Hello SSIW friends! I’ve just signed up and proudly completed lesson 1!!! So I’m just wondering how quickly should I work through the lessons?? Is there a recommended time to wait between each section? Should I take notes?? I’m guessing its different for everyone but I’d love to hear your thoughts? From a very excited learner ! Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, croeso cynnes, a warm welcome to the forums!
As it says in the intro, you should move on to the next lesson as soon as you can say the Welsh before the translation about 80% of the time. You will find that you are always given revision chances in every lesson, after all, you don’t say something just once in your life, so you don’t just learn something once.
Excited? You will find you don’t lose that, as you realise just how much Welsh you are capable of saying even in a couple of hours…
Good luck!
Hi Rebecca,
welcome at SSiW and at the forum.
As you guess right, the speed of learning is different for everyone. Some of us do two lessons a month, other 4 in a week. Go on your own pace, it’s not a race, but don’t wait too long and don’t repeat a lesson till it becomes boring.
And remember to come here to the forum if you want to ask something, if you need advise or want to tell us how you’re going on.
Shwmae Rebecca, a chroeso i’r fforwm!
As Gary says, move on to the next lesson as soon as you are saying the Welsh without pausing 80% of the time. Since the words you learned in lesson 1 will reappear in the next lesson, and throughout the course, you will still practice what you have learned. So don’t spend too long on one lesson, If you’re ready to move on, do so!
It’s recommended that you do around at least 20 mins a day, but do as much, or as little as you feel you can do.
With regards to taking notes, you are not encouraged to, as the course is designed to work on your listening and speech. However, if you prefer to write a list of the words you are learning, write them down as you are hearing them and resist the urge to look at how the words are actually spelt until you are at least past the first 10 lessons or so. The reason for this is because of your minds natural ability to pronounce the words you read to the way you’re most familiar with (using the English sounds for letters). The Welsh have their own alphabet, and some letters have their own sounds which are different to the English sounds. Over time these will become more familiar to you, but for now just concentrate on what you’re hearing and you won’t go far wrong.
Also, if you are unsure of anything or have any questions about the course, lessons or what you’re hearing in general in Welsh, ask us here on the forum and someone will come and answer them for you rather quickly.
Best of luck with the course. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as we do!
Hi. Hope you have a great time here. I try to do a lesson a week which is realistic for me to fit around a busy family schedule. I have tried to avoid Welsh becoming something I ‘have’ to do and it seems to work. Have fun. Andy
I agree. Go at a speed that is comfortable and enjoyable for you. I had already learnt some Welsh when I first started to use SSiW, so it was relatively easy to move quickly through the lessons. A bit later I had to slow down because I was really busy at work, and things were getting a bit more complicated. Now I am not working full time, I try to do about 40 minutes each day (I don’t always manage that!), and I am making steady progress. Move on to the next lesson as soon as you can; you can always go back and do a bit of revision. Pob lwc!
Croeso i’r fforwm Rebecca! Glad to hear you enjoyed your first lesson. As others have said, the beauty of this course is that you can work through it at a pace that is right for you, jumping back and forth between lessons if it’s needed too.
With regards to notes, during course 1 I kept a little notebook of the new vocab from each lesson in Welsh only, and I only wrote this after completing the lesson. That helped me to retain the words, but if you can get by without it, even better. Pob lwc with the next lesson! 
Thank you so much everyone for the feedback so far, overwhelming! I think the 80% understanding of each lesson content before moving on to the next lesson is a really good idea. I’m going to try to spend 30mins every other day learning (that’s realistic for me with work and family) and I will reassess how I feel after a few weeks as to my progress! Diolch, Rebecca
Croeso to SSiW Becks! So excited that you’re here and thanks for making the commitment - brilliant!
The way I’ve done it is one lesson per day, no notes. They recommend that you don’t take any notes, and I’d agree with that whole heartedly, while only doing one lesson per day is how I’ve managed to not push myself too hard.
I found that doing one lesson per day made things far easier - if I felt I was missing the 80% mark, I could redo the lesson the following day; if I felt I’d hit it, I’d do the next lesson the following day. That being said, while I found this easier, I’m sure others will have found it less so - personal experience and all that. That being said, this is about learning to speak Welsh, not how to read and write it. There is a massive difference, and the latter is far easier once you’ve done the former.