I tried doing a search in the forum as I’m sure this questions must have been asked before but I could not find anything right off.
I started the Welsh course a few days ago, and I’m already picking up some things. I’ve listened to the first lesson a couple of times and I’ve come to the problem with some of the words in regarding to pronouncing them. My issue is that I’m a visual learner, hearing it is not always going to be enough. Is there an accurate guide somewhere online I can turn to, to see how something is pronounce? As I’m hearing some of the words I’ll write down what it sounds like to me so It can help me in remembering. For example trio sounds like Tree-a to me because the the O is being said with an A, at least that’s what I’m hearing, certainly correct me if I’m wrong.
I tried reading the vocabulary guide that’s on the site but that makes things worst, it just shows me how its spelt in Welsh, not how you pronounce them. I understand that you just need to keep hearing the words but sometimes you just need a little extra help for the harder words.
But other then the typical beginner’s issues, so far I like the program, I just don’t want to get stuck mispronouncing words now then have a hard time breaking it later.
Great that you are making progress! My advice to you is to resist the temptation to write things down, and to trust what you are hearing - a bit like jumping in off the deep end of a pool, so to speak, except you cannot drown If you persist with this, you will end up being a much more natural Welsh speaker than if you were to rely on written clues.
well If I see how something is suppose to be pronounced like what I did with Trio, it will make things easier for when I do hear it, seeing and hearing are two different things for me. I’m certainly not talking about every word, most I can get, but I don’t want to pick up bad habits because it will ruin learning the language for me. Someone shouldn’t go around saying a word wrong for a long time get it into there head then have a hard time breaking it later. I hope I’m making sense
It makes perfect sense. It seems to me that, essentially, you are trying to remember how to pronounce a word by writing down how it sounds to you. Nothing wrong with that in principle, however, SSiW works much better if you let go of that method of remembering, and rely solely on hearing - and repeating out loud - instead. After all, you are talking about writing down that what you hear…
I agree with Louis, the best way to learn a language is to hear it spoken. This way you will be able to copy the accent and the way the words are said, just like a child learning how to speak. It is the natural way to learn and we’ve all done it before.
However, if you’d like to see some words written down correctly and phonetically, if you have a Twitter account, I suggect you follow Say Something in Welsh ( @DailyWelshWords ) . It has nothing to do with the course, it’s a daily word game and can be lots of fun! You’re given a Welsh word (written correctly plus how it sounds) and you have to try and work out what it means and then make a sentence with it. If you look at previous tweets, you’ll get the idea…
Also, especially good if you have small children, but great anyway even if you haven’t is the childrens S4C Twitter: Ti fi a Cyw ( @TiFiaCyw ) Between 7am - 8am they introduce every programme and give a couple of words to look out for in each programme (written correctly plus how it sounds). They will also answer questions if you’re unsure of anything…
Again, they are written both correctly and phonetically, so give it a go and see if this really is a good way for you to learn new words…
Good luck with the course, I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly. I look forward to hearing how you’re getting on.
FWIW, I too consider myself a ‘visual’ learner and found it hard getting used to the SSiW way to begin with. It helped, I think, that I had an idea of how Welsh sounds are written (the ll and dd, for example), but in the end I went with it and once I got a few lessons in I was flying without the written help.
I started to do reading & writing after getting most of the way through the course, and even now I’ll come across a Welsh word written down that I think I don’t know, then I’ll speak it and realise that I do know it - I’ve just never seen it written down before!
I’d recommend that you use the content list to double check the consonants you’re hearing (bearing in mind that ‘dd’ in Welsh is ‘th’ as in ‘the’ in English) - and double-check in particular when you think you hear a ‘v’ sound (because ‘v’ and ‘th(e)’ are fairly hard to tell apart - if you see a ‘f’ where you were expecting a ‘v’, everything’s okay, because that’s how ‘v’ is written in Welsh) - but leave your ears to figure out the vowels on their own
If you persist with this, you will end up being a much more natural Welsh speaker than if you were to rely on written clues.
