I started this course about a week and a half ago and felt it was about time that I introduced myself on the forum. A bit about myself first… My name is Ben and I’m from the Chicago IL, USA area (pretty far away form wales haha I know). I’m currently about halfway through college at the moment and taking advantage of my summer break to try and learn a little welsh each day. I mostly got interested in learning the language because next summer my family is taking a trip to the UK and we are planning on visiting a lot of wales along the way. My family immigrated from Wales to America many generations back and we are planning on visiting the places they used to live (the Bala, Wales area I believe…). I definitely understand many people in Wales can speak English, but I wanted to connect more with the Welsh culture itself while I’m there and thought learning the language would be a great way to achieve that. I have really enjoyed learning Welsh so far and am sure I will continue to in the near future.
As for my question on the daily practices… I know in the introduction for these practices it says to have at least completed course 1 lessons 1 up to lesson 6. The only problem for me is I am using level 1 not course 1 for my learning. So if i am currently on level 1 lesson #8 are the lessons similar enough between course 1 and lesson 1 that the daily practices would still be useful for me? I would have just tried one to be sure, but it requires me to pay a subscription so I just wanted to make sure that I could get my money’s worth right off the bat before I pay the subscription.
Oh yeah one last thing (sorry for this long post), but the biggest hindrance for me is actually finding people to speak the language with here in america. Once I get through level 1 and 2 and become a bit more confident in my speaking I’d totally be down to use Skype to practice with fellow members on here if anyone would like to.
Thanks so much everyone and hopefully I see you all around this forum.
Welcome, Ben! I’m also from the US, but a bit older than you…I have a child your age I don’t have any family relationship to Wales but I am having a great time learning the language. It’s great to see that you want to connect more with the Welsh culture and language. How lucky you are to be traveling to Wales!
I am doing the older Course 1, Southern version. Since I’m not doing Level 1, I’m not sure how the daily practices apply for you. It’s my understanding that there are listening practices built into Level 1 every so often. However, the weekly practices are free, and they are the same idea as the daily ones, so you could try that out and see what it’s like for you without having to subscribe first. Someone else more familiar with Level 1 will be sure to chime in with a more helpful answer for you.
I have no one to speak with in the States, either, and am hoping to get up the courage to Skype with people after I’ve learned a bit more. Perhaps one day we can siarad Cymraeg with each other.
Helo Ben
Croeso!
Such a coincidence - I have just booked a holiday to Chicago (first time) and then I cam on here and saw your post.
I hope that you enjoy the course
Jenny
I did the whole Course 1 Southern version and Level 1 up to Lesson 15 so a bit feedback from me. As @AnnaC already said, listening practices of Level 1 are built into the course itself.
First listening practice is at Challenge 5 which is in normal speed and (if I remember correctly) it repeats the same text 3 times. It contains all the words and structures which you’ve learnt until Challenge 5.
The second Listening practice is at Challenge 10 but if you want to reach it you have to switch to Northern version. For southern version from now on there are no listening practices for the time being but northern ones are useful enough. From Challenge 10 listening practices are in double speed because they’re more meant to accelerate your brains to get used to normal native speakers speach and to enhance their quick reactions in thinking then to really listen and understand what was said in the practice.
The third listening practice (also north) is at Challenge 15, also double speed and the dialog is introduced.
The fourth is at Challenge 20.
And the last one is at the end of the Level at Challenge 25.
They are not similar to Weekly or daily practices of Course 1 but as I recall, you would manage to understand many things. Personally, if you’re doing Level 1 I’d rather stick with inbuilt practices but if you feel like there’s not enough material to listen to, then go ahead and do weekly practices to test if they help you since they’re free and then decide whether you’d want to pay subscription or not right now.
Thanks for the kind words everyone! It’s great to see there are other people here in the U.S. using this website too! Jenny I’m sure you will have a great holiday in Chicago it’s a beautiful city! And as for my question on the practices… i didn’t even notice the listening practices at the end of lesson 5 so thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
Welcome! I think you’ll see there are a lot of us in the US! I am pretty sure @cyd is from Chicagoland, too. Maybe you guys are a future Chicago-based meet up group waiting to happen!
Helo Ben a shwmae! Dwi’n dod o Chicago area hefyd; Wnes i ddecrau dysgu’r iaith Cymraeg arol darllan llyfrau The Dark is Rising eto…yn enwedig The Grey King. S’dim unrhyw teulu 'da fi yn neu oddi ar Cymru…jyst isio’r dysgu’r iaith.
(Hello Ben and welcome! I am also from the Chicago area; I started learning the Welsh language after reading The Dark is Rising books again…specifically The Grey King. I don’t have any family in or from Wales…just wanted to learn the language)
As always…those more in know feel free to correct my Welsh. It’s horribly early here so i’m sure I’ve made mistakes.
Again…welcome Ben! Hope to hear more from you around here but for now…rhaid i mi yn barod ar gyfer gwaith.
I’m just back from visiting Chicago! I had a great time there, and I think I’ve persuaded my friends there that they need to come to Wales next year also. They were quite surprised to find out that they already have a Welsh street name in the city - Bryn Mawr.
Well done for your progress on the course so far - it’s great that you’re doing this. It will be appreciated in the Bala area when you come to visit, I’m sure. Mwynhau! (Enjoy!)
FYI I believe there’s a ton of Welsh street and county names in Philedelphia. Bryn Mawr is one and there’s Lower and Upper Merion, Bala Cynwyd and more.
I remember living in Villanova pan wnes i ifanc and wondering who came up with “those weird names.”
I don’t have any family relationship to Wales but I am having a great time learning the language. It’s great to see that you want to connect more with the Welsh culture and language. How lucky you are to be traveling to Wales!
