Podcast Recommendations

Welsh
#1

Hi all,

What podcasts are people listening to? Does anyone have any recommendations?
I’ve looked through ypod.cymru now and I am sure there are more out there not listed.

I regularly put on “Beti a’i Phobl” , which I would describe as the Welsh Desert Island Discs from BBC. Depending on who is on varies on how easy it is to follow. I particularly enjoyed the episode with Bronwen Lewis.

I’ve also just started listening to “Yr Haclediad” which isn’t on ypod.cymru but has been going since 2010! It’s 3 people talking about techy stuff, news, pop culture, etc.

I’d really like to find more podcasts covering topics like tech and energy, if any exist.

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#2

Maybe not exactly you are looking for…but possibly still useful

BBC Radio Cymru - Pigion: Highlights for Welsh Learners

#3

There’s a great list of podcasts here: https://ypod.cymru/

I listen to “Esgusodwch fi” on BBC Sounds (which is about LGBTQ+ experiences, so not necessarily general interest?)

#4

@brynle Thanks, it is a good suggestion generally and it would be nice if other people could get suggestions in this thread too, not just me. For myself I already listen to it occasionally if I’ve got a quick job to get done, but it isn’t my favourite because I can’t “get into it” before it moves on.

I actually mentioned that site in my original post. It is a great list, but it doesn’t have everything. There are also quite a lot of podcasts on there where a single episode, or maybe two, were released and then nothing.

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#5

Wwps! Reading comprehension failure on my part there! :rofl:

#6

No problem. The really funny thing is it isn’t the first time exactly that has happened, so I had a good natured laugh at it. I think it is my own fault for not bothering to make it a proper link (when I’m on my phone I just haven’t got the patience).

BTW, if you haven’t already listened you might find Podlediad Ar Y Soffa interesting, given what you do for work. I’ve only listened to the first episode but I enjoyed it.

#7

O mam bach! I am so sorry … and thank you for being so good natured as to find it funny!

Diolch also for the podcast suggestion - I’ll give it a go. (Only really just beginning to get into the whole podcast thing…)

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#8

I enjoy “Beti a’i Phobl” too, and agree that it very much depends on the accent and speed with which Beti’s chosen partner of the week speaks. And at almost an hour in length it is a bit of a challenge in concentration on my part! But worth it.
I tried Yr Haclediad as like you I’d really welcome a tech-related podcast in Welsh but had to give up in exasperation over the constant giggling and laughing at their own jokes - I couldn’t follow the conversation as they all kept talking at once!
Old favourites that unfortunately haven’t been updated in some time are “Hefyd” (Richard Noswörthy in conversation with various Welsh learners) and “Sgwrsio” - once again conversations with various guests, but not too fast, and with useful vocabulary explained too. They’re not about tech or energy though, unfortunately.

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#9

I love Hefyd and Sgwrsio! It’s a shame that they haven’t been updated in a while, but I just go back and listen to the older episodes again, because usually I’ve forgotten what was said. :joy:

I’d love to find more podcasts pitched at that level.

#10

I like Elis James’ Dwy Iaith , Un Ymennydd

#11

A good place to start for learners and those of us from Gogledd Dwyrain is Doctoriaid Cymraeg …you can find it on Spotify.

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#12

i have just stumbled across Yr Hen Iaith which explores Welsh Literature

Yr Hen Iaith Podcast (ypod.cymru)

#13

At what point in the challenges did you start understanding enough of what you heard that podcasts weren’t just “Welsh noise flowing over you” as we’re supposed to think of the double speed listening practice?
I’m almost at the end of level 1, and I’ve set myself a personal goal of switching off subtitles on S4C in September. It might be overly ambitious - I still only catch a single word or two on the radio, and what I understand on TV is very much delayed processing. I hear the Welsh, I read the subtitles, I realise yes, I did hear those words that I know, and maybe even I can therefore identify what some new words were and what they must mean. (And there have been two or three more sentences spoken while this goes through my head.)
That is a long way from keeping up with the action while relying solely on my ears, even supposing the script writers stuck solely to vocabulary I know. :frowning:
So, when did you start listening to podcasts and actually following them? After level 2? Level 3?

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#14

So, when did you start listening to podcasts and actually following them? After level 2? Level 3?

Hmm. That is a really tough question to answer (and my response has turned quite rambly, sorry).

I did levels 1 and 2, and about a third of 3 before switching to the old course. Tonight I will do the final lesson of the old course.

Maybe worth saying, when I listen to a podcast I am not just listening to a podcast. It is background noise while I cook, wash up, clean, etc.

Sometimes I’m still just letting it wash over me and get next to nothing. Other times I understand what has been said but not the specific words, I get just enough to… guess, I suppose. I probably started occasionally experiencing this one at around the point you are at. Then there are wonderful times when I really understand what is being said (not necessarily every word). I definitely couldn’t say I have had a whole podcast’s worth of understanding, but I’ve had ones where I understand a lot.

What podcasts have you tried listening to? I’ve been reflecting on why I don’t like Pigion much despite it being targetted at learners, and I’ve decided it is because it is a bit like being dropped in halfway through a conversation - the hardest possible thing as a language learner!

I’m almost at the end of level 1, and I’ve set myself a personal goal of switching off subtitles on S4C in September. It might be overly ambitious

This is an excellent goal to have. I am not sure what rate you are going through the lessons, or whether you have exposure to Welsh in your day to day life, but I am sure you can achieve it.

I have really only just started watching TV in Welsh (and my late bedtime has got even later as a result). I watch it with English subs (mostly because BBC iPlayer doesn’t offer the choice and it is a lot more convenient to me than S4C Clic). I find understanding TV a lot harder than podcasts, but I think sometimes the subtitles are a hindrance rather than a help because the wording is often changed, presumably to be more idiomatic English.

I hear the Welsh, I read the subtitles, I realise yes, I did hear those words that I know, and maybe even I can therefore identify what some new words were and what they must mean.

It sounds like you are doing brilliantly to me.

And there have been two or three more sentences spoken while this goes through my head.

Ah, I think this is a very common problem for language learners, related to the problem of the conversation having moved on by the time you have processed enough to contribute something. To be honest, two or three sentences doesn’t sound too bad at all - by the time you’ve got that down to one or two you’ll be understanding enough of sentence three to work out what you missed.

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#15

Thanks, that’s very helpful. :slightly_smiling_face: I have occasionally listened to Radio Cymru, and I listened to one Pigion. Someone was talking about AI, I’m fairly sure - it sounded like she said “AI” a lot, anyway. She seemed to me to be speaking even more quickly than the listening practice “chipmunks”!
I’ve not been getting enough words when I do listen to the radio to think it’s worth trying to sit through a whole program actually giving it full attention and hoping to understand the topic. Not yet. So I haven’t really thought much about which podcasts I’d enjoy. I think once I get there, just being able to understand will make almost anything fun to listen to, at least until the novelty wears off.
I live in Sussex and don’t know any Welsh people IRL. So it’s just television, radio, Zoom chats, and working through the course for now. I’m booked for a “Live Welsh Week” in October. It helps me to have firm goals and a time factor.

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#16

Just to add to the really helpful responses you’ve already received. One thing I would suggest is trying to use Clic to watch rather than iPlayer, and switching to the Welsh subtitles as soon as possible. You can always pause, go back and run a section with the English ones to check understanding. There are more suggestions on how to use the subtitles to help you on the website I put together here: Dysgu Cymraeg | S4C

(You can also find out on there how to get hold of the Clic app if you don’t already have it.)

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#17

That’s a good plan. My television isn’t smart enough by itself for Clic, but I wonder whether a NowTV/Rakuten box is? Anyway, my computer and phone can definitely cope with Clic. (Too much technology, too many apps!)
I think I still need a fair bit more vocab before I can even use Cymraeg subs, since it really is only the very simplest sentences I’m getting. Enough to notice when the subtitles say “Remember!” but I definitely heard “anghofio” so I’m thinking the character actually said “Don’t forget!” (I guess remember is shorter to type?) and to guess that when people say what sounds like “Stim…” for not having something, they might be shortening “Does dim” to just “'Sdim”? Possibly? And I think “digon teg” is “fair enough”? I figure out some nouns from the words between verbs I recognise, but I haven’t really retained much after the episode is over. No clever spaced repetition in a natural interview or a drama script!
So yeah, not much, but it feels cool even being able to take a stab in the not-quite-pitch dark.

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#18

Spot on!

You are doing really well! Honestly, this detective work is so beneficial to your language-learning brain, and it sounds to me like you’re flying along.

Remember (or don’t forget :wink: :laughing: ) that the subtitles are never going to be a word-for-word representation of what is being said - there are very strict guidelines from Ofcom about how much text can appear on the screen and how quickly it should or shouldn’t change, so the people making the subtitles will paraphrase slightly when they need to. They will also (I have discovered!) make tiny “silent” changes (usually to things like mutations - there’s this urban myth that all first-language Welsh speakers mutate “correctly” all the time, but it really isn’t true and the subtitlers tend to smooth those sorts of things out).

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#19

So, when I switch on subtitles, I’ll witness the subtitler sneakily correcting people’s grammar?! :rofl: I look forward to that! Nitpicky corrections make me feel at home. (I’m not being mean. Genuinely, it gives me a warm feeling of reassurance. My family may be a little weird, but we’ve always teasingly corrected each other’s small careless mistakes.)

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#20

:rofl: :rofl:

I spent 25 years working as an editor and proofreader. Read into that what you will… :rofl:

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