I’m just about start Challenge 1:5 and I am having a lot of problems with the challenges and the pause button. I have a naturally slow speaking voice in English and other languages I speak. Drawly. However much I practice I will never be able to answer without the pause button 80% of the time. Maybe I’ll make it 10 or 20%. I am remembering and learning words very well but I am wondering if the SSIW method will not work for me given this is the case due to the speed of my voice. Should I cancel my membership? And does anyone else have this problem?
Hi Lindsay,
When I started the course I tried hard not to use the pause button as I had read in the instructions.
But for me it was just…terrible!
I got really frustrated because I just couldn’t answer before the voice.
In my case I needed more time to sort of rebuild in my head what I had just heard in English, think of what to say in Welsh often going through Italian in between, and pronounce it - all in those handful of seconds!
And at the same time I was beating myself up for not being able to do the exercise right, and doubting it would work cause I was so nervous I didn’t even remember much!
However, I decided to persist and just try and use pause button as much as I felt I needed:
It instantly went so much better!!!
Much smoother and way more enjoyable from then on.
Instructions - about repetitions pause, reading - in Ssiw are really suggestions for the method to work at his best. But tweaks to adapt it to your individual style are still ok.
Only mandatory thing I think is…keeping on enjoying Welsh and learning it! 
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Gisella is absolutely right - the use (or non-use) of the pause button is a guideline, but since everyone is different, there can never be a “one-size-fits-all” course.
Do as much as you can with minimal use if you can, but don’t worry at all about having to use it as much as you need to when you really need it (and particularly when the sentences get really long, you will!). Ignore the percentages!
The secret to the course (however you tweak it) is that it will get you speaking, and there’s nothing at all wrong with speaking Welsh in a lovely, slow, drawly voice 
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Hi @lindsay-2, I’m not only a slow speaker but a slow learner and without the pause button I would never have made any progress at all. Some folks manage well without using it; some of us absolutely depend on it.
Yet, despite using the pause button all the time and still making a lot of mistakes in speaking (which I no longer worry about), I now regularly have a good number of 1-to-1 conversations on Slack and, amazingly, sometimes get complimented on my Welsh.
So the learning process has to be adapted to what is right for you. If you’re finding you’re making progress that’s the only thing that matters: how much you use the pause button is of no consequence at all.
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Thank you all of you for your kind and encouraging replies. I feel much better now and I really do believe I will get there OK now. What a lovely helpful community! I am very impressed with those of you who started the challenges from scratch. ( I have done Welsh on Duolingo for several years - i’m on a 730 day streak right now - so many words are familiar to me). Right I shall go and get stuck into 1:5 and use the Pause button without guilt!
Diolch yn fawr ffrindiau!
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When doing the lessons I also used the pause button as needed, and Gwych! I got through them and felt that I had learnt them. And @AlanP your spoken Welsh in our fortnightly chats is great.
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I am on level 2 her 10 and have used the pause button 80% of the time right from the start. It works for me.
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Hi I am now on week15 and this is the first time I have felt brave enough to get online, apart from the daily listening and learning. I find that I have to use the pause button often because it takes me a long time to remember the words, and the answer is too fast for my brain! But don’t give up, I think it’s worth doing and you will be able to understand conversations… hopefully. Good luck. Jacqui
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I usually use my phone for SSiW, and to use the pause button is difficult, because my screen shuts off even though the lesson continues. To pause, I have to re-enter my code to unlock the phone and get to the SSiW screen, and by that time the lesson is running away with me. If I use my computer at work (don’t tell) it’s easy to pause.
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On the app I changed the settings so that the screen never turns off while the app is open. I used the pause button heavily during my first run through the levels, with each challenge taking an hour instead of half an hour! But without it I would have found it too difficult. I’m now going through them again and can do it without the pause this time!
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@jack-walter I have just the same problem with my phone. Perhaps I can try to do as @emma-ireland suggests and turn off that cut out in the app. I am not very good at tweaking settings. So now I am only doing ssiw on my laptop - I am lucky to have that option but I get into it less often. Great ideas and feedback from others, thank you so much.
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I’m also a pretty sloooooow talker. And I was using the pause a lot early on, but I’m now up to 1:19 and use it a lot less. I take a half hour walk every morning to commute to work (I end up back at my house, so it’s a circular commute). And with the recent weather the fact that my phone is inside my pocket and I have thick gloves on forces me to not use pause at all. I just accept that I’ll get some wrong, or only get a bit out before Cat starts speaking or just have to talk over them. I’m really happy with how much I have learned in a short time (Dw i’n hapus iawn gyda’r faint dw i wedi ddysgu mewn amser byr). Keep at it and you should get better.
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I do agree - I found sometimes I had to use the pause button as the stress of trying to get the answer verbalised in the time available just caused me to fail completely! I sometimes felt guilty about this, but I learn better when reasonably relaxed, and learning with SSIW this way was successful for me. So, although it may be going against recommendations, I would say do what works for you. You might find if you repeat the activities later you will need the pause button much less which will encourage you a lot. And definitely don’t cancel your subscription!
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