Oh, it was Benny - great, thank you! I’m always really glad to see that sort of 1000 hour stuff debunked, and this is an excellent overview.
I think we can get that 400-600 hours down a chunk, though - got some tests coming up in the next couple of years…
I think I’d tried the first lesson for each dialect to see what the course was like, and I remembered it being very different to any other course I’d ever encountered (I hadn’t yet even heard of Michel Tomas or Pimsleur by this point; my only attempts at language learning after leaving school had been failed efforts with Rosetta Stone). I didn’t feel like I’d made as much progress as I might have felt when doing Rosetta Stone, but then later on when I saw Welsh written down in Cardiff I actually had some idea of how some of it should be pronounced (even if I didn’t know what any of it meant).
Very much trying everything out. SSiW made (to my mind) the best use of the opportunity of almost interacting with a recording- in a way, the only real use of it. On all the other courses or things which used recording, I’d be tamping at the bit listening to long winded introductions followed by short dialogues, whereas just the amount of stuff you could listen to and practice with on SSiW put it in a different league. I thought it was good after the first lesson or two, considering the amount it packed in in a short time, and it thus ended up being one of the things I stuck with.
Ah, that’s really interesting - thank you very much! Particularly what you say about Rosetta Stone, which fits a common pattern of blocked practice versus interleaving (people consistently feel they do better with blocked practice, but usually score better after interleaving)… 
That’s a very interesting point which I haven’t noticed elsewhere - diolch yn fawr iawn
Well it did kind of fit in with the stuff you were saying elsewhere. I found it fascinating and it has already made me feel like I can at last learn a language.
Well I have to admit that I didn’t use it the first time I signed up because I didn’t believe it was credible - I mean what kind of worthwhile course is given away for free? And who were these SSi people anyway? Were they going to teach me stuff that was up to a good standard or would it fill my head with inaccuracies? 
These were the barriers that led me to set it to one side after about a single lesson. When I picked it up for real it was because I’d run out of other ideas - and on a sunny day in June there was just a coming together of an inquisitive mindset, a slewing away of prejudices, and a newfound commitment. I would probably have reached this point much earlier if I’d found the forum the first time around and, to be honest, if the website had more obvious endorsements from groups / people I’d already come across. (And now I sound very shallow!)
Hmmmm … sorry @aran, but … why I “hear” a bit of sarcasm in this sentence?. (oh and that was not meant in too sirious way though (to make things clear before they get blurred. 
))
That’s why I explained further it was me who thought nothing can be for free and not appearance of your site in general. I hardly believe another person would really “rhedeg bant” because of numbers of lessons offered for free … I’m a bit strange sometimes and afraid of the things one could laugh about being afraid of … 
Not shallow - that sort of stuff is absolute gold-dust - you’ve half-written what we need on the home page… Diolch o waelod calon i ti!
Because you always expect the worst, Tatjana…
I’m absolutely serious - getting an insight into why people don’t choose us is incredibly, incredibly powerful and helpful…
I knew …
It’s maybe because when I expected all the best I’ve got only the worst. This is kind of unwritten rule what concerns me: when I expect the worst I get the best! SSi and your help/help of all others is huge proof for this. I’ve got the best and even changed my mindset a bit. I’ll not say that revolution happened in my head but everything here changed me into something different, something I didn’t know I can become. Gee, I even stopped moaning. - hehe
Siriously - how SSi works and what kind of community and management here is - it can change people into something even better if they only go with the flow and allow to open the door toward themselves of course.
And … that “sarcasm” actually amused me, that’s why I’ve asked.
I know. …
I suppose I’ll crawl out from under my rock to give you an answer! 
I started trying to teach myself Welsh when I was in high school (about 14 or 15 years old), and I lived in an incredibly rural area in the United States with absolutely no Welsh speakers, no bookstores to find any resources, and no clue about how to find anything to help me online. My parents had bought the “teach yourself” book and CD package for me as a gift, and I struggled along with that and trying to talk via email with my friend who lives in Anglesey. I didn’t get horribly far. After a few years of dissatisfaction with my slow progress (and better internet access…and skills, all around), I decided to go online to try to find something better to help me get the results I was hoping for. I stumbled across SSiW rather quickly, and I was really excited to see that it was a program dedicated to teaching the language through listening and speaking, rather than focusing mostly on reading and writing. That was something that I’d never encountered before in my search for Welsh learning materials.
I also found out shortly after that there was a thriving and incredibly welcoming community attached to the program, and that has proved extremely valuable to the entire experience. That, also, is something I’d never encountered with language learning programs before (and I’ve tried a couple different languages in my time). It blew my mind that this insanely effective course had a goldmine of support and social opportunities attached to it, even for someone like me who’s spent a good portion of her life as far away from Wales and Welsh language as you can get! I found myself rapidly gaining confidence with my language, and because of that I’ve been able to meet a ton of different people who all share the love of this language with me. I’m even planning on getting my degree in Welsh language, now! I don’t know that I would’ve reached this point without SSiW. 
I’m not sure how much this is helpful to you, Aran, but I’ll post anyway. Unlike most here, I wasn’t really looking to learn Welsh when I started Googling about the Welsh language last year - I was just trying to understand how to pronounce some Welsh words in a book (English) that I was reading. I’ve had an interest in Wales since childhood, but I live in the US, have no Welsh ancestry, and don’t know anyone who speaks Welsh. I never even thought it would be possible for me to actually learn to speak Welsh. So there I was, trying to understand Welsh pronunciation by reading about it, which, when you’ve never heard the language spoken, is next to useless. So when SSiW showed up in my Google search, I decided to see what it was all about. I just wanted to see what the language sounded like and see if I could figure out how to pronounce those words.
Well, I did the first lesson, and it was so much fun! The humour and encouragement from Iestyn made it even better. I could say a few Welsh sentences after only half an hour, and it wasn’t childish colors and numbers, or boring stuff about how to get to the train station. RIght away, the structure of the lessons gave me some confidence that I could actually learn Welsh. I think the fact that the whole first course is free was what changed me into a serious learner. Since I didn’t start SSiW with the intention of actually learning to speak Welsh, I don’t think I would have committed to paying early on for a course of lessons, but since I could keep going past that first lesson without paying, I did…and I was hooked quite early on! I think that by Lesson 6 I had signed up for daily practices and knew that I would be continuing on to do the intermediate course.
I never considered that the fact that it was free might say something about the quality or legitimacy…perhaps because of how I came into the whole thing, but definitely because after the first few lessons it was abundantly clear that the method works. And the audio nature of the course was perfect and essential for someone with no other exposure to the spoken language, so I didn’t go looking any further. Well, at least not until well into Course 2, when I was ready to expand my learning with some written resources, and was happy to have the community here to help me choose some good ones.
The other aspect of SSiW that made this whole journey work for me is the forum. I would not have felt confident that I could actually learn the language without some kind of support beyond the lessons, given my background as described above. The first time I posted a question here, I had an answer within minutes, and everyone was so nice. And the creators of the course even participated - I thought (still do!) that that made the whole thing feel so much more personal and real. The wonderful, friendly community here has been an integral part of my learning and my motivation to keep going when I hit those inevitable snags that all language learners encounter. I feel like I’ve made friends that share my joy in learning “the language of heaven”.
At the moment, I’m about 2/3 of the way through Course 2 (I’ve been stalled the last several months because of unexpected family issues, but I’m finally able to get back in the saddle and can’t wait to get the rest of the mutations done, and get to those short forms). But I since I started in May 2015, I can honestly say I have never had a single day where I didn’t do something with my Welsh, even if it was just listening to music or making up a conversation in my head. (I’m pretty jealous of those of you who have someone to speak with on a daily basis ) So in the end all I can say is that my somewhat chance discovery of SSiW has really added to my life - diolch yn fawr iawn i chi gyd! 
That’s my favourite post of the week right there… 
Lovely to see you, Saethwr! And that’s a really interesting insight - diolch yn fawr iawn. Fantastic to hear about your degree - what’s the story there?!
Try ‘enormously’! That’s a fascinating, extremely helpful and moving post - llongyfarchiadau mawr for all you’ve achieved so far, and thank you so much for your joyful enthusiasm - exactly the kind of stuff that helps make the forum so wonderful
YAY! HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!
Diolch. I’m mooved now … my heart has spoken, nothing more …
After learning Welsh on and off for probably 20 years (! - but never for more than a month or two at a time) pretty much entirely through books, I realized that to “speak” Welsh I would need to hear and speak Welsh. When I stumbled across SSiW I liked how it dived right into useful phrases, but especially loved the humor. It made it fun and less stressful. As I’ve continued with SSiW (finished South courses 1-3, and in level 2 of the new courses), I still enjoy the humor. I also appreciate the constant encouragement and affirmations that you needn’t get 100% right to speak a language.
I like that the length of the lessons is perfect for my walks to work and during lunch, and also that the lessons are easy to stop and start anywhere during the course. I never feel pressured to go from start to finish in one session (and feel fine when I can as well).
Hi Aran, I think you guys made it clear that there would be no spam I was just being cynical at the time, as we all know what can happen when you give your email out and again thanks, SSIW is awesome!
Terrific - thank you so much, Henry, hugely appreciated - very helpful indeed to know what’s working for you…
[Oh - the forum now has a smiley that doesn’t look horrible - so I can stop using suns instead!]
It’s a great point, though - huge difference between us saying we won’t spam, and it actually sounding believable - maybe we could link to this thread with a note like ‘If you’re worried we’re going to spam you, that’s what Leighton thought - and he was glad it didn’t happen’…
I always thought I was useless at languages, no doubt, thanks to the education system at the time! Though after many holidays in France in the 90’s I discovered that I picked up a lot of French in those 2 weeks. Though I promptly lost it all within days of coming back. This though shifted my view point on my uselessness at learning a language!
So when I started to learn Welsh I knew I had to immerse myself into the language as much as possible and use the language as much as possible. That is what I did without even trying on those French holidays!
SSiW was a big part of that immersion. I went to Welsh classes, had Radio Cymru in my car and discovered SSiW within a couple of weeks of starting classes back in October 2010.
SSiW gave me the confidence to use the language and not worry about mistakes. I am sure if I hadn’t used SSiW, I don’t think I would be advanced in speaking Welsh or even attempted to speak to strangers knowing full well that I would make mistakes!
A month a go I worked with someone that I haven’t seen since we were students some 14 years ago. I asked what she has been up to since then, she got a degree in Humanities. I said well I have learnt a language, Welsh. She said oh ti’n siarad Cymraeg nawr! A tithau I responded. It was her first language and we spoke Welsh thereafter.
I felt pleased with myself that I was able to say that ’ I have learnt a language’ for the first time in my life.
SSiW has been the backbone of that learning by being so accessible, motivating, encouraging and fun! Diolch yn fawr iawn!
That’s a hugely inspiring story, Tricia - diolch o galon am dy eiriau caredig iawn
I know it’s a fair old while now - any chance you can remember how that happened? And what made it look like an option worth testing for you?
I started to learn Welsh with Owainlurch, yes I am that ‘someone’ he fell in love with!
We had website addresses from the Welsh class to aid us with our Welsh learning. Owain was checking out those websites where he found a link to SSiW. He showed it to me and I tried out the first lesson and I was most impressed!
Alas I got stuck on those lessons at lesson 6 even though it had been separated into 2 lessons. I started back on the course the following March and flew through those tough lessons and didn’t look back!
The frustrating thing was, that the Mynediad course was too slow as I had picked up so much Welsh with SSiW! Though the people on the same course were surprised that I knew so much Welsh as I was very much at their level at the start of the course.
I found SSiW suited me as I would prefer to pull my teeth out than sit down and read a grammar book! It eased me into Welsh the easy way. Don’t get me wrong, grammar is essential but I prefer to look it up when needed or to discuss it’s finer points with yours truly - Owain! I am also lucky to have a friend who is a Welsh translator to help out with grammar.
I still use the SSiW lessons as there are times that I am unable to use Welsh or go to Welsh classes namely due to work. So I use the new lessons to get me back on track.! So even after all these years, SSiW is still part of my life!