Losing motivation.....I think I need to start speaking!?

Welsh Speaking Practice
#1

Bore da,

I saw this morning in my email that my subscription money has come out, and I feel bad as I haven’t done any learning this month and am losing motivation. It is all the more harder as I live in Bulgaria, so I don’t hear the Welsh language at all unless I’m watching Welsh TV, but then I find it soooo hard to understand. At one point my learning was going so well that on one occasion, I was at the post office and asked the employee there about sending my package when a strange combination of Bulgari-Welsh came out of my mouth! She looked at me in horror, but I was smiling as I realised that the error meant my mind was processing the language and constructing it appropriately. That was around 6 months ago.

Probably I need to find someone to practice speaking with, but the last time I asked on here, I connected with a very nice young lady, but was totally out of my depth and unable to speak much at all. So, I’d like to try and find someone to speak with, ideally weekly, and someone who wouldn’t mind me infusing my Welsh with English at times, to be able to get a natural conversation going, rather than a forced and boring one! I’m level 2 lesson 7, so still quite primitive, but would love to give using Welsh in conversation a go!

Many Thanks,

Enjoy the beautiful weather :slight_smile:

Sophie

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#2

Bore da Sophie from another beautiful morning in Wales. I am on the six month SSIW course and currently doing Level 2 challenges 7 and 8. It is run through the Slack. App where you get an e mail each week of tasks to keep you motivated and the opportunity to speak to others through Slack. There is also a workplace on Slack called Welsh speaking practice which again gives you plenty of opportunity to have chats with people at the same level, there are details on this forum about it. If you join Slack I am happy to have a chat with you and learn about why you want to learn Welsh and if you’ve ever been to Wales.
We all go through stages where you lose motivation you’ve done so well to get this far especially as you live where you don’t get any opportunity to practice.
Hope you decide to give it another go Pob lwc.

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#3

Hi Sophie,

I don’t know how you are watching Welsh TV, but I assume it’s via the international web page S4C “Clic” service?

http://www.s4c.cymru/en/international/#prog-feed

The problem is that only a sub-set of their programmes are made available internationally.
(I think for licensing type reasons).

But of those, I would suggest perhaps the best ones to go for are the ones that have Welsh, as well as English subtitles, which I think is more useful for serious learners.

Unfortunately, this will be a subset of subset, because not all programmes have Welsh subtitles.
The main one that I know which does is “Rownd a Rownd” which is a soap - I like it, but not everyone goes for soaps. It’s also in northern Welsh, and very colloquial.

I’m reasonably sure that Dal Ati, which is aimed at learners, is available, and that has Welsh subtitles. Also “Dal ati Bore Da”.

But you might also consider the “Pigeon” podcast from Radio Cymru:

and each podcast has a corresponding set of vocabulary online:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiocymru/authors/d7e8c1da-d12b-3421-a95e-2ab4c9f7623d

Pigeon is not a single programme as such, but a selection from various programmes that have gone out over the previous week that they think might appeal to learners.

Of course, there are no subtitles, but you do have the vocabulary, which is something.

There are other podcasts, but they are not aimed at learners. But if you don’t mind children’s stories, there are Stori Tic Toc and Straeon i Blant.

The nice thing about Radio Cymru is that it is almost completely unrestricted (as far as I know) internationally, so you can experiment until you find things you like, This is its main webpage:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/radiocymru

and what I tend to do is browse the schedule:

(click on “amserlen” then choose Radio Cymrui)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7b#on-now

You might find Radio Cymru confusing at first, but keep at it, and eventually things become clearer. You’ll find a lot of words and phrases being repeated over time.

Pob Lwc!

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#4

Hi Sophie,
As Tricia said, the Welsh Speaking Practice group on Slack is great for having conversations. There are people of all levels, and Welsh infused with English at times is no barrier at all! There are sceduled weekly hangout sessions where up to 10 people can join a group chat, sometimes unscheduled hangouts that pop up from time to time, and you can also do 1-to-1 chats with people whenever there is someone online.

Have a read of this thread - Finding practice partners - a new resource - please share

Hope to see you in the group soon! :smiley:

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#5

Hi Sophie,

As others have said, you will find some very kind and supportive people to chat with on Welsh Speaking Practice. Just send an email to admin@saysomethingin.com with WSP in the subject, and I’ll make sure you get an invitation to join.

Dee

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#6

Hello again,

Thank-you all for your supportive responses. I have sent an email to admin as requested and hope to arrange some conversations soon, as I think this will motivate me to keep going. @mikeellwood - yes, I am watching S4C international. I like Ward Plant a lot but find this programme very hard to understand. The talk shows like Bore Da are easier, but not so interesting :wink: Thanks for the programme suggestion, I will check it out, as well as the children’s stories, which is a very good idea. I do listen to pigeon sometimes, but perhaps more background radio generally is a good idea.

So, I hope to speak to some of you in the coming days/weeks!

Diolch i chi, and много поздрави от България!

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