Hi guys and gals I been working now for 3 years in care and my interview was all English I have decided to go for promotion and they have informed that the interviews is going to be welsh any tips I can get through saying I want to say in welsh but my problem is fully understanding the questions I am very nervous about the welsh interview so it would be helpful if you had any tips … thanks diolch
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Listen to the accelerated listening practices for a few days, listen to the questions in the speaking practice bit.
Maybe we could do some questions for you?! @siaronjames @gruntius @aran @netmouse
I’m at work at the moment. When’s the interview? And roughly what’s the job? I’ll record some questions from that if you like?
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Yes, I’d advise the same, and also expose yourself to as much S4C and Radio Cymru as you can - both periods of full-attention listening and periods of ‘on-in-the-background’ while you do something else.
I’d be happy to record some questions for you too, if you could give me some pointers about the sort of thing you think you may be asked.
Also, in many interviews, people are asked if they have any questions they’d like to ask the interviewer - it would be worth practising beforehand some possible ones you may want to ask.
I know interviews are stressful in a 1st language let alone a 2nd, but the standard interview technique of not being afraid to ask them to repeat or clarify a question applies (you can practise asking this in Welsh).
And don’t worry about getting your answers out quickly or being 100% grammatically correct - take your time and if you have to slot in an English word now and again to keep you going, do that.
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Excellent excellent advice from @siaronjames!
If you could give us an idea of the kind of thing you may possibly be asked, we could always record a few questions we think sound plausible. In the same spirit, you might want to have a go at recording yourself answering - or at least some useful snippets of possible answers. That’s pretty hard, of course, so don’t be disheartened! Talking to a real person may be a doddle by then!
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I went to an interview that was 100% Welsh a year ago, and was asked ‘Beth yw eich cryfderau a’ch gwendidau’, but I didn’t know the words cryfderau and gwendidau. After asking them to repeat the question, I had to ask the meaning of those words, which they did- strengths and weaknesses,
I felt a bit embarrassed, but but after the interview one of panel said they were very impressed that I was happy to go through the process while being an active learner.
As we all know from watching Pobol y Cwm, using English nouns is perfectly acceptable in conversational settings.
To cover yourself, I’d suggest you mention that you are still learning Welsh, and aren’t fully fluent, but are keen to be in an atmosphere where you can use the language every day. That should count in your favour.
If you are able to find out in advance who is on the panel, you might be able to ask around and see if one or more of the panel learnt the language an an adult- that person would certinly empathise with your situation.
If nothing else, it will be a great learning experience and milestone along the way. There are thousands of people educated through Welsh but wouldn’t dream of going to an intervew in Welsh- you are to be congratulated for your progress and ambition Dunc.
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ooh, just another thought - if there are any specialist words you think may be helpful but you’re not sure how to pronounce them, list them for us and we can record them and maybe think up a sentence containing them so you can listen and repeat (like in the SSiW levels).
And do practice speaking your answers out loud, not just in your head - and talking back, out loud, to the radio or tv will help too. You may feel a bit daft doing that, but it will help.
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