Shwmae! I am pretty new to learning welsh and from next week onwards I am planning to listen to SSiW whilst driving to uni and listen to Radio Cymru podcasts on the way home, in addition to using duolingo. I’m also using Anki and adding new welsh words to that when I come across them. Does anyone else know any other useful apps, podcasts, websites, youtube, or any other tips for learning welsh or making the process quicker?
I was also wondering, is it better to perfect a lesson before moving onto the next one, or is it better to progress quickly? and how often do you repeat the lessons? I repeat each lesson I have learnt already, before starting a new lesson, is that a good thing, or would it be more beneficial to progress a faster rate with less repetition?
Some of the pronunciation is difficult for me at this stage but have people found that it becomes easier over time? How do you know if you are pronouncing it in the right way if you are practicing alone?
It depends. Personally, I just used this and have reached a decent standard with my Welsh. Duolingo has the problem of the text to speech having awful pronunciation for just about everything (at least, it did when I last used it for Welsh; I understand their other languages have far better pronunciation). Moving on quickly is a decent option; each lesson revisits what you learned in the lessons before anyway, so while it’s harder, it’ll often teach you more, faster.
Croeso i’r fforwm! You’re in the perfect place to learn Welsh
I used duolingo - was useful for vocab but it’s got some limitations. I’d stick to listening and speaking at the moment. So the Radio Cymru podcasts are great, Radio Cymru generally - let it wash over you and just get used to the sound. Don’t try to understand everything.
S4C programmes are good. There’s a mixture of these. Kids tv, magazine programmes (heno and bore da), dal ati is for learners.
In terms of this:
Go with the second part keep ploughing on. You don’t need to be perfect with the lessons. There is enough repetition for you to pick up what you feel you’ve missed
This is mostly about how much pain you can tolerate… If you’re happy to embrace the importance and value of making mistakes, then it’s a great idea to go the whole way through each Level without repeating any lessons (you can always go back and repeat a selection afterwards, if you find you want to).
But you do have to have a high tolerance for mistakes! You’ll be learning, and going faster, but it will feel out of control…
Very soon you will be a bona fide Welsh speaker and you will genuinely be surprised at how much you can say to people!
I can’t remember redoing any lessons on my first time around. I kind of took on the “if there’s something I’m not 100% on. It’ll be repeated in a later lesson surely” mantra!
You’ve had your answers, so I’ll just add my croeso to everyone else’s. Welcome to the forum, and have fun.
And as Aran says - embrace “mistakes”. You’ll make plenty of them in public during your first (and millionth) conversations, so get used to making them in practice, and moving on without worrying about them. You’ll be amazed at how much Welsh will stick, and how many mistakes lead to real deep learning, far more than practising perfection will ever do!
Enjoy the course, and your new language, and if you ahve any more questions, ask away!
I’ve used SSIW alot and learned alot, also Duolingo, podcasts and things on Youtube (helpful with pronunciation). One thing I’ve been doing for the past year is finding bits of music that I like and then hunting out the lyrics. Great because you’ll be learning words that all follow a theme. So from a rollicking sea shanty about sailing from Porthmadog to far off places (learned words for waves, ocean, cargo, grain, seaman, nails, spit and many more) to ballads with longing, quickening blood, fear, giants, myth, mountains, planting crops, harvesting, pasture, sea grass, echoes, etc. All depends on your musical taste of course, there’s everything out there though.
I’ve recently been going back over old lessons and have realised that some are so imbedded that I don’t need to. Even things I haven’t done for a while suddenly pop magically into my head and come pouring out. It’s a great feeling! Dw i’n hapus iawn efo faint dw i 'di dysgu…
Basically go for anything you think will help. Books for learners are great - just launch in and see how much you understand. Have fun!
If you’re happy to embrace the importance and value of making mistakes, then it’s a great idea to go the whole way through each Level without repeating any lessons (you can always go back and repeat a selection afterwards, if you find you want to).