Phew …
Let’s see how it works. …
Challenge nr. 19 … 
1 Like
Well, I did practically nothing (regarding lessons and learning) after the bootcamp, if I’m honest, except of talking once a week for aproximately an hour and a half via Skype and writing some occassional posts on Twitter and Facebook. Might be life itself affected this as tere’s not much energy left when I come home from work but today I finally repeated lesson 17 of Course 2 (what should be prety much in my brains) only to find out it’s all went blank and as If I never would even listen what to learn this lesson at all.
No, I’m not moaning despite so many not quite pleasant things happened in this periode that I’m quite psychically worn out, but obviously taking a break, what concerns learning Welsh (or any other language for that matter) isn’t a healthy thing for me. Sometimes I feel like I’ll just have to repeat all courses over and over again. This is the 3rd or 4th time already (to be honest I don’t count anymore) I’m running through the whole material and every time I come back it seams everything totally new to me, just like if it would never be heard and learnt before. Yes, Course 1 is easy, Level 1 a bit less, Course 2 is mostly total blank. Now, I came to level 2 Challenge 17 before other Southern Challenges were available and I just don’t have the needed courage to go further … I’m stuck in learning and forgeting and learning again (remembering quite less) and forgeting again and learning and … (over and over again)…
Sometimes I really wonder how could I survive a bootcamp and all next days after it majority in Welsh even without any terror and being frightened or frustrated (yes I was frustrated once but it was not due to Cymraeg, believe me). I understood practically everything and was able to say (despite with very simple sentences) many things. I can hold an hour and a half of the conversation with @brigitte every week (and the range of the areas of interest we are “discussing” is really wide, believe me), I can prety much understand majority of Growth Club content, I dare to dream about translating the greatest Slovene love poem in Cymraeg one day soon, however I can’t learn and remember majority of expressions from Course 2! This is really kind of amazing.
And, no, “Challenge 19” didn’t happen. I’ve started but never finished properly but, for that matter, when I try to write something on facebook or twitter, i’m trying to use more complex forms of past tense. I actually struggle with shortenings as I don’t know from where they derive and this for I for many don’t know what they actually mean. All of a sudden it seams to me like there would be hundreeds fo them. I’ve written them all down from the course guides and it seams so big amount of them to me.
Well, sorry, I just had to put this here … and … as always in the recent periode - those are only observations of happenings not real moaning though. I have nothing to moan about as guilt is purely mine. I was lazy but still, even at the time I did course daily, there were the same blanks in my memory so I’m not quite sure lazyness has all to do with this.
Ymarfer? You will say I’m talking nonsense, but I’ve started even thing in Cymraeg when my thoughts are related to Cymru, Cymraeg and all related … and I do think about all this quite a lot …
1 Like
Here’s the thing you should be focusing on, Tatjana. If you’re tired, you will always find the materials tougher.
But no, you’re NOT forgetting everything. We know this by now - YOU know this by now. You will NOT need to keep repeating the courses. If you want to go through a period of revision, do the last two lessons from each course only. But the two most valuable things you could be doing are:
Listen to Radio Cymru every day
Have a conversation in Welsh every week.
2 Likes
I can’t remember the short forms of the past, either, having done the long forms much earlier, in my class. But I think I’d understand them if I heard them, and what’s wrong with us sticking to ‘Nes i’ as long as people can understand us?
Laziness isn’t a word I associate with you, Tatjana! I dream of the day when I’ll be able to speak for an hour and a half in Welsh with a more advanced speaker, so llongyfarchiadau!
3 Likes
A conversation of an hour and a half a week, and doing a bit of writing?
There are many people learning Welsh in Wales who don’t exert themselves that much, unfortunately!
I know that is faint praise, but I would have thought you are doing enough there to more than keep your Welsh ticking over!
3 Likes
Thank you all three. I’ll try to go with what @aran says. I did it once already and then stopped for (honestly) don’t know what reason.
Thank you for your encouragement. Well, today the things in my real life cleared a bit so maybe I’ll find that energy and will again in future days to do things as I once used to.
Writing @owainlurch, still means a lot of revision of the sentences berfore I really post them on social media but the main thing is that I do message on my own first and then I’m trying to revew it and not just putting it into (let’s say) Google Translate and copy/paset whatever I get out. However for now, I stick with what I know I’ve learnt and what sounds (looks) familiar to me always having in mind what I would say in what way not aiming to do some “artistic” or too formal thing out of the whole thing. So, yes, you’re right. When doing this I actually have the feeling I’m (if even in small amounts) learning the language.
Thank you @BronwenLewis. Well, probably I can manage to hold an hour and a half long conversation because I and @brigitte kind of know each other that well by now that we mostly know the way we talk. Maybe, if I’d speak with someone other I’d have harder times to hold so long conversation, however on the other hand if I’ve got the courage to just plunge into the caffee in Caerdydd to order my coffee expecting someone would say something more then just “bore da” and then slight appology that they don’t speak Cymraeg, and if I managed (also back in Caerdydd) the 2 hours conversation with my FB friend who I never had seen before and (I believe) he’s Cymro Cymraeg, then maybe there would be not too much of the difference. Well, but I have to admit that with that FB friend the first few minutes I was a bit frustrated maybe simply because I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was a blast though. I don’t doubt you’d be able to hold at least 50 minutes or an hour of conversation in Cymraeg. You (as much as I could hear/see in bootcamp) have huge vocabulary and great way of expressing yourself no matter what field of conversation you are going in. You need to be confident and trust yourself, that’s it.
@aran after I’ve written this I’ve watched your presentation of your intensity learning method and I was almost sorry I’ve written whatever. All of a sudden I felt like “What should I moan about at all?” but, well, here we are … Once a month every one or two final lessons of each course, you’ve said once. I guess i just have to return to this habit again, doing some writing and listening along with that. Yup, that’s it! Obviously sometimes I need a bit of a push to remember what goes along well …
Diolch i bawb.
3 Likes
Well, here we are after exactly 2 months 4 hours and 2 minutes with posting a new post here.
I was lazy last 2 months, even too lazy sometimes despite I’ve twitted and FBed quite a lot and some longer posts then just 140 characters which were more complex (as I had to search for the words and establish how to use them properly), and eventually some listening to Cymraeg (whatever Cymraeg) on the bus when driving home. My excuse for being lazy is I was really extreamly tired and these holidays we just enjoyed (3 days in total) were balsam to my tired soul.
But as kind of New year’s resolution (despite I don’t do them for quite a long time already) I started my (repeating) journey of learning (well … re-learning) Cymraeg again. So my today’s lesson was more listening then speaking, more chasing words then saying them and more being in owe with expressions I’ve just forgot they exist. And at the first glace I felt my progress went a step back not forward despite I’ve talked almost entirely in Cymraeg for 2 and a half hours yesterday. Yup, talking to someone really is something different then doing lessons and it might be I’m a bit too careless about how I speak (what way I mean). Will try to be more careful to implement all my (already gained) knolwledge into conversation in the future.
I won’t moan about how not satisfied I was when finishing lesson as it’s entirely my fault the result was not in accordance to my expectation but, well, I ended lesson 21 of Course 2 a bit frustrated and I established I just have to stop being lazy and do something more every day.
Frustrated as I was there came the surprise which made my day entirely and blown all my frustrations and bad feelings away. To my surprise (obviously I forgot that magnificent part of the lesson doing it the first time) in Lesson 21 of Course 2 there’s no musical outro but YAY! @Iestyn’s “didi di barabara ba…” and @anon86454181’s a bit more quiet singing! Hilarious to the bits! Iestyn and Cat thank you for this little piece of happy singing in deed! This is the most hilarious moment of all 137 lessons of Cymraeg I’ve done! When it will be hard in the future learning process and I’d be frustrated this is one thing I’ll remember for eternaty, this light jazzy singing!
So instead of being frustrated ahead of doing another lesson tomorrow because today’s didn’t go just quite well, I think I’m just at the edge to make one very silly promise again. No, no , no Tatjana, not yet … naaaaaaaaaaa! OK. I won’t make it yet. Maybe next time!
Thank you 1000 times SSiW!
6 Likes
Short forms…oh how they plagued me for so long.
wnes i something…wnes i anything…great!
then, des i, weles i…but i certainly didn’t conquer.
It got worse…es i, clywes i, ges i…oh hang on there’s a bit of a pattern here…
Wnaethoch chi, daethoch chi, aethoch chi
What about future?
Ga i, wna i, a i (af i).
Newch i, dewch chi, ewch chi etc etc
ok there’s a few odd ones but its getting easier.
3 Likes
I thought I had got the hang of it until they started mixing past and future short forms in the same sentence. I can’t switch from past to present within seconds, bit frustrating.
2 Likes
But it’s the pain that will give you the gains, so don’t feel bad about it, just ride with it and trust that it’s giving your brain the exposure it craves…
2 Likes
Don’t worry @Pete2. It’s still “Wnes i” for me and it feels like it will always be. I just can’t get rid of it and “dw i wedi” is like far forgotten fairy-tale to me. All of a sudden I’m getting confused where to use what despite it’s all perfectly clear to me (at least I think it is). So I (probably) blurt many stupid things out when talking and all of a sudden catching myself in hopeless atempt to use “o’n i’n” with something like rhaid or similar because my tongue gets twisted around the word which just doesn’t want to go out of my mouth. - haha!
I sometimes have plenty of problems with switching from past to the future (or any other time) in the same sentence too @briangillam but my problem lies in the fact that from hearing the sentence in English to actually saying it in Welsh I forget what time was used at all. And I blurt something out again (half loud half way …)
But the people on here and my fellow co-bootcampers finally taught me not to moan and being frustrated about this. One day it will all stick into place I believe.
It reminded me how I plunged into Nero Caffee in Cardiff in the morning and since it was quite early (if you count 8 am as early) I just couldn’t remember how to be polite enough to use “ga i?” so what actually came out from me was COFFEE MAWR PLIS! with such eagerness in my voice as if I’d need it desperately to survive the minute to come. The funny thing was that staff looked at me puzzled probably measuring how much coffee I actually need and then they ended up with really BIG pot of coffee probably established I’m too eager for it to use that “ga i” thingy. Well I said “plis” at least …
3 Likes
Hi @tatjana. I’m not sure which thread to post this in, but were you aware that Neath Port Talbot County Borough was twinned with Velenje, Slovenia until fairly recently?
1 Like
@tatjana - thank you for your posts. I am struggling to make progress and while]st it is amazing to hear of people who have raced through all the levels in less than a month, I…am…a…slow…learner. I do like to read about your struggles as I totally relate to them They make me feel better about my progress because I know how good a speaker you are and it gives me encouragement to stick at it. Thank you
3 Likes
Is not anymore?
And, no, I was not aware of that. I know only that Snowdonia is twinned with Triglav National Park (Triglavski narodni park) in Slovenia. They (so Snowdonia National Park people told me) visit each other every year.
You are welcome @franhunni. I know how you speak and I can say you speak quite well yourself too. If my posts can encourage you to go on, then one part of my mission here is accomplished. I’m happy if this thread and other my posts around this forum can help to anyone.
Da iawn ti Fran a dal ati! .
2 Likes
Unfortunately, they were twinned with a number of towns and ran short of funds. I understand that the twinning was to build up post-war relationships, and that they felt that this had been enough of a success to allow contact to continue on a personal basis without the need for governmental Input.
One of our local towns, Pontardawe, holds an annual international folk festival. I’m not sure if any Slovenian bands have visited yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they had.
3 Likes
When in the year is that festival? I think I’ve heard once about that but am not sure if there are any Slovenians performing though. Would hopefully remember to follow these events this year to see what is happening and how it all goes.
I have just checked, but it seems that the festival has had to shrink down to a local event now. I’ll let you know if I can find anything out for this year. I think that it is normally in August. I remember it from years ago when it was much bigger, with international folk bands marching through the streets.
If you want to do an internet search, you can try Pontardawe Festival.
Pontardawe means Bridge on the (River) Tawe. It has some welsh speakers. 
It sounds interesting. Hope they have something this year too.
(As that it is really neccessary …) I decided that after a month (and some more) it’s maybe time to throw some things in here. Is it progress or not, I don’t actually know but the state of play with my learning Welsh throws all sorts of (dreammy) ideas to me what I might do in the future to challenge myself but for now, I’m rather staying firmly on the ground blowing dreammy clouds away as they seam a bit “unhealthy” at the moment. (I need some sun first .
You might remember some time ago I’ve written how I just can’t remember to use “o’n i’n”, “O’n i wedi” and what’s more structures to that and how I use “Wnes i” most of the time (Dw i wedi swam somewhere away also ) ) but now I came to the point where “O’n i’n”/“O’n i wedi” structures are flying out of my moutn all the time and the previously taught structures just went somewhere. Doing Vocabs of Course 2 at the moment (I dont’t remember I’d do them once in the past at all) I’m constantly surprised when @Iestyn is using “wnes i” instead of by me so much expected “O’n i”. Yah, I’m getting all wrong but OK, I’ll survuve as I did until now. Maybe the shift will just vanish at one point and everything will come to its place with the practice.
I can also happily say that, despite I don’t use Welsh much (just once or so a week) I can remember many more words as i did before (but of course I’m forgetting sometimes those I’ve already knew and should be well sitting in my head). Obviously Skype chats with quite some searching of the words or reading them written down by other members of chat group helps.
However now it bothers me one another thing. It could be very well asked in “Tiny questions with quick answers” also but since I’m writing my “blurbs” in here at the moment I’ll put this dilema just here.
Well, all of a sudden I’m not sure where to use “Mae’n rhaid i fi” and where “Dw i’n gorfod i” thingy. I presume both means “I have to” and I just can’t find difference or rule where to use one and where another. I know there were things explained somewhere in the lessons, but it would take too much time to go and chase for this info just right now. I surely use “rhaid i” more then “gorfod i” what bothers me a bit. Sometimes “Mae eisie i fi” adds to the mix … but I know this last means more of needing something then actually being obliged to do it (or whatever).
“Cael” is another thing I use maybe too often even when it doesn’t quite fit, totally forgetting about (for example" Mae cwrw gyda fi" (because I just have one here - hehe) I’d almost always say “Dw i wedi cael cwrw.” or something like that what at the moment really sounds quite wrong actually (or not?)
Otherwise I’m getting idea into the shape that I maybe should talk to someone who I didn’t talk to for a long time so that one could really measure my (???) progress.
Dw i’n siarad Cymraeg. but do I speak it good enough, this is another question though.
But for the record to all who know my previous moanings/complaints/self-beating( and what’s more to it, I’m quite happy to say I don’t do such unneccessary time wasting things anymore.
Hwyl!
Tatjana
Oh, and thank you for your time reading this (if you lasted till the end of this long blurb of mine reading it).
4 Likes
I suspect we are at a similar plateau, Not moaning, happy that mistakes are part of the learning,
but not really making measurable progress.
It’s no doubt easier for me as i will get to Wales at least twice this year, but when i return home i
find it has confirmed i can get by in the language but not really improved. One problem is we all have different interests, i have probably learnt quite a bit about welsh wildlife which is fine if i am
talking to someone who is equally interested, but i’m hopeless if they like rap music and cooking.
Our Skype calls are great fun, but i keep trying to think of a way to make them more useful,
Dal ati.
Cheers J.P.
2 Likes