I listened to Radio Cymru this morning

Taro’r Post, also in the afternoon, is a proper “work-out” for learners, I always think.

Often introduced by Gary Owen, who is a fast talking southern Welsh speaker. But he has phone-in guests from wherever, so you have the challenge of random accents and random phone-line quality.
It’s not for the faint-hearted, but when was any SSiW learner faint-hearted? :slight_smile:

And there have been numerous SSiW folk who have been on there, over the years. If you phoned in and said “SSiW”, I’d be very surprised if they didn’t interview you.

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I listened again this morning and, despite it being only the third time, I definitely feel I understood a little more. Obviously my vocabularly has not increased in the intervening three days, so it must be that I’m just a little more attuned to the rhythms and tempo of the speakers. Or it could be that the articles today just happened to include more words that I know. Or it could be that the speakers were just easier for me to understand.

Regardless, I learned that the tîm pel-droed merched Cymru are playing Lloegr tonight for a place at the Cwpan y Byd. What I’m happy about is that I had no idea this match was taking place before I heard it on the “newyddion”, so I find that rather comforting.

The other thing I found interesting and comforting was that when they interviewed someone connected with the Welsh team, she wasn’t quite fluent. She spoke very fluently but occasionally used English words like “disappointed”, “actually” and a few others. Not often, but enough for me to notice. No one seemed to mind, and somehow I found that, well, comforting. Also, I picked out “tasg ofnadwy”, which I was pleased with!

Oh, and there was an article about, I think, children speaking Welsh at home… but I couldn’t work out if they were saying more or fewer children were doing so.

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Actually, as a virtually meaningless interjection - as it often is in English, is quite common, even among (albeit youngish) first language speakers.

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Stephen, that is brilliant. I’ve been listening to radio broadcasts for over half a year, and all I can say is that you gradually notice it getting less and less difficult (empty half of glass approach) or easier and easier (full half of glass approach). :slight_smile:

[quote=“stephenbranley, post:1, topic:13659”]
Realistically, how much should I be able to understand at this stage? I’ve just finished challenge 18 at level 1. [/quote]… Everyone’s different, but if you can already understand things in the middle of the first challenge, well… wish I could have at that stage! Superb!

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Thanks! One of the things I love about this forum, no… this community, is that everyone is so supportive.

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Totally agree!

A really nice suprise to hear SSiWer @carolynh on Aled Hughes programme on Radio Cymru this morning about the Welsh sport of Pêl-law/Handball and the book by Kevin Dick (diolch @mikefarnworth for the headsup).

From Y Lolfa website:
“Handball: The Story of Wales’ First National Sport by Kevin Dicks: 200 years ago handball was a national obsession. People travelled to watch matches and won or lost fortunes through illegal gambling. Welsh player/official Kevin Dicks’ meticulous research traces the long history of this folk sport from its medieval churchyard roots, through its glory years in the 18th and 19th centuries to its modernisation today”

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Thanks for posting this @johnwilliams_6 - I hadn’t realised that this thread existed. By the way, here’s a link to the programme on BBC Sounds for anyone else who’s interested. Carolyn’s interview starts about an hour into the show.

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Thought I recognised the name!! I was listening to this in the car on the way to work, and was really impressed with Carolyn’s Welsh.

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I’ve just discovered Stori Tic Toc. It’s on Radio Cymru 7pm on Sunday, 5 minute programme for children but with hundreds of episodes on iPlayer and encouragingly easy to grasp after a few listens.

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A yes … and the protagonists present them really well. I always get kind of surge of happyness listening to them. Errr … I’m becoming a kid again. YAY! :slight_smile:

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… and this article about it and mentioning Carolyn has just popped up on the BBC News website:https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/47029612

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I read that after seeing it on Facebook, but hadn’t made the connection. Interesting article, although I’m not sure that the 1800s and 1900s count as mediaeval!

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Yes, their write-up was a bit sloppy – I was a bit annoyed that they seem to be quoting me as saying that! The game was popular informally in churchyards in the Middle Ages but really massive in the 18th and 19th centuries.

I sped-read the thread to see if anyone answered your question about coffi…yes, it mutates to goffi. @aran @garethrking @Iestyn @siaronjames @beca-brown @CatrinLliarJones M
might pick up on why :wink:

why it mutated would depend on its the context in the sentence - it’s pretty much impossible to say from just the word on its own.

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Diolch

one of the best decisions i ever made regarding learning was to switch on radio cymru, not only to improve my language skills but also you find out local news , welsh matters and events. smile:

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No, I think it read clearly enough to me as clumsy writing or editing at that point – I didn’t think it was something you were likely to have said.

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