Stick with it - go at whatever pace you feel comfortable with. After 8 weeks now I’m pretty good at understanding quite a bit - although obviously I make loads of mistakes.
I’m more interested at this point in learning how to construct sentences so sometimes if I can’t remember a specific word I’ll just miss it out and see if I can continue the sentence. Sometimes it works well. Sometimes it doesn’t.
I did the new levels first then after finishing I switched to course 2 - relying on some very old memories of words I learnt in school etc. Course 3 sometimes has me floundering when I can’t remember words like tickle for example!
Overall however I’m now getting used to mixing tenses
eg I won’t be going where you said that you wanted to go
The other thing that is useful is hearing different patterns of saying the same thing. The old courses and the new levels differ a fair bit in that respect but it’s useful to hear them.
My daily record for what it’s worth was 5 lessons of level 2 - I admit I had to repeat them but it was I think more useful to to it that way than to keep repeating a lesson before moving on.
Just my opinion though. @aran may disagree but I doubt it!!!
Aran, is there any estimate as to when lesson notes will be available for the challenges in Level Two North? I just started the module recently, and having the notes available for review would be very helpful I think. Thanks very much.
I’m very confused by the changes. In the new course “dw i’n medru” has been replaced with “mi fedra i” and there seem to be severak other changes like this. There is no explination, why has this been done? Do I have to completely re-learn everything from Course 1?
Are the listebing practices supposed to be a conversation? If so, why are they spoken by one person? It would be more helpful as a conversation with two.
There are a lot of changes because there are a lot of ways to say the same thing - just as with other languages.
Dw i’n medru is closer to I am able, while mi fedra i (or medra i) is closer to I can. It’s because Welsh works differently to English in its sentence order: where English goes Subject Verb Object (the cat sat on the mat), Welsh goes (sat that cat on the mat).
Dw i is commonly used for I am, but even there the verb comes first: dw is the verb “to be” when used for oneself. It’s similar to gwnes i (the g is usually silent) - it’s the past tense for gwneud, and using it (gwnes i ddweud) is akin to saying I did (I did say, with this example).
The first listening practise is a monologue; the rest are dialogues, and are at double speed.
Not quite. Both forms are equally useful, and the form the new course teaches is what the vast majority of Course 3 is spent teaching. Part of the goal here is to introduce both ways of using verbs rather than just picking one and sticking to it, because both ways are heard about as commonly as each other in actual speech. It is a little harder, but you’ll get used to it with time. I’ve done both courses for Southern, and I still use dw i’n/dw i ddim yn gallu (gallu is the word used instead of medru in the Southern course); it depends on what flows most easily from what I’ve already said. For example, I might use “Galla i” at the start of a sentence, but “… mod i’n gallu” in the middle; just like I will use both can and able in English based on context.
Only the first one is with one voice, and that’s because the material that has been covered up to challenge 5 doesn’t provide enough ‘you’ material for a conversation.
No, you don’t. Use whichever comes to mind first. As Hector has said, there are different ways to say most things, and we take a different approach to covering those differences in the Levels than we did in the Courses.
I’ve completed Courses 1 and 2 (Southern) and the two sets of additional vocab, then thought it best to start Level 2 challenges before going on to 3.
However I’m getting a little confused with some structures - e.g. oes plant 'da chi vs. oes ‘da chi plant.
There also seems to be a difference in the active past tense (pluperfect? can’t remember what it’s called, basically I did something for a prolonged time rather than just I was). I think from lessons many moons ago that they’re two ways of contracting the same thing (roedd on’ in becoming on’in) but am not sure.
Should I go back to Level 1 challenges and zip through those, or just plug on with Level 2 and assume it’ll all come out in the wash?
You can put “gyda” both before and after interchangeably. Both are commonly used. I’d just keep going, personally; you’ll get used to things in time. You’re right about the contraction.
Diolch i chi dau. Good to know I was on the right track. Sorry for taking so long to acknowledge this… Isabella Carys made an appearance and has rather distracted me but ini 'n siarad yng gymraeg
