Spoiler alert! Sgwrs 19 (Advanced Content)

But I do probably gabble a bit…! :blush:

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Weirdly, I actually found this one a little easier too, even though I have done the northern course, have family from the north, have heard Gog Welsh spoken on and off through my life and generally consider myself a Gog.

Don’t know if it’s because Nan spoke a little more slowly, because there was less niche vocab, or because what I’ve listened to on Radio Cymru has been predominantly south Welsh.

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No, I definitely wouldn’t say that - I’d say if you’re only understanding 5% of what’s going on, then you’re in waters that are too deep for you right now, and I’d encourage you to revisit the Level 2 listening exercises until those become tediously easy for you… :slight_smile: And it’s not clear to me if you’ve finished Level 3 or not? :slight_smile:

No, I never did quite finish Level 3. I fancied I was beyond them by the time they came out, but that the listening exercises were more the thing to bolster where I am weakest. Perhaps you are right though and I have reached beyond my powers.

Anyway, I principally came to comment only on how different this latest one was for me and I fear I have quite unintentionally muddied the waters.

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Personally I would take that as a source of great encouragement ie your underlying Welsh can’t be too far off can it?!

There were plenty of the Sgwrs in the early days where my understanding was poor and I wondered if they were too advanced for me but the thing that made me feel I should keep going was when I went through the transcript and filled in the gaps my understanding would improve hugely.

Sometimes I’d find that there were words I just didn’t know - fair enough - and sometimes it was I just didn’t catch what had been said…and that could be speed, accent or a group of words put together in a way I had not come across before.

Have you been going through the transcript- do you have a sense of what is ‘the blocker’ on the ones you find difficult?

Rich :slight_smile:

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If you’re consistently only getting about 5% with the advanced listening, then I’d certainly recommend finishing off Level 3 (and I’d also suspect that there’s still room for you to get value from the Level 2 listening exercises.

If that 5% was a bit over-egged and you’re getting more than that, with some ups and downs, then it might be a matter of slogging on - but with the listen->transcript->listen->translation->model, which is particularly important for people who are missing large chunks of it when they listen ‘cold’.

I don’t think you’ve muddied the waters - the things that different people find difficult are always very helpful for other people to see - there’ll be people feeling the same as you who aren’t ready to say so - and it sounds as though you’re finding the process discouraging, in which case I’m very keen to help… :slight_smile:

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But given that we have the transcript to fall back on (and even the luxury of a translation!), then (IMHO) there is no need for you to slow down. (I mean, please just continue to speak at your normal, natural speed).

Diolch yn fawr! :slight_smile:

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Hi, I’m having another go at the advanced content having completed level 3 a few times… I’m still finding it a hard transition as most of the chats seem to be with Northern accents and dialect. I’m trying number 19 as I can understand much more of it but I’m still not sure if a lot of this is still Northern dialect?

For example:

The use of GEN when I’m used to seeing GYDA on the Southern course:

oedd bron GEN bob buwch ei henw
Y cof cynta sydd GENai
oedd GENNo ni

Also, I thought this was a typo at first when a negative was intended but realised that’s not the case as in listening that makes no sense with the story … so what’s this ‘NA’ for?

mae NA wagleoedd mawr
oedd NA gymdogion yn y dod i’r ty drwy’r amser

and Finally, what’s this use of ‘Dyma’ like the phrases below?

dyma ni gyd yn mynd (we all went)
dyma ni’n deud

Many thanks in advance for any help with this!!

Andrew

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Hi there, the ‘na’ in this instance is an abbreviation of ‘yna’, so in written Welsh it would be ‘mae yna wagleoedd mawr’, but as you’ve noticed, nobody ever says the full ‘yna’ when speaking. I’ll send you a list of the most common abbreviations to see if that helps.

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Hi Beca

That would be useful so yes please! I thought the ‘there’/‘yna’ was implicit in oedd/mae/bydd though from everything I’ve heard on the s.wales course?

Andrew

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‘Lly/Felly – translates as ‘so’, but is used like ‘y’know’ at the end of sentences.

Wchi – short for ‘wyddoch chi’ - ‘y’know’ (plural/formal).

T’mod – short for ‘ti’n gwybod’ – ‘y’know’ (singular/informal).

Wir yr – ‘really now’ or ‘honestly now’

Wrach – short for ‘hwyrach’ – ‘perhaps’.

Ella – short for ‘efallai’ – ‘perhaps’.

Ynde – ‘isn’t it’.

A ballu – short for ‘a phethau felly’ – ‘and things like that’.

Wsos – wythnos – ‘week’

‘Wan – rwan – ‘now’

Ma’ – mae

‘Ma – yma

‘San – fysa’n (fyddai yn)

‘Di – wedi

‘Dan – rydan

Goro – gorfod – ‘must’

Dwn im/Wn im – dwn i ddim – ‘I don’t know’

‘Da (chi) – rydach

Rwbath – rhywbeth

Bo’ – bod

‘Im – dim

Licio – ‘like’

Jest/Jyst – ‘just’

Nath – wnaeth

Genod – genethod – ‘girls’

Sbio – ‘to look’

Dallt/Dalld – deall – ‘understand’

Rwsud – rhywsut

Genno – gen/gan

Duda/Deda/Deutha – dyweda – ‘tell’

Sgen – does gen

‘Sa - bysa

Ffili – ffaelu – ‘can’t’

Dim unman – ‘nowhere’

Trial – ‘try’

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Diolch!

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so what about this use of ‘gen’, isn’t that a North Walian structure?

Also, ‘petai’ - is that the same as ‘tasai’?

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Yes, both ‘gan’ and ‘gen’ are used. The north Wales accent varies a lot from east to west and between Gwynedd and Meirionydd

Petai and petasai - yes

Diolch eto!

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