Why did you decide to try SSiW?

Yn wir!! :smile:
Original? Next Generation? Later versions? I am very rooted in the Original series, but am OK with their movies. Janet hates the movies, except the first (which I do not like). and likes Next Gen, but she is very loyal to Gene, whom she got to know pretty well, I liked some later stuff as SF, but not as Trek! Could I discuss any of it in Welsh? I doubt it very much. Would Vulcan still be Vulcan or Fylcan?

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Original, Next Generation, Voyageur and the movies are all equally good topics for me, but I have a soft spot for Captain Janeway:) Iā€™m sure that we could discuss our favourite characters and favourite moments a bit, unless we get very technical, and if we get very technical I wonā€™t be able to say anything in English or even in Russian!

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I will try very hard to keep off my soapbox on the subject of so-called Scientific advisers! I became convinced they asked physicists about biology and, probably, botanists about physics! grrrr! (I had to go into work next day and be asked, ā€œHow can you watch that rubbish? UV light safer than visible?ā€ etc.etc.!!) :wink:

Youā€™re making me think there was an episode filmed entirely through hidden cameras in Janewayā€™s quarters.

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Bachgen drwg!

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Iā€™m sure I would understand your remark if English was my first language, but since itā€™s not I just apologize for any eventual mistake.

@henddraig, sometimes ignorance is bliss:) I know as much of botany as of physics, so nothing can get in the way of my suspension of disbelief when Iā€™m watching sci-fi:)

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Dave just means that there was a stray extra u in your Voyager, which made him think of the word Voyeurā€¦:wink:

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nods

Itā€™s entirely a fault of my head rather than your language.

No criticism intended.

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Oh, thank you! Thatā€™s a bit strange especially since voyageur is an actual French word for traveler and the Canadians also write it this way, but I guess we all have our own associations:)

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The joy of languageā€¦ :slight_smile:

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For which I would recommend this:

Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language

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Thatā€™s how I read it! I didnā€™t catch on to what caused Dave to write that or have that idea! Diolch @aran and, @dave_5, sorry if you werenā€™t being at all naughty!! :wink:

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Just realized how off-topic I got - I apologize and promise to behave in the future!

@dave_5
Thank you very much, seems fascinating.:slight_smile:

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I have always been confused by the learning methods used in school and their ineffectiveness so I decided to try SSiW because the way you are learning Cymraeg here just seemed natural to me.
I knew itā€™d work because I learned English by listening, listening and listening even more. The more I listened the more I understood without ever having to learn any rules or grammatical structures. After some time, I started spending (and I am still spending) my time in English class being the ā€œliving dictionaryā€ for my classmates. Of course, I am still learning and I will never stop learning because you can ALWAYS learn more. :slight_smile:
So, when I visited the SSiW website for the first time and read ā€œWeā€™re going to play a word game. It will turn you into a Welsh speaker.ā€, I immediately knew this was the ONLY way to REALLY learn Cymraeg. :wink:

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Thank you so much for your feedback - and well done on throwing yourself into it all with such enthusiasm! :star: :star2:

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Hi -

Iā€™m originally from London but been living in N. Wales (Maentwrog) for 11 years. When we first moved here my wife did a whole year at Bangor University learning Welsh, but had little or no opportunity to use or practice it. I tried to follow that course (CD based) but found it virtually impossible, and as our friends & neighbours - both English and Welsh speakers invariably spoke in English, we lost interest.

However, a couple of years ago, I went on a cycling holiday with my local club and I was the only non-welsh speaker out of a group of six - the following year I was one out of 20!! Not only did I find not being able to join in the chat (as understandably Welsh speakers have a tendenct to speak Welsh!!) unless I was specifically being spoken to, I felt it was time to try again and I was really determined to try and learn enough to get by - ready for the next trip in March.

After looking around for courses I found SSiW and I have to say for me its the best system I have found. OK, Iā€™m only on section 1, lesson 16, but so far it works for me. I can listen to it at work in the background and also while driving & travelling. I like it in that there is nothing ā€œdropped inā€ trying to catch you out, and that I can go over stuff I didnā€™t understand. I struggled a bit around the he/she did/didnā€™t for some reason (lessons 9,10,11 I think) then all of a sudden the penny dropped and I flew through to lesson 16. One thing I find - especially if Iā€™m only listening and canā€™t see the vocabulary - is its sometimes hard to differentiate between Mā€™s and Nā€™s - but that might just be me.

I get a bit frustrated that I still canā€™t understand stuff spoken ar full speed - but the bits in the audio where you just listen does help. All in all Iā€™m enjoying it and Iā€™m able to do what I can, when I can, at my speed and its reinvigorated my interest and determination to learn welsh - in the three months since September '16 Iā€™ve learned quite a bit I think. I canā€™t wait for the next holiday so I can hopefully wow them with my welsh!

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If they are used to people learning at ordinary classes theyā€™ll be staggered!

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Welcome to the forum, Ray, and great to hear that youā€™re doing so well - keep at it, and you WILL get thereā€¦ :slight_smile: :star2:

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I had this thread come up as one of the suggested topics while browsing today, so Iā€™ll gladly share what brings me to Cymraeg and the SSiW-Way.

I am from Germany (born and bred, and a native German speaker), but I came into contact with the english language quite early, because I grew up in Berlin when it was still divided, and my father used to work in the U.S. Armyā€™s hospital at that time.

During school I learned english and french, and I also tried teaching myself spanish, back when teach-yourself audio tapes were still a thing (note to self: I should really check out SSiSpanish sometime!), and I also dabbled with a few other languages, but thatā€™s not important right now.

My wife and I spent a few vacations on the British Isles, but other than being through Wales (on our way to Ireland via Holyhead), weā€™ve never been to Wales, so last year we decided that weā€™d be travelling around Wales in our own car this summer. And come christmas, my wife gave me a PC-based Welsh language course, but as I started using this program, I found it lacking in several ways. I wonā€™t go into details, but the major drawback is that, well, I have to sit down in front of a computer for this course. So I searched for alternative means and methods to learn Cymraeg, and I found SSiW on the Android Play Store. It had a good rating and good reviews, so I gave it a try. Been hooked ever since :slight_smile:

I have to admit that SSiW isnā€™t my only resource for learning Cymraeg, but itā€™s the one that made the spark turn to a flame. :fire:

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Which is always a delight to hear - thank you so much for sharing your story, Hendrik! :slight_smile: :star2:

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