Stuck between Level 3 and Advanced Content: Vocab problems

I’m still slightly muddled about what to do now I have finished the 6 month course.
Do you know if the Advanced Content is the same material as Deep End?

2 Likes

I remember I was told that Deep End is basically the structured/implemented version of Level 3.
So the unstructured version has Level 1, 2, 3 then Advanced.
The structured version has Six Months course (for level 1,2), Deep End (for level 3) then Advanced.

However the Advanced is an entirely differen thingt, and from my experience I would say you can just try it at the end of level 2 or any time really - if you can stand the frustration of understanding very little! :grimacing:
But considering that there are transcriptions and translations it’s still way less frustrating than the radio! :smile:

3 Likes

Well done.
Personally, Id either go for Deepend or unstructured Level 3 next. You will need to subscribe for level 3 unless you are already doing so.
Id also mix with some speaking practice, actual meetings or SSiW Slack Welsh Speaking Practice video method.

Nothing stopping you going straight to Beca’s Advanced items. But they are a fair step up. :grin:

3 Likes

Deep End is a route through Level 3 - if you’re happy to do Level 3 on your own, you’re good - and you can start listening to the advanced content while you do Level 3, although it was really designed as the next thing after Level 3… :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Thanks for the quick and really helpful replies
@aran @gisella-albertini @JohnYoung

You have given me the motivation to get cracking again!

Thank you all :hugs:

3 Likes

This is a great thread. I have finished l3 , though will keep dipping back to lesson 25 as some words not embedded yet / make me panic! Having seen all the stuff about the beta listening I now feel ready to go!

6 Likes

I’ve persevered with about 8 of the dialogues but I’m running out of steam. I appreciate that not every area of Wales can be covered but to date every dialogue has been from the North, both the interviewer and interviewee: I listened to a few minutes of them all after number 8 to check it out. I would have preferred a mixture, including the valleys and the mid to south west. I’m biased as this is the Welsh I’m used to. I’ve decided to stick with the new Uwch course from Aber. This contains a number of dialogues and interesting stories from all over Wales. If the content did become more representative then I would sign up again. Obviously it’s great if you’ve learnt the North Wales version and I applaud the considerable work that goes into the weekly dialogues.

The interviewer doesn’t change, so of course she always has the same accent. And as Beca lives and works in the North, the selection so far is skewed in that direction, but there are a few southern interviewees as well.

I learned the south version, and while I admit that I have considerably more difficulty following the northern accents, I still find it a very useful resource to build vocabulary and broaden my language horizon. :man_shrugging:

5 Likes

@mattclarke51 do you have to attend classes to do Uwch? I tried self study from home but could only find written material, which I found too hard anyway :slight_smile:

Thanks
Andy

Yes, it’s a weekly class but in conjunction the course is set up online - but only available if you attend a class. This provides for exercises and videos/dialogues etc.

1 Like

I didn’t make a list or map of where each interviewee comes from (that would actually be interesting, now that I think about it!), but they’re not all from the North (like Hendrik had pointed out).

Also, people move around the country nowadays, so it’s not like maybe 100 years ago - accents are usually at least a tiny bit mixed up.

I did Southern course and I admit liking Southern accent more (sorry gogs, nothing personal! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: ).
But well…if I listen to the radio, TV, meet people and go around Wales I find all kind of accents, so I think it’s good to be more flexible.

In any case here’s some Southeners I remember: 13, 19, 20, 24

5 Likes

Ive got to say that I love all of the accents especially the differences in tone and emphasis.

Keep them coming, Beca . :slightly_smiling_face:

I was recently listening to a first language speaker who has moved from Caernarfon to Cardiff and joking that she is going to have to get used to calling it C’dydd. All part of the fun of speaking Welsh.

5 Likes

You’ve beaten me to it! I was going to try and make a list of Beca’s pobl from the south.

But I agree with you - it always slightly surprises me when people struggle so much with the difference between south and north. I did the northern course, but most of the drama I listen to on Radio Cymru (like Ofergoelus and Duliau Chwyldro - both of which are still available on podcast) are definitely southern and I don’t find them any more difficult to decipher than Beca’s scwrsiau.

I wonder if it might have to do with the fact that it does seem to me that, on average, northerners talk faster than southerners? I have even noticed that, having downloaded the speeded up listening exercises from the northern and southern courses, I find I can make out MORE words from the triple speed southern exercises than I can from the same exercises on the northern course, even though I am far more familiar with Aran and Catrin’s voices than with Iestyn and Cat’s!

The other thing you could try listening to if you want more southern voices are @Nicky’s Mynd am Beint Gyda podcasts - especially the ones where it is either just Nicky or just Nicky and Lara. They are long conversations (an hour and a half or more) very natural speech, easy to follow and definitely southern in vocab and accent, I would say.

6 Likes