And then … if you have twitter or FB … go for tweeting and FBing. it’s hard at first but it becomes easier every time you do it again. Start with little simple messages like “Bore da.” when you come on in the morning (for example) and then one day all of a sudden you’ll realize you rmessages aren’t only just “Bore da” at one point.
Google translate might not recognize some of the words, structures you’re learning here, especially if you’re doing Southern course, but it still can be of great help at least for some quick checking of spelling.
Well, at least this is my experience and I’ve tweeted even before I came here to really learn Cymraeg at all. If you take it as fun then it is fun.
Thank you for your story @owainlurch. I’m following you on SoundCloud but to be honest i didn’t listen to many things there lately. I’l put some time to listen to your reading. It must be great! (as much as I know you adn your Cymraeg).
Oh, and, @Smarian, WCW as to my knowledge isn’t shortening for anything but it’s the main character of the magazine. The newest edition - as it should be - is all about summer (“Haf”).
Looks to me like your cards are a big hit with everyone. It’s really kind of you to send them out to everyone! I would love a set if it’s not too much trouble for you. If you could let me know how much that would be great Mine are nothing exciting they are just what I have learnt so far with the English on one side and the welsh on the back haha
PM me with the address you want them sent to, and I’ll see about digging one out and sending them to you. I’m not sure what the postage is nowadays! Not much, I’m sure.
its one of the reasons why I wanted to learn how to spell what I learnt because there will times I want to try my welsh out but might not be by actually speaking it like Facebook or text. The link you sent me was exactly what I wanted I didn’t even know there was a download written guide so that’s really impressed me. I am loving this course.
I wasn’t see what you meant at first with regards to WCW but @owainlurch sent me the picture! As you can tell I am very new to all this haha Lucky to find you guys on here who can help me. I am learning though…especially moving my way around this app… Look I have managed to add owainlurch into the response.Will be a forum pro one day haha
Somewhere in the depths of a hard drive on an old computer, but easier if I send a spare pack out to you - I’ve got a couple of those hidden around somewhere, so no problem!
Aww don’t worry about it I don’t want to be too much trouble for you. If you ever come across your electronic version let me know happy to give you some money for it even if it is electronic. I can’t lose them either if they are electronic:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: I saw a picture of them they look great!!!No wonder they are popular
Just wanted to add, I felt this way too when I started, but I agree with @tatjana that you really want to get a handle on the sound of the language and pronunciation by doing the lessons before you get too deep into reading/writing. It will make a difference in your accent. (You are probably way ahead of me with that since you are from Wales - I’m in the US, and I started with zero knowledge of the language - but it’s still a good idea.) Try doing the lesson all the way through before you go peeking at the course guide.
Re flashcards: I don’t know if you are familiar with Memrise, it’s a website (and app) that is a bit like doing flashcards. There are a bunch of Welsh “courses” there, and you can make your own if you want. I’ve used both ready-made and my own lists to help me learn vocab. It can be a little addictive! But, I didn’t start using Memrise (or try to read) until I was pretty close to the end of Course 1. One thing to note, is that the Memrise “courses” are user-made, so there are some errors sometimes. But on the whole I’ve found it to be a great resource.
You will quickly find that we are a very friendly bunch here - don’t ever hesitate to ask a question! And since I didn’t say it before - Croeso! (Welcome!)
This has come up before (is there a difference in this learning Welsh inside our outside Wales). I can’t speak for people outside Wales, but I know everyone I know well in Wales who has learned Welsh to the point of having conversations has done so with using written courses from the off, even with SSiW - except the one person I know who did it through simply speaking Welsh to Welsh speakers and not using any course at all!
There is such a wealth of material available in the written form to you in Wales- teach yourself books, courses, and of course, it being all around you - it would be impossible to avoid reading Welsh if you lived in Wales!
But it may well be different outside.
I’m sure it is! There are “errors” even in professionally written books and courses for learners
Not to blow my own trumpet, but I made sure my cards got proofread by a professional translators and two professional writers in Welsh (whom I paid for the task in beer ) before I let them out of my sight.
I’m sure there will be some things which some people would call “errors” in them for one reason or another, though!
I´m an outsider here, so I can´t comment on the SSIW course and it´s methods. I know however that while some people are happy to learn languages orally/aurally, there are others who fairly quickly need to see things written down in order to fix the words in their minds. It´s just how it is, some people seem to be more visually orientated. The danger, as others have pointed out, is that you´ll carry over your reading habits from your native language. So if you intend to make a lot of use of written materials then you should first of all work quite intensively on pronunciation and the writing system of Welsh (which is at least quite regular on the whole). The main problem is probably getting the phrasing and intonation. As a general rule Welsh puts the main stress on the last-but-one syllable of words, but there is usually a slight rise in the pitch of the voice on the final syllable which keeps the vowel clear. Some Welsh speakers carry these habits over into their English of course.
As for written materials, I wouldn´t advise your to spend lots of money on books you´ll soon advance beyond, unless you really like them, of course. There is endless Welsh to be found on the web these days. Just think of a simple Welsh phrase and Google it. Just now I put in ¨mynd am dro¨ (go for a walk/trip). An found this, apparently written by a child, so fairly simple vocab. and sentences :
No idea what it´s part of or anything. So, just look at it, and if nothing else pick out the bits you recognise and pat yourself on the back for the bits you know. (Don´t worry about the rest!) If you want to, you can look up unknown words you don´t know.
My main advise about reading though would be this — Find stuff you´re interested in, interested in the content that is. (Although to tell the truth, I often find myself reading material in Welsh that would bore me in English!) If the subject is familiar, then the chances are you can guess many of the words you don´t know from the context, which is a great help. Also if the material is interesting to you, then you´ll read on to find out what it´s saying and ideally forget which language it´s in.
This is one of those things that in my experience is more often spoken about as being universal than universally used. Of course, I may be used to hearing it in English or doing it myself (it’s part of a particular sort of Welsh accent, not just the accent in English of Welsh speakers) as well, as you say!
I certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to worry about that particular thing, anyway.
The stress on last but one syllable, of course, is another matter, happening almost all the time.
You will be pro very quickly. If you stuck with something there’s always a guide (well, more guides actually) which tell you how to do things on the forum and you can find a list of them here. There’s all from how to past alink, quote post, search for a member and all the way to little secrets of your own profile you can manage and view there. (At least) I believe there are many very useful stuff especially for newcommers and for those who are very keen to use phpBB forums but not Discourse one (which is as you see much different in shape and in doing things).
If there’s still something you’re stuck with no matter is it learning or handling things on this forum, there’s always someone who is willing or able to help. We four - @AnnaC, @owainlurch, @gruntius and I - are only those who just found ourselves to be here in the time of your need of help. Otherwise there are all friendly and very much willing to help people on here. You’re also very welcome to cruise through the topics of your interest and read things as you might find answers to your questions this way too.
Our “bosses” @aran, @Iestyn, @CatrinLliarJones and @anon86454181 are on holidays at the moment but when they will come back at least one of them will surely put their own input and thoughts on here.
In the mean time …
Oh, and by the way … don’t be too worried if you can’t would be not be able to find practice prather immediately. You’ll easier find one in real life then I can but Skype does the thing very well. I’m from Slovenia where there’s no one except me who’s speaking/learning Cymraeg. The only one in the country. So, heads up and boldly go further!
The point about the final syllables is that the vowel has to stay distinct (pitch rise or no). Whereas in English most unstressed vowels become a sort of indistinct grunt (technically called ´schwa´, the upsidedown ´e´ in IPA). This is almost the sound of Welsh ´y´ in non-final syllables, like the first three ´y´s in yn y mynnydd.
Despite the shortening of many words, Welsh people tend to pronounce the language - and all vowels- comparatively distinctly, including the unstressed ones, last syllable or not. Mind you, even stressed vowels can be a schwa in Welsh (quite deliberately, as it were!). In some dialects more than others. I was replying to your point on pitch.
Well of course, and I couldn’t possible presume to speak of what learning Welsh would be like for someone in Wales. You are lucky to have all those resources! I just know that for me, I would look at letters like “u” and “f” and automatically think of the English pronunciation, so it was better not to look until I had practiced with the audio only for a while.
Nice of you to go that extra mile…And an excellent payment method!
Yeah I can understand because as soon as you see how it is spelt it can look different to how it sounds. I think the best thing for me would be to write things down once I am completely comfortable with a word and my pronunciation is matching the teachers. The reason why I want to write things downs is because I want to learn welsh every day and sometimes I don’t have the time to listen to the course so I wanted something I could look over and refresh my memory.
Thank you for the tip on memrise! I didn’t even think about flash cards until I bought a notepad which had them in. i will defiantly be looking into that thank you so much for your message!!!
Hi thank you for your message!!!I think I am just so used to learning things from writing them down that I feel I need to write things down even if I necessarily dont need to!I only want to make a few revisions notes which I can look at for a few minutes a day just to keep it fresh in my head. The hard work will be put into the course but sometimes I feel I need to look at how something is spelt to help me remember the word so I can picture it in my head. I know the course says not to write things down and so maybe I should give it a go and not! I think I might just be trying to learn too fast and wanting to be able to learn, write, read etc all at the same time.
Thank you for the links that’s great!!So glad I posted my question on the forum I have been given so many great links so thank you!!
Completely agree with reading something you are interested in. I think it helps to learn and take in what you are reading if it’s of interest! M
Mine are nothing exciting they are just what I have learnt so far with the English on one side and the welsh on the back haha 
) before I let them out of my sight.
