Hello! This is my first time on the forum and I couldn’t figure out where to post my question so I plonked it here. I’m just starting out on Course 1 Northern and I felt like I was doing well up to lesson 3 then everything seems to have gone wrong and I’m not able to remember anything or take in the new stuff being taught (I had a 5 day break from listening). Do I just plough on through and do the 5 lesson challenge even though I’m in a cloud of confusion (and never able to say it before Catrin) or do I stop, go back and then continue on when I’m feeling more able? Thanks in advanced! Angela 
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I ploughed on talking over Catrin and making loads of mistakes.
(I was doing Course 1; your comments sound like you are doing Level 1.)
Anyway, after I got through Lesson 6b I went back to Lesson 3 thinking that I needed to improve on my first attempts. What I found was that it was undescribably easy. I think the difficulty is being able to judge how much progress you are really making while having to give all youur attention to getting the answers out.
It helped me a lot that some people who were ahead of me gave me quite a lot of time via Skype. Also, meeting with a local group gives a valuable opportunity to sort things out in your head. Try those two if you can.
But I would say that your real answer is to carry on regardless!
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Shwmae Angela, a chroeso i’r fforwm!
I would suggest, if you take a short break, to go back to the previous lesson you completed - just to get back into the swing of things. Then move on to the next lesson.
With the 5 lesson challenge, I would hazard a guess that the challenge would only be beneficial if you were to continue into the next lesson with no more than a couple of days break inbetween. But then I’m probably not the best person to suggest this as I completed the available courses before these challenges were put to use! In my own personal experience from learning, I only moved onto the next lesson after getting 80% of the replies before Cat (on the Southern course), repeating the lessons if necessary, only I also raised that bar to 90% replies before Cat for myself! And if I took a break from learning, I would go back to the last lesson I completed before moving on, just to get back into the flow!
These challenges probably do require some commitment for them to be effective, and I’m sure @aran will be happy to explain how they work for you.
Hope this little setback won’t stop you moving forward, and hope you enjoy the rest of the course.
Gav
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I’m sure too, and I say Croeso to you Angela. @aran almost always says to carry on and all will be well. @tatjana would tell you she repeats until she gets better percentages. Me? Well, I am not really a learner… I’m a serial ‘forgetter’ who has either been learning or forgetting or both since before most on the forum were born!! So, I plough on sometimes and repeat sometimes. I’d say, do what feels comfortable to you!!
Do what is enjoyable and feels as if you are progressing!!
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Usually when people feel like this, it’s because they’ve started to make mistakes, and they’re focusing on the mistakes more than on what is working - I can’t think of a single occasion when someone has said that they’re ‘getting everything wrong’ and (when asked to measure) has actually got every single prompt->response wrong… 
So, because the system is built on letting your memory consolidate partially (you’re not meant to remember everything perfectly straight away) it would probably be a good idea for you to carry on for a while - if #4 is where you think everything went wrong, I’d recommend carrying on through to 10 and then revisiting 4 and seeing if it feels different (it probably will!)…
But the most important thing of all is that you keep on going somehow - so if you feel close to despair and start to consider chucking it all in, come back on here and ask for help - there’s no harm in taking it all a bit more leisurely if that helps you feel better about it…
Good luck, and keep us posted! 
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I knew @aran would say that!! I only posted in case it took him time to notice you… but of course it didn’t because he’s incredibly efficient!!!
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Croeso, Angela! Don’t worry if it feels like your brain is melting - that’s completely normal! This course has a habit of stretching your brain to its limit, so it’s very common to come away from a lesson feeling like you’ve been through the spin cycle on the washing machine. But you’ll be amazed at how much you retain as you go through the course. 
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Naaa, naaaa, naaa @henddraig … not anymore. It was Course 1 3 times, yes, then it went strait away. @Aran just is good at convincing people they need to do things without repetition and since he gave me exact gudance what to do I really didn’t repeat anything anymore (except for what I’ve started previously and then stopped doing in the middle).
Yah, its hard, extreamly hard but I hope (well let’s say I believe (more positive expression)) it will eventually pay off one day.
Do what @aran tells you even if it’s hard. And yes, when the things will be hard for you, come on here and say so. Here’s always someone to give you some good advise.
And welcome to the forum @Angela from me too. Good luck with learning. You’ll succeed, you’ll see, so keep going.
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Croeso Angela.
Nothing to add to the good advice you’ve been given, so good luck with whichever way you decide to carry on, and of course I hope you will decide to carry on.
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Croeso Angela, everyone here has had rough patches where certain lessons seemed such a struggle and impossible to get to grips with. This can make you repeat it a number of times, I once repeated a lesson about 5 times because I really felt it hadnt ‘gone in’ enough. I do feel (looking back) that this was a useless exercise because although an extra listen (or 2) can make you feel a little more comfortable with it, if you repeat too much you begin to feel stalled. You WILL meet the thing you struggled with lots of times in following lessons and believe me it will one day just ‘BE THERE’ unbidden, at the very front of your mind, with no conscious effort! Always follow Aran’s advice, it is invaluable, and he has always been right! He learned Cymraeg as an adult so he knows what he is talking about, please trust the system and keep at it! Pob lwc.
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Don;t worry about getting stuff wrong
A core element of language learning is making many mistakes…just shake them off and think those mistakes were needed to help you progress <3
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Thank you all so much for your advise. It really has been extremely encouraging to read your comments and I am very grateful that you have taken the time to reply! Welsh…the thought of needing to fit in my learning and get back on the podcasts has been on my mind daily. I am settling into a new job and a new flat and lots of other new stuff so just figuring out my new routine. Today I have put a good chunk on the Course 1 podcasts on my MP3 player so now I will be able to listen (and whisper to myself) while on the move (and looking slightly crazy!) Thank you all again for your kind words of encouragement! 
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