I’m only on my third day but enjoying speaking Welsh. My mother didn’t speak English until she was 8 but as we lived in England she decided not to teach my sister and me. So now I’ve finally come back I’m learning at home. I’ve used Duolingo for the past 6 months but although I know hundreds of words, I still can’t speak!
I’m looking forward to becoming more confident and able to talk to some of the local people who I already know do speak Welsh.
That’s great, @rhian-marshall! Croeso adre! Welcome home!
You’ll soon find that you’ll be able to combine the words you’ve learnt with Duolingo into the phrases and structures you learn with us. Start talking a little with the local people and your Welsh will take off!
Diolch yn fawr. I may have only lived in Wales for 18 months of my 59 years but I have always been fiercely proud of my roots. Quite astonishing really, how strong the pull is! So good to be home 
There is a lady who works in the local shop and she is a Welsh speaker. I say bore da, she talks back and I am stuck 
. One day she will be surprised I have something to say, I hope!
Definitely! And soon you’ll be learning how to ask her to speak more slowly and to say that you’re just learning, so you’ll be able to use those phrases with her 
Llongyfarchiadau a phob lwc. I hope you continue to enjoy your studies and I believe you will.
As you may already have discovered a lot of people who are not Welsh or even UK citizens study the language. The appeal for us is that it is the key to a rich, old but still vibrant civilization coexisting with our own which would otherwise be closed to us.
One of the advantages of this course is that we are introduced to it through videos to popular entertainers. That has encouraged me to explore more on Hansh, S4C and other media ranging from Gareth the Orangutan to .Ameer’s pub and restaurant reviews.
Enjoy the adventure.
@rhian-marshall I use Duolingo too, and it is quite good at helping cement some words for me (such as ‘pannas’!) and also some of the constructions but I’d say SSiW wins hands-down in terms of getting you speaking and understanding other speakers. So if I had to choose between the two I’d chose SSiW. But BOTH together is really quite powerful (in my opinion) provided you spend more time speaking with SSiW than typing with DL…
Parsnips. I will definitely be buying those after using Duolingo and obviously eating them in the Antarctic!
I’m just awaiting the email to continue with the SSiW adventure. Also signed up for a year of twice weekly zoom lessons, going to be busy!
Helo! I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question? I also apologise if it has already been asked but I can’t find it… newydd dw i 
I understand the concept of 6 minutes a day minimum or whatever you wish. I also see that the advice is that you don’t need to go over the material again as “revision” as this is built into the course.
My question is one of psychology I suppose. Is the 1 challenge per week to allow the mind time to absorb the information? I ask because I have time to do the whole 30 mins each day so could repeat it 7 times before the email for the next challenge comes through. I wouldn’t attempt to race ahead. I want to take my time and enjoy myself. But would it be benefical to repeat the 1st challenge each day for the week and so on with each challenge. Or would it be wasted energy.
I am not an awkward person (I hope) and if the intention of the course (and indeed the best way) is to just do 6 mins a day, then that is what I will do…
Thanks for your patience. I am just guilty of being keen!
@thane, absolutely fine to post your question here. Doing the same challenge 7 times is normally considered vast overkill; one repeat is usually more than enough. People don’t always have that amount of time available. Not having done the 6 minutes a day course, I don’t know the precise rules that apply, but am tagging @Deborah-SSi to see if it’s possible to maybe speed your course up a bit to, say, two challenges a week.
Thank you for your time and reply @AlanP . All understood. Perhaps I will standby for @Deborah-SSi assessment
Hi @thane! And diolch @AlanP for flagging up the question
The “6 Minutes a Day” is the minimum time you need to spend to be able to progress at a rate of 1 challenge per week, but you’re welcome to do more than that. It seems fairly common for people to go through a challenge 3 times before moving onto the next one. They still may not remember everything from the challenge, but it’s sufficient to move on and allow the built-in revision and practice to take care of the rest of the learning process.
What some people do, if they find they have more time available, is to move ahead in the challenges (you can do that through ‘Learn’ then ‘Challenges’ here on the website, or with the SSiW mobile app), but they allow the emails to come at the set schedule. They then go back and do the tasks that come with that email, plus have another run through the challenge for that week. They often say that they pick up little things they missed the first time through, and it helps them to feel the progress that they’re making as it’s much easier than it was.
Others also work ahead, but every now and then request that they be moved along in the course so that the emails match where they are. They then read back over the emails they’ve skipped and complete those tasks before carrying on.
There is also the possibility of being swapped onto a version of the course that gives you 2 challenges per week, if that is something you could do consistently. You would then complete the course in 6 months instead of 12.
It’s up to you how you do it, but it does sound to me as if you could tackle more than 1 challenge per week, and you’d benefit from that.
Thank you for a swift and comprehensive reply @Deborah-SSi !
On reflection I think I will keep things as they are and perhaps work ahead with the challenges and revisit when the emails drop through on a weekly basis.
It is all food for thought and there is definately an element of personal psychology involved. Going over each challenge 7 times would, as @AlanP said, be overkill. But it would undoubtedly give some a sense of control! However, I think I understand that it would be time lost as one would not be “learning” any faster.
Sometimes less really is more
Diolch for your time and patience
If you repeat a challenge too many times, you also become familiar with the order so your brain doesn’t have to work as hard. It can start producing the Welsh by rote instead of having to actively think about what you’re saying.
That’s why having the sentences come at you in a different order as you move through the Challenges is important. MRI scans have shown that the brain doesn’t activate the same if the pattern is familiar, so while more repetitions may seem like a useful thing to do, your brain will be less active so you don’t get the same benefit as you would if you move on a few, then come back and have a fresh run through.