Well on Heno last night they finally showed the recording they made a few weeks ago. I thought they might have been going to edit me out of it, but they didin’t!
Actually I’m not at all convinced of it’s newsworthy-ness, but it’s a nice story. They missed out the bit when they ask Steffi about her plans for the future (cue Royal Ballet School, prima ballerina) and she looks around the room a bit and says “um, well I like maths…”!
Brilliant. That’s both you and @gruntius who can definitely call themselves speakers!
Siaradwraig wyt ti. Yn bendant! Llongafarchiadau!
Great little piece, and I’m happy to say that I understood loads of that. I show it to one of our children when she gets back from school and before she heads of to her ballet lesson this evening!
Da iawn Sonia, I really enjoyed that. You sound brilliant, I love your accent. 
That was fabulous! Llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn iddi hi - she is so charming!
You were fabulous too! Your Cymraeg has come along in leaps and bounds and you sound so natural! Da iawn ti!!!
That was brilliant netmouse . You must be so proud of your daughter. And yourself of course 
I don’t think I could go on television speaking in english let alone Welsh
Llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn i ti - mae’n cymryd cryn dipyn o hyder i gytuno i siarad ar y teledu, ac mi wnest ti yn wych… 
Diolch yn fawr, pawb, for your lovely comments!
Funnily enough, I wouldn’t be remotely keen on doing something like that in English, but to echo something @gruntius said yesterday, I don’t really mind doing it in Welsh. It’s as if the advantage is already on your side for even attempting it somehow!
Wait a minute @netmouse, aren’t you native fluent speaker of Welsh? You did brilliantly! And llongyfarchiadau to your daughter! This is just great!
@netmouse Da iawn! You did great! I thought you sounded completely natural. Llongyfarchiadau to you and to your delightful daughter - you must be very proud of her!
Getting on for 3 1/2 years now, so a real old hand…
Is that all?
god you, @gruntius @Sam84 @Bob and @philipnewton really are setting the bar high.
I’ve known people who’ve done more than that in evening classes who would have struggled to produce any of your sentences…
I’m sure I’ve said this before but I once met a lady in Saith Seren who couldn’t understand the question “how long have you been learning for?” phrased three different ways after 10 (ten) years of classroom lessons. All credit to the SSi method. Thankfully there aren’t too many of those examples but 3 to 5 years and not being able to converse is unfortunately not rare.
Yah … or conversing in WAY TOO SIMPLE language with too many mistakes and forgettings for such a long periode of learning … the “example” of such is just typing these words before she’d go to fetch herself some coffi.
But, yes, this “example” dares to converse no matter of simplicity and forgettiness.
On a similar note, I remember a chat group i used to attend. I had been learning three months and spoke with a few people who had been learning for three to six years via various welsh for adults classes.
It was mostly English. Some people spoke some Welsh but a few spoke English nearly all the time.
I’m pretty certain that my reading and writing are getting there slowly too although my embarrassing duolingo score of 2.09/5 may suggest otherwise.
But yes its testament to the course giving you the confidence to use it. I read somewhere that language has a rhythm. If you get used to the rhythm of the language it helps you improve more quickly.
This is something ssiw brings that traditional courses can’t.
There’s no doubt that SSIW has done the Welsh language an enormous service. I remember feeling so depressed a few years ago, when with a couple of kids in the early stages of Welsh school, I couldn’t see any way of getting out to an evening class. (And even if I could, they seemed to take so long.)
This way has has been so easy to fit around busy everyday life - literally only listening in the car while commuting (you’ve got to listen to something!), reading for pleasure (what a great excuse) and skyping with some lovely people (diolch pawb!).
Diolch o galon i ti, @aran, ac i bawb yn y gymuned ryfeddol yma! Thanks to everyone in this amazing community!
(And I still haven’t read Gareth King’s book… But thanks to him too of course for so patiently answering the questions of those of us who, although curious, for one reason or another find it hard to sit down with a grammar book at the moment!)
Da iawn!! I agree with Geraint, you have a great accent!! You sounded really impressive. Your daughter is so talented! It’s a shame I couldn’t make the April bootcamp, I would have been very interested to hear more!
Aw, thanks @AnthonyCusack! The upside is that the kids are no longer minuscule, so these days I do occasionally manage to get out and do things. (Bootcamp!!!) So with a bit of luck we’ll meet up at something in Cardiff one of these days - more things like that are certainly on the medium-term cards!