Just starting to learn Welsh and help! my brain hurts!

Ah, thanks everyone - what an encouraging bunch. I will get back to it this evening and see how I go…my family will have to get used to me talking to my mac in Welsh and then sometimes staring blankly at the ceiling, followed by my mac saying Welsh words back to me!

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Hello @Cally Welcome! The others have all answered your questions. If you have any technical problems, try typing @tat at this point the word @tatjana will appear! Click on it and type your question! Far away in Slovenia, when next logged in, a lovely helpful lady, the only Welsh speaking Slovene we know of, will either be able to answer your question or tell you who can! Putting @ before names flags them up so the person will know you mentioned them! It should cause their Forum name to pop up, but sometimes you have to type quite a lot to find the right one! Also, look at FAQ!!! Have fun in Welsh! Oh where are you? There are groups who gather for chats and help each other.

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Well done for coming to the forum!! The staring at the ceiling, that’s so common, we all do it :slight_smile:

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Yes, press on, as people have said. We can all relate to the headaches I think.

In fact, rumour has it that the first generation of SSiW pioneers were given free discount vouchers for Ibuprofen (if not something stronger…), although this rumour has never been confirmed or denied… :wink:

But seriously … re: vocab lists: the only reason for these is for people who genuinely can’t work out what is being said, e.g. not being able to distinguish the soft sound of the Welsh “dd” from the soft sound of the Welsh single “f”, which happens sometimes.

If you can manage without looking at the vocab lists at all, so much the better.

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Congratulations - that’s an excellent sign that you were doing it properly… :slight_smile:

Yes, as others have said, don’t worry about what you think you can’t remember - press on, and trust the system to build the memories for you…

And a warm welcome to one of the loveliest communities on the entire internet… :slight_smile:

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You didn’t type it, @Cally, I’m sure, but word “tatjana” appearad … :smile: There must be this forum is upgraded to automatic levels - haha!

Now siriously, warm welcome to the forum @Cally and @aliceyaxley from me too.

All on here said it all so I’ll add just one more thing which might be of high use to you both. Here’s the topic Really useful ‘How to’ stuff and other great posts where there are many useful “how to” on the forum things and also some other useful bits regarding this site, learning resources and more. So, you are warmly invited to cruise around this topic and explore. As @henddraig says, if there’s any question still unanswered here I am to take a question or either answer it or tagging one who can.

Croeso yma eto!
Hwyl!
Tatjana

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Croeso / Welcome

The thing is we have all been there, all us SSiW people. Most of us are still there in fact. Your brain is supposed to hurt, it mean you are learning! The more you do it, the easier it gets. One day and soon, you will look back at the first lesson and go: why did I find this hard?

Just press on is the best advice. If you want to have a peek at the vocabulary list, you can, but just letting the course do it’s thing, does amazingly work!

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Thanks there. Done challenge 2 just now - as predicted by Aran, it’s harder just remembering the longer English sentences than some of the newer welsh words! Does anyone else find that random Welsh words float into their minds through the day? dysgu siarad kept floating into my mind after lesson 1…wonder what it will be after lesson 2?

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That is an excellent sign that the new synapses you’re forming are starting to fire… :slight_smile: :thumbsup:

Just to answer your earlier question, although I am Welsh by birth and my mother’s side of the family, I live in Surrey…why do I have a feeling there may not be many people learning to speak Welsh in Surrey? But just in case there are, or indeed over the border in North Hampshire, hello there! :slight_smile:

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For ages I’d say dweud when I was meant to say siarad. There were others too, I think eisiau and hoffi.

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I still do!

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I thought it was me! You’ve made it further than I have. I’m starting to slow down on Challenge 7. I generally try and do my learning to and from work and the extra complexity combined with driving has really slowed my pace.
Rhaid i mi ymarfer myw!

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I’m near the end of Course 3, so farther along than you at this point, but yup, still happens,
and I wake up with random Welsh song lyrics in my head, too!

Everyone is different - I know lots of people have done the whole course while driving/commuting, but I have a hard time doing a lesson for the first time while driving. I generally sit and do a lesson when I can really focus, and I use driving time to review old lessons when I feel the need/desire.

Welcome to the forum, @Cally and @SiH! :slight_smile:

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If you look under the heading of meetings and groups you’ll see Kent at lease twice and South East England. I didn’t get all the way, so tried typing Surrey after hitting the big Q to search. Try it, at least one inSurrey!

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Many thanks Anna, enjoying being here! :grinning:

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Like you and @Pete2, I had the dweud/siarad problem, but for some unknown reason, for ages I mixed up ymarfer and gwella!! OK, you have to do the first for the second to come to pass, but…??? :blush:
Oh, @SiH Croeso (welcome) to the Forum!!

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I used to do that too :wink:

They’re all very linked aren’t they? (I wonder, is there method to Aran and Iestyn’s madness?! :wink:)

You may be surprised at how big the group is that meet in the Brighton area, if you can make it you feel the benefit.

Cheers J.P.

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Cheers rambling John :smiley: May be a bit of a romp from where I am in Surrey but thanks for the offer. Still only at challenge three, but can only get better…

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