Oh my ! Level 2!

Blimey it’s hard! Done challenge 3 but can’t remember about 60% of it. Heads spinning! I’m starting to dislike “their” children. They sound very naughty! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I grew to pathologically hate them too! Keep going, it gets easier! :slight_smile:

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Oi, lay off my kids…:wink:

40% straight out of the gate is fine, Vicky - roll with it and keep going, you’re doing well… :slight_smile:

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My kids were a handful too when they were young, but thankfully they’ve grown up now and have kids of their own. :smile:

Strangely, I’m getting on a lot better with Level 2 than I did with Level 1, but I think that’s simply because I’m getting more used to working aurally rather than visually. Previously I would read the English and say the Welsh, but these challenges are definitely sharpening up my speed of response.

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Hello again @vickyandrew

I am pressing on with Level 2. I have reached the stage where “Are those your children?” comes as a welcome relief because at last I can say it. (Mostly.) It does happen, though I found it difficult to get my tongue round the phrase. The later stuff is still very hazy, but no doubt it will become clearer and be replaced with even later haze. I am trying to get to grips with the interfering people who want us to spend more time meeting as a group. Wait until you come across them!

Best of luck!

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They’re from real life, too [I spent a brief and less than glorious year or so working for the county council…;-)].

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“They ought to be more open” and similar seem like County Council talk. I have now got to the cups of tea or coffee. Bliss. :slight_smile:

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Love reading the comments on the Forum. It’s like having another family out there (and probably a better one than the real one, LOL!). I’ve finally got to grips with L2, Challenge 17, the second half of which where we give someone something or perhaps we’d better not ‘if I were you’ was a particular challenge, but a challenge once overcome is one of the best feelings in the world. “RESULT” I scream to myself when I get there. I too hated the droning on and on about little adults - a real reflection of those friends of mine who chose to procreate and droned on too to someone who always knew she didn’t want any of that sort of thing - there were always plenty of other people around to fulfil that role, thank goodness. That let me off the hook of having to ‘produce’ - phew! Anyway, I digress and no offence intended to those who love the little mites! Just glad I got past it am on to C18, L2 and loving that warm and comforting feeling of the forum.

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Having worked for Powys CC and now an organisation that - though private sector - has a similar ethos in many ways - yes, definitely sounds like local govt talk. Tick the ‘they ought to be more open’ box or be more inclusive and meet more often as a group. In fact, we should have a meeting to decide when to meet next, LOL.

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Having worked for Cambridgeshire County Council at the time that they led the PC revolution, I feel your pain. What a breath of fresh air it was after that, going to an interview in West Glamorgan’s County Hall, overlooking the Swansea Beach.

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Yes, yes, yes.

I am still a long way from being comfortable with “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I wonder (but only vaguely) what grammar is involved in that expression and how long it would take to learn it in a conventional evening class. I learned French for 6 years in school and I could never have said anything like that.

I went there to register my Dad’s death. When they asked “Where was he born?”, I was able to answer “Just over the road from here.”

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Sorry to hear about your dad, but nice to have the personal touch. I find that comes in handy with the DVLA too.

Anyway, I think it might be past tense, conditional aspect :slight_smile: It has taken me 60 years to learn that in English and I’m still a bit dodgy on it.

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How is it going now @carolineparkinson? I collapsed into silence on L2 Challenge 17, had an enforced break while I was away from home, and started again with the children in Challenge 4. I have made it back to Challenge 17 which is still difficult, but not totally impossible the second time round. I can’t yet claim to have overcome the challenge, but I feel able to press on.

. Did “Find a better way” turn up in “Yes Minister”, or was it “House of Cards”?

Hmm. That seems very likely. And thank you for the kind words, though I have to admit that it was 20 years ago.

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Noswaith dda #betterlatethan I struggled with L2 Challenge 17, then also with 18 and 19, but have pressed on now to 20. What can I say? I sometimes find not seeing how something is written down is an obstacle because I’m a stickler for correct pronunciation and without seeing how something is spelt it can be difficult sometimes as hearing what’s said is not always that easy. The subtleties of “dd” or “th” or “f” and sometimes even “b” can get lost in the audio rendition. But do it enough times and you get there in the end. There are some challenges I breeze through in no time and some I get stuck on, but I think the best advice I can give is not to beat yourself up about it; if you’re happy repeating a challenge several times (like me) then why not? And if not, then fine, don’t… I don’t entirely agree with #Aran when he says that you should not repeat too often and just move on. It’s horses for courses and each to his own. Sometimes moving on makes me feel confident and sometimes I’d rather really get a challenge that’s particularly (s’cuse the pun) challenging under my belt.

Yes, I agree. I don’t have a very good ear for discriminating between sounds, and I find it very helpful to look at the vocabulary for each lesson to find out what I have been saying. Sometimes I repeat challenges and sometimes I don’t. When a challenge comes to an end, my software will start it again automatically unless I deliberately go and stop it. If I am doing something else such as washing up, it seems easier just to keep going and do it again.

I also agree that some challenges seem much easier than others. There are some words that I have met before and obviously that helps.

It has been encouraging to compare notes with someone at a similar place to myself, so thank you for that.

Hwyl fawr.
Sue

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@Betterlatethan comparing notes and knowing there are others ‘out there’ in the same boat is invaluable and we all have to thank @aran, Iestyn, Catrin and others I don’t even know of for that. We are ‘suffreing’ in mid Wales from a distinct lack of interest in learning Welsh as adults (I got to an Aberystwyth Uni class on a Tue night in Builth) and partly as a result of the threat of its non-continuance, a class-mate and I are going to get together once a week to do another hour of Welsh. It’ll help us both; primarily her as she’s not using as many different resources as I am so probably struggling a bit more to be honest, but it’ll help me no end as well - the more you do…

I completely agree. Throughout my teaching career I’ve always followed the advice I learned from training horses and dogs, which is to always to end a session on a good note. But if I’ve floundered my way through a challenge, unable to come up with the Welsh before Catrin starts to speak, then I end up feeling very deflated. It doesn’t matter how often Aran says to push on, if I feel I’ve totally messed up, I just start to feel more and more hopeless. For me, that way leads to despair! So for me, repeating a lesson until I feel more confident works better.

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Just for fun I recorded myself doing Level 2 Challenge 11. I had some idea of seeing how many I got right, partially right or not right at all, but then I didn’t bother to count. On my second pass (4-17), I decided to record Challenge 11 again for comparison. The two versions seemed remarkably similar. Maybe I shall go back and do it again some time.

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Just for clarity’s sake, for anyone else reading this thread, the advice I give is that you should push on to test your own boundaries, and take care not to get stuck in multiple repetitions of lessons, but that you should always avoid pushing yourself into despair - it’s always better to repeat and use the pause button than it is to give up… :slight_smile:

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I’m glad you said that! :smile:

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