Looking at my own experience and speaking at most half an hour of Welsh a day, I would say I am acquiring 3 to 5 new words a day, and usually more like 3 new words a day. At this rate It will take me about 9 months to add 1,000 words to my existing vocabulary, assuming I gradually increase the time spent speaking Welsh daily to about 40 minutes.
With the SSiW dialogues I was increasing vocabulary at about 3 times this rate, doing 1 lesson a day. So when SSiW expands its dialogues beyond Level 3 it could potentially take me about 3 months instead of 9 months to double my vocabulary.
Everone, has a different set of circumstances. I am retired and have a wife whose first language is Welsh which are advantages. I live in Italy rather than Wales which is a disadvantage.
Speaking Welsh does not come naturally to me at the moment. However, I would assume that after building to a 2,000 word vocabulary some natural inhibitions will recede and the result will be that I will speak significantly more Welsh in a day - so I expect that going from 2,000 words to 4,000 words may take me about the same time as going from 1,000 words to 2,000 words.
Life has a way of springing surprises so what may seem reasonable to me at the moment may not evolve in such a predictable way. But Hope Springs Eternal!
Thanks Justin
Well I work full time and I live in Scotland so I donāt get much practice with real people, apart from Skype which is lovely, but am about to have a week in Wales. Three words a day, Iām not sure how that compares to me, though I have been reading small Welsh books, and though I have to keep a dictionary handy, there are a great many words that I could not possibly recall, yet I know the meaning as soon as I see it. Presumably there are stages in acquisition of each word, much accelerated when introduced by the lessons, and slower by other methods.
I think you are talking about something which crossed my mind during this discussion, which is active vocabulary, versus passive vocabulary. i.e. words which you would recognise and understand when someone else says them, or if you read them, but which might not immediately come to you when you yourself are speaking.
Reading books, for example, is a great way to increase vocabulary, but reading is a slightly passive process (not that I am against it - quite the contrary). Reading out loud is one way of making it slightly more active, but even so, one of the challenges for any language learner is to gradually convert their passive vocabulary into active vocabulary, and part of that is, of course, throwing ourselves into conversations whenever possible.
Iāve decided to delay reading until I have more confidence in talking. Iām a great believer in āātalk before you read or writeāā. I agree with you that reading out loud is the the most effective way of creating an active vocabulary for those who choose a different path and prefer to read.
Iāll probably start reading myself next year as I love reading.
I agree, and delayed reading myself until well after the end of Course 1, and even well into Course 2. There comes a time when you canāt avoid it really, and perhaps shouldnāt, but itās probably a case of every individual knowing when they are ready.
