m not 100% sure if it’s really proper bone-conduction that’s going on. But also, I don’t really like having earphones/buds stuck in my ear. They are not especially cheap. Read the reviews carefully before buying, but they may possibly be of use to some people.
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They sound good Mike. I also had difficulty with some that go in the ear, for one thing I felt that unless I pushed them in quite firmly (which was uncomfortable) they would drop out. I now use one’s which have a curved ‘arm’ that fits round the back of the ear like specs do and holds the device lightly into the ear, very comfy and stays in place. It has been invaluable for these lessons, i wouldnt be without headphones of some sort.