My introduction, and Diolch, Aran!

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Hi! First off, I’ll try to write as much in Welsh as I can:

Wnes i ddechrau dysgu Cymraeg 11 diwrnod yn ôl. O’n i’n gwneud 5 gwersi o “Course 1,” ac yn nes ymlaen o’n i’n gwneud y 25 gwersi o “Level 1.” Dw i newydd orffen y gwrs heno. Wnes i ei mwynhau yn fawr iawn! Dw i’n licio dysgu ieithoedd yn fawr, a Cymraeg iaith hyfryd. Liciwn i ymarfer siarad efo rhyw un, ond wnes i ddim gwneud unrhyw beth hyd yn hyn, achos dw i newydd ddechrau, ac achos wnes i ddim gwneud gyfarfod ffrind (na unrhyw un) sy’n siarad Cymraeg hyd yn hyn, achos dw i’n dod o America. Rhaid i mi ddweud DIOLCH wrth Aran a wrth Cat am y gwrs hwn!

(By which I meant to say something along the lines of: I started studying Welsh 11 days ago. I did 5 lessons of Course 1, and then I did the 25 lessons of Level 1. I just finished that course. I enjoyed it a lot! I like to study languages very much, and Welsh is a beautiful language. I would like to practice speaking with someone, but I didn’t do that yet, because I just started, and because I didn’t meet a friend (or anyone) yet who speaks Welsh, because I come from America. I have to say THANK YOU to Aran and Cat for this course!)

I made a comment recently, buried in the bowels of a comment stream somewhere, about how I have been following the “updated” instructions to do Level 1 (not Course 1) first, not pause, and not repeat lessons, while cramming them in as fast as possible. The predictable result was mind-bending, face-melting horror, as my brain was thrashed within an inch of its life. But as far as I can tell, it worked perfectly. I understood everything in lesson 25, and I was able to say quite a lot of it, some of it at great speed. I was trained early on to stop worrying about any 80% rule, and I have absolutely no idea what my “score” was in that regard.

Speaking as someone who is a “compulsive language learner” and who owns a scary-big library of well-worn language-learning materials, I can say from experience that this is a very good course. It’s mind-blowing to think that someone is giving it away for free, and that the higher-levels are available for a song. I’m sure the fair market value for a course like this is much higher, so I assume that Aran is also trying to do his part to promote and protect the language, for which he should be applauded.

I just subscribed, and I look forward to learning more!

(Dw i angen gwydrad neu ddau (neu dri) rŵan…)

10 Likes
#2

Hi Geoffrey, welcome to the forum!

An entire level in 11 days…wow! That’s pretty incredible. I’ve found personally that three lessons a day is pretty much my limit. I think I reach saturation point there, and nothing else goes in after that. I completely agree that this course is very, very undervalued, but Aran seems to have a habit of pricing his products well below what they’re worth!

You’ll actually find as you look through the forum that there are quite a lot of Americans here. I’ll tag @petejones to this post - I know he’s looking for practice partners, and he’s from the states.

3 Likes
#3

Croeso! I am sure that you post will be music to Aran’s ears. That really is an amazing amount to learn in 11 days. Congratulations. :smile:

2 Likes
#4

Croeso yma @geoffreywilliamson. Congrats! You do really superbly and (to a bit non-sirious note) I’m a bit jelous of your acheavements! …

I should agree with you @Karla on this but I know exactly what @aran has in mind: What would be one language course suitable for if only handful crowd would be able to afford it? Then such course wouldn’t serve its purpose and it is to save the language from distinction and to keep it alive. The more people speaks it the more alive it is surely doesn’t quite go with fair (market) pricing of it. It might be many of us wouldn’t be on here learning if it would be priced as it worths … actually we can not pay the price this course deserves to be priced with - because it’s PRICELESS! But yes, the monthly fee for the whole course and what comes with it could be higher, that’s for sure.

Well, but this is just my humble point of view of course which may very well be totally wrong though.

Hwyl! :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#5

I agree completely with you, Tatjana. And yes, the course is priceless in a way that most language courses just aren’t…and some of them cost a fortune! :smile:

4 Likes
#6

Croeso! This is an amazing achievement, doing all the course in 11 days! It has taken me 3 months, and I’m still on lesson 22.
If you want to practice the language with someone, maybe you will find interesting the topic about skype here on this forum? I know it’s not as exciting as talking in real life, but thanks to skype I had my first conversation in Welsh last week, which made me really happy:)

3 Likes
#7

Hi Geoffrey,

What languages have you learned - I’m intrigued.?

Eirwen and I lived in California for about 11 years.

And a warm welcome to the Forum,

Justin

2 Likes
#8

Hi Stella! It was wonderful to talk to you. You did brilliantly for your first time, I have to say! :smile:

3 Likes
#9

Hi Karla:) Thank you so much, for our conversation and for being so kind! I forgot most of the words the first time, but I’ll try to improve so we can talk about all our common interests in Cymraeg, eventually!

1 Like
#10

No problem at all. It won’t be long before you’ll be able to converse quite comfortably for a while. I think for me it was after about the fifth or sixth chat I had where everything just clicked. You did very well though - I think we managed about half an hour in mostly Welsh. That’s better than I did early on!

3 Likes
#11

Well done both of you @stella and @Karla. …

Such posts always make me ponder my thoughts upon myself though. … :frowning:

1 Like
#12

Thank you! I think skype conversations are so very important if you don’t live in Wales and can’t harrass the poor native speakers into talking to you (when I visit Wales I’ll wear a T-shirt with “Dw i ddim yn siarad Saesneg” on it so as to get every opportunity to speak Welsh that I can!). I was worrying very much before our conversation about my pronunciation and if someone would be able to understand me!
So, @geoffreywilliamson, I very much advise you to find someone on skype to talk too! It’s a wonderful feeling :sunny:

2 Likes
#13

I’m sure you’d do absolutely fine in a conversation! You’re a very experienced learner, from what I’ve read of your experiences with Cymraeg. If you’re ever in need of a practice partner, I’d be happy to chat with you, too! :smile:

1 Like
#14

That’s a great idea! I might just copy you there!

1 Like
#15

There was a TV-series some time ago set in Ireland, where a young man was travelling around the country pretending he didn’t speak any English. It was quite sad, because it showed that lots of people in Ireland don’t speak their native language. But I’m sure in Wales the situation is much much better:)

2 Likes
#16

That does sound sad. It seems to me that more people (at least in Wales) are becoming interested in speaking the language their parents and grandparents spoke, which is lovely. Obviously, I can’t really comment considering that I don’t live there, but to an outsider, that’s how it looks. :smile:

1 Like
#17

I agree. I’m an outsider too, of course, but it seems that Cymraeg is the most cherished and well-protected of all the Celtic languages.

1 Like
#18

I think you meant ‘extinction’ Tatjana fach!! :wink:
p,s, Years back, we had cases of young people from Patagonia coming ‘home’ for an education at Coleg Harlech, who arrived at London Heathrow speaking Spanish and Welsh. They had real trouble and efforts were made to ensure any who came were met by a fluent speaker of Cymraeg!! Now, if one flew into Cardiff Rhoose he/she might have trouble!! (Or maybe there are actually more speakers of Cymraeg in Caedydd than there were???)

1 Like
#19

I’m sure you’re too hard on yourself Tatjana! And if you’re ever in need of another conversational partner for Cymraeg I’d be happy to have a Skype-meeting! My offer about Italian is valid too:)

#20

I felt like I was getting saturated early on, as well. I tried to keep going unless I did a lesson where I truly couldn’t follow anything that was going on for the whole thing. But 11 days only averages a bit over 2 lessons a day, remember! Sometimes I started totally blanking on a number of things in a row, but the lessons switch gears frequently, so I kept getting back on track a little bit. And by the time I’d gone through about 20 lessons I seemed to be getting used to it.

I never would have tried it, but Aran sent an automated email 2-3 days after I signed up suggesting the bulldozer approach of 5-10 lessons in a day (and saying he’d seen someone do 15!).

3 Likes