Welcome to SSiW and welcome to the forum Gareth!
The forum is pretty huge with lots of tips and questions answered, so do have a browse or just jump right in to ask any questions about things that stump you - there’s almost always someone here to help, advise or encourage 
In my experience, this is one of the nicest, friendliest and most supportive online communities you’re likely to come across! Welcome!
As @siaronjames says, people here will be really happy to help with any questions whether specifically about the course, anything technical to do with the app and/or more generally about Wales and the Welsh language (and Siaron herself is one of the most prolific helpers 
)
Shwmae!
Ces i fy ngeni yng Nghymru yn wreiddiol a mi ges i fy magu yn Ne Cymru ger y cymoedd.
Symudais i Lyndain mewn dwy fil a chwech, neu ddwy fil a saith.
Dysgais i Gymraeg yn yr ysgol yn amlwg, ond yn anffodus, wi wedi anghofio fy Nghymraeg.
Penderfynais i ddysgu Cymraeg y llynedd eto, a fi’n mwynhau dysgu eto!
Fi’n defnyddio Duolingo a llyfrau i ddysgu.
Wi’n gobeithio y bydda i’n gwella dros amser, ond cawn ni weld!
My Welsh isn’t very good, but I hope that what I’ve said above is correct, grammatically, and that I’m understood and it isn’t too much of a mix of dialects!
Cofion Gorau!
Arwr.
Dw i’n trio dysgu Cymraeg achos …
I want to keep a connection with North Wales, as I stayed for 2 weeks every summer as a child with my Grandparents and Aunt in Abergele. They were English speakers, but I was always fascinated by Welsh signs and language. At my Aunt’s funeral a few years ago I was asked to read Psalm 23. She wanted the King James version, which I dutifully read. However one of the people there said it would have been nice if I had read it in Welsh. It had never occurred to me that I could actually learn Welsh! It always seemed such an impenetrable language. However, I eventually learned the Welsh version, and that journey brought me here to SSiW.
Rŵan … Mae gen i bobeth dw i angen
After 23 years I took a DNA test through Ancestry which led me to find out who my real dad was. We connected and started talking a lot. I saw that I had Welsh ancestry as my grandmother was Welsh. Through ancestry I started talking to my cousins who are a bit older and still speak Welsh.
I’m using SSiW to be able to connect to my roots and talk with my relatives. Have only used it a couple of days and I am finding it a lot of fun. I tried using duolingo first but this was not as effective or fun for me.
Thank you for these lessons and giving me a way to learn to communicate with my family.
Wow, that’s awesome!
Hi! I am a polish national, who has lived in Manchester for the last 11 years.
Following Pandemic and Brexit we were on the brink of moving back to the formal EU. Me and my partner had been going to Anglesey more and more in the recent years, mainly for the sea adventures and the wild nature and we decided to move to Wales.
The idea came this summer, but I am hot tempered, so judging by the map I decided Bangor will be our ideal new home and took one visit to confirm the choice. We are now waiting for the new home to become available.
Because of the move I thought it will be rude not to know the language and started learning but I find it more and more intriguing!
I must admit for starters that I found SaySomethingInWelsh through the App Marketplace, because Duolingo doesn’t have the talking exercises anymore. So I am using both platforms SSiW when I have the energy and want to progress and Duolingo for the fun of remembering some words.
Thank you for creating this awesome course and building a community around it!
Hi Catrin,
I grew up in an English speaking part of south Wales, and was never aware of the Welsh language. Now well into retirement I started learning Welsh via learnWelsh.cymru. I started doing this to reclaim both my Welsh language and heritage. Currently I’m working my way through the Sylfaen level. As part of that we were offered free access to SSIW and I am so glad that I took that offer up. SSIW has been an exciting revelation to me.
I’m still working through level 1 of the south dialect course, yet even at this stage I can see that it is improving my Welsh speaking skills beyond where they were from the Sylfaen course alone. I think they will complement each other nicely. I’ve done about 12 days of the 5min listening exercise at 2x normal speed, and this has already made a big difference for me when listening to Robin Radio audio on my course. Previously I have found this audio too fast, but now it is much more mangeable for me to listen to. I do find the Challenges tiring, but they are also immensely enjoyable, and I am learning a lot from them, and each time look forward eagerly to the next one.
Based on what I have experienced so far, I am confident that by the end of level 3 my spoken Welsh will be very good. SSIW really does deliver on its claims, and I would like to express my thanks to Aran Jones and everyone else who has played a part in creating such an incredible learning resource.
Diolch yn fawr iawn,
Mike
Helo Bawb.
Hi Everyone.
My story is probably a bit dull to most folks here, but I simply love Wales.
I’m a 54 year old English bloke that Ancestry tells me My DNA is 2% Welsh… Hahahaha
I first visted Anglesey in 1990 ish, catching chickens, when I was 20. I stayed at a local pub and swore everytime I walked in after a long shift stinking of chicken muck the conversation turned from English to Welsh - it probably didn’t, or did it ?? who knows.
Fast forward over 3 decades and I find myself absolutely loving Wales, my best mate moved back to Tredegar in the south and as a artic lorry driver I get to visit North Wales every few weeks - however it seems I am the only person I come across near Rhyl that can actually speak a bit of Cymraeg - all thanks to SSIW !
Over the decades I’ve dabbled in languages - mainly for holidays etc. I learnt a bit of holiday Italian, Russian at School, French and German at Night School. I particularly enjoyed learning Sign Language for 2 years for a previous job working with convicted offenders, if you think trying to communicate with hearing folks that don’t speak your language is hard - try Deaf folks that would happily kill you… It was extremely rewarding.
Anyway I digress:
We started visiting North Wales for holiday every year about 4 years ago - we love you, and we love your country. SO much easier to get there than the 9 hours to get back from Cornwall etc etc - especially as I drive for a living anyway.
I personally Love Anglesey, we stayed on a dairy farm a few years ago, the cows kept escaping from their barn and we got them back in on 2 occasions, I grew up on a dairy farm - my dad was a cowman and I felt right at home there. That’s where I first heard the term ‘Gaucho’ - a name given to us by the farmer at ‘Ty Top Farm’.
Anglesey Agricultural show was brilliant.
We’ve stayed at Llandudno a few times and Rhos on sea last year and we’re already booked at Aberdaron next year. I’m excited because I looked for a Welsh speaking area to practice my Cymraeg…
I only follow the SSIW system, and I reckon I’m being paid to learn Welsh - because I only learn at work - hahaha. I spend hours on boring roads or sat in distribution centres across the country. I used to listen to Radio 4 all the time - now, if I have anything on at all it’s SSIW.
Don’t worry - The phone is on the other side of the cab, connected by Bluetooth to the lorry speakers and I can’t reach it to fiddle. That does mean however that I have to zone it out quite a lot if im in traffic etc and use the rewind option A LOT when I get where I’m going.
I’m currently 22 hours in - which in real time equals about 10 hours into the course.
I recently took a week off from SSIW because my head was fried with work and Welsh, only to miss it a LOT and was over the moon to remember most of what I had learnt. I haven’t written a single word down - mainly because I’m driving an artic lorry…
I will say, I think I’m missing out a bit on the reading part - because obviously I’m not doing that - so I am 99% verbal Welsh. Something I feel I am lacking in to be honest.
I’m hoping to be able to join in with some online speaking / video if possible, so any pointers where I can do that would be brilliant.
I do plan on making a youtube video of my SSIW introduction and Journey, and am so looking forward to being able to ‘ddaid yn y Gymraeg’ on holiday next year, ( was that correct ?).
I fly FPV drones for my hobby and Wales makes it easy to capture stunning footage - if you can see this here - it’s Sandy Beach Anglesey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l2vx8aoEhQ
Aran and Catrin have a winning formula and their positivity and love for the language shines through.
Sorry about the long ramble folks.
Sincerely
Eric - The Trucker.
If you decide to take out a subscription then you will be entitled to join our SSiW Community Chat Slack group. There are online chat sessions with a tutor Monday-Thursday at varying times, so I imagine you’d be able to take part in some of those. It would be great to welcome you to the group!
Just get in touch with admin@saysomethingin.com once your subscription is active and we’ll send you an invitation.
Helo Bawb!
I don’t have any Welsh heritage myself (that I’m aware of) and live far away in the US. However, some of my favorite stories have featured Wales/Welsh, such as Dark is Rising, Prydain, Lord of the Rings, Winter King, etc. Our little town also has a history of immigrants from Wales and has a small St David’s Day celebration, but I don’t believe there is anyone left who still has the language.
I’ve enjoyed language learning for a while–I have some measure of Spanish (there’s a large Hispanic community near us) and Lallans Scots (one set of grandparents), and I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much they have both helped as I start on Welsh.
I’ve been using a little bit of Duo as well as SSIW for the last 6 months or so. I’ve really appreciated how much better my speaking is with the SSIW method! I’ve also had success using common books with other languages (Harry Potter/Hobbit/Bible, etc), but I’m being cautious with that approach for Welsh, with the formal/colloquial differences. Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to get a trip to have some more “real life” practice, as well as see all the things I’ve read about!
Diolch for the great resources and community here!
-Phil
How great that your town has an historical connection to Wales! Pennsylvania, perhaps?
If you want to get some practice in, I think there might be online chat groups happening in different time zones - @Deborah-SSi, can you help with more information on that?
If you’d like to be able to watch Welsh TV and get your listening skills in, there’s a whole load of S4C programmes that are available in the USA - all you need to do is register for an account on the Clic player (it’s free!). You can find a list of what’s available here: International | S4C
There’s also all sorts of information on using S4C to help with learning at www.s4c.cymru/learnwelsh (including suggestions on how to use subtitles to help at different stages of learning).
Good luck!
Helo @philip-falk, I’ve sent you a couple of Slack invitations - one to the SSiW Community Chat group, which is for paying subscribers, and one for the open Welsh Speaking Practice group.
We regularly get participants from North America in the Community Chat sessions when they fit in with your timezones, but in the WSP group, there is a regular Americas session that you would be welcome to join.
My story - I’ve been in Wales most of my life (born and raised, for the most part, here), primarily in the North East, where the language isn’t (or wasn’t) a priority as I saw it - I got an ‘E’ at GCSE…
I moved to the North West following University and, once I had children, decided to start learning the language again as the lessons here are 2/3rds Welsh. I thought as long as I could be one ‘reading age’ above the kids, I’d be fine.
Roll forward to September last year, where I was asked to feature in a programme for S4C, to be shown in December. They asked if I could speak Welsh and, knowing I had my SSiW subscription (albeit hadn’t used it), thought it would be a great opportunity (and massive challenge!) to put myself under the cosh and really learn the language.
In the space of a month (from the initial call from S4C to the date of the actual interview) I went through all of Level 1 & 2 on the old SSiW app (I wasn’t aware of the Automagic app at the time), practicing as often as I could.
On the day of filming I was quite nervous, used a fair bit of Wenglish, but proud to say I came through it speaking Welsh for the majority of the interview 
it went out on 27th December and was well edited 
I’ve since completed L3 on the app and I’ve started using the new app to officially gain my Welsh ‘black belt’.
Diolch o galon, SSiW!
Llogyfarchiadau, Rhys! 
But now…we want to know which programme you were featured in! 
Grazie millie Gisella!
Oedd on ‘Dathlu Derwdr’, ar S4C (ar BBC iPlayer), albeit it’s a bit embarrassing
That’s amazing Rhys! Chwarae teg i ti! What you did in that interview was model something really important - that we can all use whatever Welsh that we have. We might need to use some English as well, but that’s fine because we go back to the Welsh when we can. Arwr!
Anyone else who’d like to watch Rhys’ interview, you can watch from 21:26 onwards here: Clic
Just seen it now (thanks @sara-peacock-1 for the details so I could find it quickly!)
Hey, don’t be embarrassed, you’ve done absolutely great! with your Welsh! 
And also, what an amazing and moving story! 
More llongyfarchiadau to you, and to your sister too!
Diolch Sara! You’re dead right - the camera crew said that learners focus on saying EVERY word in Welsh and not to put that pressure on myself and, after they said that I started adding in a bit of English when needed and felt much more relaxed 