We’re at the very beginning of an extremely interesting business English project with a hugely successful young Greek entrepreneur - he’s going to be doing all the business development and marketing side of things, promotional videos and so on - and he’s just asked me what sort of testimonials we have for our existing courses.
So I ummed and ahhed a little bit - sure I’ve got some around here somewhere! - but we’ve never been very organised with stuff like this - and I’d be hugely grateful for your help, in two ways.
1 - could you tell me what you think of SSi? Particularly, ahem, what you think is good about it?!..
2 - if you can find any testimonial type stuff on this forum, or hanging about on the internet, or on YouTube or stuff, and could link to them in here, you will be numbered amongst the saints.
Too many reasons to go into so I’ll just pick one.
It’s ridiculously convenient.
Because all I need is a phone and headphones, I can use it whilst walking on my way to work and in my lunch hour. It fills up a section of my day which I can’t really use to do anything else other than listen to the radio. This means I can easily clock up 5 hours of practice every week.
But if you have the spare energy at any point, the more lovely things we have people say, the more likely we’ll make a success of the new project (and have spare cash to make more Spanish and Welsh stuff hint hint…;-)).
Ruthlessly effective memory tricks; within minutes words and phrases are engraved into my long term storage.
Effortlessly easy; I can put complex sentences together with little to no conscious thought. Words appear on my tongue without needing to think.
Usable; I’ve actually had conversations in the wild with what I’ve learnt.
Positive and amusing; There’s been some actual laugh out loud moments whilst doing the lessons and there’s always a confidence boosting message in each lesson.
Social; the support forum is probably the most helpful and friendly message board in all of internetdom.
Say Something In, the course you come across cruising through the net at one point and stay … stay for eternity as there’s always something to learn. Simple, efficient, making your brain work with full speed again. Making you forgetting many things you’ve learnt and at one point all of a sudden remembering them again. Consistent of two ways one can choose to learn - going at your pace or pushing though like a stubborn bull reaching the end with enourmous speed learning huge amount of language. No matter you forget things at one point, you remember them again at the other. Average you’re ready to use your language in as short time as (let’s say) at least in a month if you’re brave enough and push through but doing it slower, you still are able to go out and speak at least two or three sentences almost immediately. No drilling into grammar and list of words but rather learning how to speak, how to use a language is the highest quality of this, magnificent way of learning. Lessons available as mp3 files give this course special magic. You can walk, you can do something else, you can drive in your car and learn along. The day can be filled with useful and quality amount of time spent learning a new language.
The most helpful community of the forum - people from allover the World, very helpful and kind tutors themselves, possibilities to go on bootcamps … this is something what I didn’t encounter anywhere else, but I’ve learnt quite some languages. Encouraging practicing with learners in group meetups or via Internet before going into wilderness is another thing also what I didn’t “get” anywhere else, at least not in such amount.
I love the way the language is taught here. You speak and listen first and go with writing later. I have to say, as stubborn as I was, I wanted to go with writing immediately. What a waste of time it would be if I’d persist doing so. We need to be able to speak and understand spoken word first and that’s what Say Something in offers you in total.
And finally, if it convinced me to stop thinking about learning languages “classical” way, obeying the system and go with the flow, stubborn as I was … it can convince everyone else. You will learn, you will be able to speak going in a wild and use the language … Tell me, what one learner could wish more …
I started the SSIW course in August, knowing only some basic words in Welsh. Today, just 4 months later, I was watching a new S4C drama in Welsh, and on Wednesday I had an hour long conversation in Welsh - about languages, countries and future plans:). And I have achieved all this OUTSIDE Welsh-speaking environment, so this is all thanks to the SSIW. And I consider myself a very bad student, due to the circumstances that didn’t let me devote as much time to Welsh as I would have loved to. My friends here are doing much, much better. So, I have no doubt that SSI is simply amazing
i am so glad that I discovered SSIW. From the very first lesson I was able to say some simple sentences. The method enables me to learn and retain lots of new vocabulary in a short amount of time and I am astounded that I can complete numerous lessons each day and actually remember them. This all happens with just repeating what the tutor Iestyn says. He keeps saying that I should trust the system. I was a little doubtful about this at first as I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to retain it all. I am in Australia and have limited access to conversation. But, I needn’t have worried, just when I think I have forgotten something up it pops again and it sinks a little further in. The support is excellent and the forum provides a lot of encouragement and information. I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn very quickly and be able to use their language at the early stages. Now I’m waiting for Chinese to be available. Hint, hint!
I just searched for Saysomethingin and Youtube - there are learners’ testimonials, the 3rd birthday party, launch of SSi in the Senedd, Hwb interviews for Dysgwr o Dramor, - do you want my intensive SSiSpanish video by any chance?
My attempt at a testimonial:
This way of learning languages just works - I’ve learnt Welsh while living at the other end of the world. I’ve not learnt it by attending classes, poring over language books nor doing exercises, I’ve learnt it by listening to and repeating Welsh sentences, without worrying about reading, writing and spelling, about 30-40 minutes at a time, whenever a new lesson was published. I am now confident enough, when I am in Wales, to strike up conversations in Welsh with anyone who is willing to talk to me.
This is not the most amazing thing, however: I have since spent one day learning Spanish with the first 10 lessons on SaySomethinginSpanish - and the next morning, I had a half hour Spanish-only conversation with a work colleague who is from Mexico. That was after an intensive day with lots of concentration. Last week, I attacked Cornish, but with a slightly different approach, knowing that I can trust the SSi method to do its work on my brain: I set one day aside to do 10 lessons, but while I was listening and repeating the Cornish lessons, I also browsed the internet, did my emails - in other words, I allowed myself to be distracted - and still, at the end of that day, I was able to speak Cornish using all that I had learned (only to myself, unfortunately, not too many Cornish speakers about where I live )
In summary - this method of language learning works without conscious effort, gets you speaking a language immediately, and gives you confidence in your ability to learn
I’ve been working on SiW for about a year now and I must say this is a positively amazing program. We are often told during the course of the lessons not to worry about things, that if we do the practices the language and the way it’s used will click into place. Sure enough, that has been precisely my experience. I had previously taken three years of Spanish in a traditional course, and although I do remember some of that, I think at this point I can say more things in Welsh than I can in Spanish. That’s not to say that I don’t upon occasion get bogged down with it. I do. But if I just remember not to worry and then go back and repeat the last lesson (or part of it) a few more times, it always seems to come together. The fact that they give away the entire introductory set of lessons gratis is remarkably generous, but also a good business model (I suspect I am not nearly the only one to arrive at the end of that introductory course and discover that I’m hooked and want more). Also the resource of the weekly listening and speaking practices and this forum cannot be disregarded; they are invaluable. I have recommended this web site to others and will doubtless continue to do so. Peace.
When I started learning through SSIW about four months ago, I expected to gain a very basic understanding of Welsh - more than anything an understanding that it was very difficult. I thought I’d learn a bit, and walk away after a week or two satisfied that I could say a few basic phrases and talk reasonably intelligently about the language to people who know nothing about it.
Instead, this course has taught me quickly and effortlessly the fundamentals of conversational Welsh, to the point where after only a month I was conversing at a basic level. Now, having nearly completed all three old courses and the first new one, I am astounded at how much I can say and understand. This course has completely shattered my preconceptions of what language learning should be - difficult, tiring and very, very hard work.
SSI is also unique in that it provides a fantastic community forum. The advice, support and encouragement given there is priceless. It’s a wonderful way to connect with other learners, especially if, like me, you live outside of Wales.
All in all, this is the best language learning method I have ever come across, and I am so lucky to have stumbled across this site.
That is a great testimonial and replicates my experience. I have learnt languages in school, at uni, on line, through books, in evening classes, and through immersion in the country and this is the best language learning experience I have ever had.
I totally agree with Catherine Brown. I am in my 70s and learned German from POWs in a camp just after WW2. I forgot it later, but it entered my brain naturally and painlessly. Later, I was taught French and Latin in school, a process which was far from painless and not particularly efficient! The same applied to classes in Welsh, followed by BBC programmes trying to teach. I also tried ‘Teach Yourself’ for Italian and Hebrew with mixed results. The SSi method uses the natural way of learning and has rekindled my forgotten Welsh with the added and totally unexpected benefit of a Forum full of wonderful new friends from all over the world!
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