I think you’re probably right, and I don’t feel so bad now 
Coupled with words dropping from the sentences I could hear, it was a bit difficult for me. On the other hand, there were one or two sentences/questions from @Novem and @brigitte which I could hear and understand perfectly, so maybe I should take heart from that. It was certainly a very valuable experience. Thank you 
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@brigitte is brilliant speaking partner. I’m speaking to her every Saturday (we spoke that saturday prior one another group chat too so it was about 3 hours of talking in Welsh to us both). She speaks very clear and although she speaks Northern and I Southern I can understand her perfectly with no particular difficulties. Actually “gog” and “de” is not a problem for me anymore as Brigitte tries to speak both dialects too if neccessary and she’s very much willing to repeat/explain her questions. I remember the beginnings of speaking with her. There were several English parts of conversations at first with very much mixture of Welsh/German/Slovene in the midst. The more I knew to speak Welsh the less English was needed and now we usually do a quick research about the word we don’t know in Welsh with quck glance into the geiriadur wondering some times which to take to go with the context of our momental conversation.
@Novem on the other hand speaks very clear too although fast sometimes and is easy to be understood. I believe she can very much relate to you also as she went through kind of “intensive” course too (as she said in the conversation) so I believe she can perfectly understand your situation at the moment.
I’m (unfortunately maybe) by how mother nature made me, too talkative at times but actually quite many times hard to be understood quite some times also as I many times (probably) invent unexisting things presuming they might exist. When there’s all quiet at the other side when I talk I already know I just blurted something out which actually no one has the clue what I’m talking about at all. And after my silence it comes “aha” … as just might be the other person’s brains finally managed to process my inovation and take into considderation what I actually might want to tell.
If I think more reasonably and responsibly, for the “beginner” like you think you are, it might be I’m not too suitable to be in conversation with. I might bring bad habits of inovation in use which surely is not desirable at all.
(well, just pondering my thoughts a bit on the subject though)
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I’m interested too! 
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1 sorry about the draenog! It,'s really Pete’s fault because he insisted I had one on a chair last Skype session. I did not! But I said I’d bring the one in the kitchen this week and forgot. It was very rude of me to forget you had not been there and would not know what the hell I was talking about! Toffi expects to be in my sitting room in the evening and gets bored. I spent most of the time surreptitiously rubbing her tummy! Oh and Milla is @Novem on the Forum and is from Italy originally, now living in Finland!
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Oi!!! it looked like a dreinog!
Oi!!!, for a minute there i thought i had mis-spelt draenog.
At bootcamp, i mixed up squirrel for chicken (and yes it was one of those “oh how we laughed moments” ), sometimes i feels like i have not improved (but it’s still good fun).
Cheers J.P.
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I’d be interested in doing some one-on-one chats! I’m in Australia so timezones can be tricky, but I really do need to speak Welsh much more regularly than I currently do, so I’d be up for short or long chats if it can be worked out
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Well, I started my last post with 1 and forgot to put 2 before the second thing I said!! Mae’n ddrwg gen i! (That is the most frequent comment yn y Gymraeg which I say or type!!)
To @ramblingjohn I would have visualised you on a ramble ‘living off the land’, although I believe draenog is better to eat than gwiwer! (Well, based on stories of Romanies covering the spines with mud before roasting and getting lovely clean, tasty meat at the end!)
To @Pete2 I did not have a draenog on a chair. I had nothing resembling one! Our ‘Monkey’ is enormous and totally unlike any hedgehog!
To all - if you haven’t found the ‘What’s outside’ thread, have a look! John puts lots of species names in Welsh as well as teaching us about all sorts of fungi, trees, birds etc!! (And snakes and lizards, frogs and newts…and…slime moulds and… with alerts…pryf copyn [spiders]!!)
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“What’s outside” thread you can all find here but be sure you take all the time of this world when you seat and read/watch/learn as it’s one of the largest topics on this forum containing already 2208 very interesting posts/comments/replies. Very recommendable for all nature and wildlife lovers.
Enjoy!
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And don’t forget Hilary, that you had a 50 minute conversation with me a fortnight ago (in person) almost entirely in Welsh! I may have waffled on a bit at times, but you replied and nodded in all the right places! I can tell you that it was definitely not a beginner’s conversation.
Occasionally, I go to a chat group locally, where people have been learning since September (and much longer) and they cannot hold a conversation for 10 minutes, let alone 50. In fact, I find it quite a painful experience, so goodness knows how they are feeling.
I’m happy to meet up for a chat whenever you’re over this way.
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That’s definitely very encouraging to know - thank you!
That’s even more encouraging to know! I’m beginning to feel all warm and fuzzy 
Will certainly hook up again soon
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That’s the spirit!
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I m in Wales - you can mail me direct (rerab.rerab@talktalk.net) and we could set up a trial skype to see how it goes
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I’ve just had a first chat with @hilary. I am simply amazed. It is hard to believe that she has only been learning for a few weeks. Intensive language acquisition obviously works! She sounds like someone who has been learning for at least a year. Wow!
This had made me realise that my vocabulary has expanded, that I’ve started to say things in more ways than the simple ways. I need to make sure I don’t forget how to keep things simple!
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Da iawn chi dau!
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Mi fasai’n diddordeb efo fi glywed ohono chi neu bobl arall. Dw i’n byw yn Swistir ac yn dysgu Cymraeg ers blynyddoed .Da i ddim yn byw yng Nghymru mae’n dda efo fi medru ymarfer efo Skype.
margaret.steinmann@gmx.net
Hi @margaretsteinmann Could you put this into English, please, so other learners can understand it. Thank you
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Hilary fach, I think maybe she put it all yn y Gymraeg so those like me wouldn’t waste her time by offering to Skype, as I doubt if I would understand one word in 5!!
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We do try to keep to English on the forum (outside the ‘practice reading/writing’ thread!) - so that early stage learners feel a full part of the community, but also because plenty of our intermediate or advanced learners have (following our instructions!) done very little reading yet…
Margaret said:
I’d be interested in hearing from you or others. I live in Switzerland and (have been) learning Welsh for years. I don’t live in Wales, it’s good for me to be able to practise with Skype.
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I predicted it’s Switzerland but I didn’t really know. Thank you.
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