Short brutal intensive course for beginners or near-beginners

[aran]

Video Day 5 - and the wrap-up

So here is where they’d got to - after just 5 days, and suffering from massive exhaustion (I’d love to have been able to video them again a week later on, by the time they’d had some proper sleep, because I suspect they would be another jump forward by then).

Hilary and Olwen:

Simon:

And here are their own brief comments on the experience (starting in Welsh then switching into English):

Hilary:

Olwen:

Simon:

Massive, massive congratulations to the three of them. I have, quite genuinely, never seen anyone put so much effort into a week of learning, in any context.

I admire them and their achievements more than I can easily say…

[hilary]

Transcripts (so far) for videos Day 5

Hilary and Olwen
H: a ti hefyd! Wyt ti’n mwynhau’r wythnos yma?
O: Ydw, Dw i’n joio
H: Da iawn
O: Dw i’n dysgu llawer. Dw i’n, mae dal isie fi ymarfer … dw i’n hapus
H: Da iawn. Dw i’n hapus ond dw i wedi blino. Dw i 'di dysgu llawer
O: Dw i’n moyn mynd i bwyta
H: Mi hefyd

Simon
S: Dw i ddim isio siarad Cymraeg
A: Ti ddim isio siarad Cymraeg o gwbl?
S: Tipyn bach. Wythnos nesa’ dw i’n licio siarad Cymraeg i’r plant, a tŷ
A: Ah, ie. Wyt ti’n mynd i siarad efo’r hogiau, efo’r bechgyn?
S: Dw i’n meddwl siarad, dw i’n licio siarad efo’r hogyn
A: Ydy’r bechgyn yn siarad Cymraeg?
S: Tipyn bach. Dysgu yn yr ysgol, “but, you know” dim yn siarad allan yr ysgol
A: Ah, dw i’n gweld. Felly, byddan nhw isio … ti siarad Cymraeg efo nhw?
S: Ie. Ond, dw i’n siarad, maen nhw yn siarad, “they will?”
A: Byddan nhw
S: Byddan nhw. Mae ddrwg gen i, dw i’n wedi blino
A: Ti wedi blino? Ond ti’n siarad!
S: Mae pen yn llawn
A: Mae pen yn llawn? Ie. ie! Dy pen yn llawn o Gymraeg dim mwy o Saesneg. Saesneg wedi mynd. Da iawn

[AnnaC]

@hilary @OlwenR @simonadeydavies Thanks for being willing to put yourselves “out there” and share the videos with us. It’s been great to see your progress - very inspiring! You should all be so incredibly proud of what you’ve achieved - absolutely fantastic!

[tatjana]

@hilary, @OlwenR and @simonadeydavies, I’m proud of you all! This is just great! I feel so tiny with what I’ve acheaved in (too) huge amount of time and my speach is nowhere near good at all but … I feel like having a desperate wish to speak to at least one of you at some point! Da iawn chi bawb!

It’s interesting how I felt Simon the least tired of all you three in previous videos but in these last one it feels to me like all the hard work just collapsed on him however he still managed to get somehow the longest “interview” of you all.

If @aran would like to record you after a periode of 6 months, I’d surely like to hear you speaking after that periode. I bet you’ll be way ahead of us all … and that makes me extreamly happy! So you should all be really proud of yourself not just because you’ve learnt such amount of language in such short time but also because of “surviving” such preassure, doing such intensive and hard work … I’m sure I’d be the one to fail to do this all … (unless Aran would provide me with endless stream of coffee, maybe … )

Llongyfarchiadau!

And thank you for sharing your learning journey with us all.

Hwyl!
Tatjana

[elizabeth_j_corbett_]

This is all amazing and inspiring. Well done all of you for pushing through! I can relate to those who crocheted or went for walks while doing the lessons. I have never just sat and done SSiW lessons. I have always done them in conjunction with other activities - walking, driving, gardening, cooking. If I’m ever in the area when this kind of activity is on in the future I’d love, love, love to be a volunteer support person.

[hilary]

So, it’s a couple of weeks since I came back from the 5-Day intensive course, and I thought I’d share a couple of comments and observations.

The first is, @aran, you were right about how much we’ve learnt, almost without realising it. Talking to @helenlindsay last weekend, she mentioned that there was a general store/coffee shop in Corris, where they speak Welsh (and do nice veggie/vegan grub - not that that had anything to do with my decision to have a trip there… ) , So, today, I took my long-suffering partner out for a trip and we ‘found’ ourselves in Corris, and sure enough, there was ‘Andy & Adam’s’ general store. And what a lovely, welcoming place it was. I’d made myself a ‘Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg’ badge, but suddenly felt very self-conscious as I realised that neither Andy nor Adam spoke Welsh, and on asking, they said they didn’t, but there was a group of Welsh-speakers (mostly native, I think) in the back room. I tentatively went through and ‘gate-crashed’ their morning coffee. I managed to say that I was learning Welsh (which was probably obvious, as they could see my badge…), but suddenly felt lost as a wave of comments hit me. I managed to say where I lived, by which time I think they’d realised it was perhaps all a bit overwhelming for me, but I managed to smile and utter "tro nesa’ ", which they all seemed to understand, as there was a lot of nodding and echoing of “tro nesa’, tro nesa’”. I then beat a hasty retreat, which I needn’t have done as they were a super-friendly bunch, but it was more because of my own embarrassment In the quiet of the front room, Andy (or it might have been Adam) accosted another customer, who he said was also learning to speak Welsh. She joined us and as we shared a few sentences in Welsh she said she was surprised that I’d only been learning for 3 weeks (this is the bit you confidently predicted, @Aran!). (If you’re reading this, Helena - thank you for your time - it was lovely talking to you )

The other thing which struck me today was that one of the reasons I’d wanted to do the 5-Day course was that I’d wanted to get past some of the hurdles I’ve faced when learning Welsh in the past. One of these was lack of spare time and then becoming too impatient and easily disheartened while working through the lessons, so never making it past the first two or three. Not being able to dedicate much time to actually get going with learning Welsh, it began to feel insurmountable, but going on the 5-Day course gave me the time to plough through those initial hurdles, and has got me to a place where I can happily tell myself that I can achieve my desire to speak Welsh. It’s sort of like the opposite of going cold-turkey - getting the most difficult bits (the actual starting and sticking with it for a few sessions) done in a short space of time.

My final thought/observation was that one of the things I’d wanted from the course was the ability to read bilingual road signs, before having driven past them and not having had chance to find the bit I could understand, i.e. the bit in English. I’m happy to say that I’ve been past a few roadwork signs today, and it struck me that I was actually reading and understanding the Welsh bit, and not needing to read the English, so ‘Gwaith yn dechrau yma…’ was no longer a mystery to me Result!

[aran]

It’s sort of like the opposite of going cold-turkey

What a great description! And thank you SO much for that hugely interesting and useful piece of extra feedback - it is very, very clear that you have achieved a huge amount (and I quietly but confidently predict that you haven’t entirely realised how much even now)…

[OlwenR]

@hilary I had a go at level 1 lesson 13 earlier today and found I could manage most of the ‘I met and young man last night who told me that he worked with your sister’ sentences, where I could only do a couple of words when I did it first, so yes, it’s amazing how much was going in that we didn’t realise at the time. I am going to go into a Welsh Language bookshop on Monday and will be trying to converse in Welsh. I also have details of a Welsh Learners church service next month that I am trying to summon up the courage to go to (or at least wondering if I can rope anyone into coming with me…)

[hilary]

I could manage most of the ‘I met and young man last night who told me that he worked with your sister’ sentences

[Pete2]

Great achievement. Well done to you both.

[aran]

and found I could manage most of the ‘I met and young man last night who told me that he worked with your sister’ sentences

Awesome result! Consolidation is pretty amazing stuff…

[tatjana]

@simonadeydavies how are you doing? Sorry, but I’m curious.

Great acheavement to you both - @OlwenR and @hilary. Thank you both also because you make me aware that for me now it’s not “cofio-anghofio” time anymore but “say this properly” one … So it’s maybe time for me to start chasing “perfection” in the sense of speaking more properly (read “unconfusingly”) and not words I’ve forgotten.

Da iawn chi bawb!

[henddraig]

As someone who has forgotten more Welsh than you have yet had a chance to learn, I echo all the

Da iawn chi! And it was nice to see @hilary over Skype. She can now vouch for my tongue-tied condition when faced with speaking nothing but Cymraeg!

[OlwenR]

When @aran says we are not beginners, I was a little sceptical, but I met a first language Welsh speaker today who said I sounded like someone who had been learning for ‘quite a while’ because often when people are learning they get things in the wrong order and don’t make sense, but she understood everything I said and it was all correct. Feeling rather chuffed!

[tatjana]

Da iawn ti! I love it!

because often when people are learning they get things in the wrong order and don’t make sense,

If this is true (which I know it is) then I’d cover my learning time successfully as I very often do get things in exactly wrong order and this for I make no sense at all … So, I’m a beginner of new “brand” of learners - undercover long term learners - haha

Siriously Llongyfarchiadau!

[henddraig]

Feeling rather chuffed!

There is a thread for feelings like this! Entirely justified feeling in your case! (I bet she was shattered when you told her the length of your course!) The thread I mean is about small triumphs, click here to see
Da iawn ti!
To @tatjana We are all learners, all though life, but you successfully visited Wales, went all over the place speaking Welsh to anyone who could answer and shaming those who could not into learning! I do think that the odd mis-order is not so bad! In fact, when I was accused of bad grammar in school, I always assured my teacher that it was not bad grammar, but style!

[aran]

I was a little sceptical

I’m used to it…