My name is Richard .I attended the 10 day SSIW intensive. The course was wonderful but due to my specific memory problems with indexing and recall I felt on times as if I was wading through treacle but with support from Aran and Dee I enjoyed the course and it made me even more keen to become a welsh speaker
Week ending 28 October 2017.I got addicted to the two soap operas rownd a rownd and pobol y cwm
Straight back from intensive course with my cards (kindly written by Aran) to help facilitate learning and recall. I spent the week doing SSIW challenge 1 .I get stuck on times and it becomes frustrating because I know what to say but the wrong words which are similar come out. I use the pause button only after the English before the Welsh. I spend 5 mins going through the cards each day looking and speaking out loud the welsh and recalling the English afterwards. I have completed lessons 3.4 and 5 in challenge 1 again and it is frustrating when you think you mastered it and then 2 lessons you cannot recall.
I now have looked at my plan that Aran has sent me following the course and I will stick to the guidance given
Excellent work, Richard - great to see you in here, and opening up a specific thread - superb action-taking!
Everyone else - Richard is one of the toughest cookies it has ever been my pleasure to meet.
He has some very challenging memory issues, and finds this kind of work about as easy as climbing the Matterhorn with his hands tied behind his back - and yet nothing, nothing stops him from pushing on.
And because he NEVER gives up, he starts to win stuff - both Dee and I were delighted to see him taking real steps forward on the intensive, and on the last day I watched him use his Welsh (and deal with live, unpredictable answers!) in the pub and in the coffee shop - which was a point I didn’t think he would be able to reach in the time we had.
Now I’ve sent him home with a bunch of painful stuff to carry on with, and challenged him to keep me posted in here on his journey - and as you can see, he throws himself straight into the challenge.
@tatjana - you’ll be able to sympathise with a lot of the struggles Richard is going through! And Richard, if you look for ‘Tatjana - progress reports’ (try the magnifying glass search thing up there on the top right) you’ll find some serious inspiration…
Richard deserves the warmest encouragement and support this amazing community can give…
Hello @richardglaves and welcome (I don’t remember I’d see you on here although you’re member for some months now).
I am that Tatjana @aran mentions in his post and to give you some comfort … the thinking about how you’ve mastered the things only to find out in later lessons that you can’t remember them, happens to many of us so you’re on the very good way to learn things properly at one - unexpected - point. Things will come to your mind and go off it again and it’s nothing wrong with this. Congrats on your acheavement and your bravery to even try this intensive course. To be honest I don’t think I’d do that.
I can imagine his struggles so, yes, I know what you’re talking about.
Thank you, Aran. I constantly can’t believe my strougles can inspire someone and you all keep telling me they do, so I’m happy though. So, I’ll save you one struggle and here’s the link to the topic “Tatjana - Progress reports”. I hope you’ll find some inspiration, encouragement and ideas in it.
Croeso/Welcome, Richard! I admire your persistence and determination. Definitely keep us posted with how you are doing, so we can continue to cheer you on!
(I’m addicted to Rownd a Rownd, too…unfortunately Pobol Y Cwm isn’t available internationally for us Americans )
Hi Richard! Great to see you on the forum. Looks like I’ll have to start watching Rownd a Rownd so we can chat about it when I’m up in the Blackpool area in January. You know I’m a Pobol fan already, of course
Annwyl Ffrindiau
Diolch am y negeseuon cefnogaeth (Thank you for the messages of support)Diolch Tatjana
This is my second week of my journey into the mystical and wonderful language of welsh. A little memoir over thirty three years ago(Tri dau tri) I went to a St David’s evening in Cwmbran Gwent and towards the end of the evening of course Hen Wlad fy Nhadau was supposed to be sang not one of my friends who were born in Wales could sing it. I only half remembered the chorus-if my mother found out I would have been in trouble. Why do I mention it in week two of my journey into Welsh because I was ashamed that I could not remember the Welsh National Anthem.The part of that anthem the words that haunt me are O bydded I’r hen iaith barhau (may the old language endure for ever)
This makes me want to say Dw I eisau siarad cymru and sing (perhaps not too loudly )Hen Wlad fy Nhadau with pride.
This week two of my welsh journey. I have revised challenge 1 lessons 1-7 and I remembered some of it Lessons most of lessons 1-5 For lessons 1-5 I managed to say the welsh without using the pause button but the longer sentences remain a challenge . I have found the flash cards useful. I make a note of words that I have difficulty pronouncing as I get tongue tied. The difficult word this week is ddudest ti (you said) I know that at the beginning dd (starts as th as in that) that where I have my problem I have difficulty in pronouncing my th. It sounds as if I am saying vest ti. So I phoned a friend to help me and I can near enough say ddudest ti.
I just read what I wrote in my update. I know numbers were not very good on 10 day course but however I noticed 33 should be tri deg tri and not tri dau tri
Richard, you’re doing excellently - well done, and keep it up! I’ll answer in more detail when I’ve finished the 5 day intensive I’m running at the moment…
Week 3 Richard’s Welsh journey
Annwyl Ffrindiau
Last week seemed to be a breeze compared with this week I found the challenge1 lessons after 8-12 challenging. The difficulty I have is remembering the full sentence I get the beginning ok but then forget the end mae’n ddrwg gen I ond nes I ddim dallt be’ ddudest and also when to use oedd o, oedd hi. I also confuse dallt to understand and I want to use ddeud (even those it means say) I spend 5 mins trying to get dallt out but strangely enough I do not confuse it when I am saying ddeud in answer to say. Difficult words to remember byddai fo I am still enjoying torturing myself using the programme. I have managed to get up to 12. I have also had a feast on Bang. I had 6 programmes recorded to catch up on. It seems strange I can now understand quite a few words. I attended the Clwb Cymraeg Preston which meets monthly in Preston. Very friendly group with welsh speakers and learners. They use the Cwrs Mynediard north wales version.
The challenge for me this week is to do 12-15 and then recheck with listening to 6 and 10. Also go through the cards and make sentences.
Hwyl
Richard
I am doing the 6 cards daily
Dw I ddim ynsiwr sut I gofio beth dwi angen gwnend heno
Dw i ddim yn siwr os dw i’n trio
Dw i ddim yn siwr os dw i’n trio dechrau ymarfer
Dw i’n meddwl bo fi isio siarad gymraeg heno
Dw i ddim yn siwr os dw i’n mynd allan i’r dafarn efo ti yfory
Dw i’n meddwl bo fi siarad cymraeg
I do the others weekly
Once again thankyou for your help
Hwyl Richard
This week was not as good as the previous weeks. It seems to be about time.I am currently packing up my flat in London.S hifting through 23 years of accumulated stuff.i have put off packing for months. Now we have booked the van I will have to do the packing .Things will settle down in 3 weeks. .I am afraid a lot of the stuff will go up in the attic never to be seen again for a while. I have not made welsh a top priority this week. I have done some each day going through the lessons but pausing after the English before Catrin says the welsh.I seem to have problems remembering the 11-15.Perhaps I am not concentrating as much due to the move out of London to Blackpool…
I have been able to practice welsh a little using the flash cards daily.They have been a life saver.
Hopefully I will be able to do more this week.
Perhaps you need to keep things in perspective with the move?
You will be within easy reach of Wales or at least Radio Cymru and Britonic place names when you move, so should start to take strides, then.
That’s absolutely normal, Richard - life is ALWAYS a matter of ebb and flow, so give yourself a free pass, and a pat on the back for getting any lessons done at all!
Thanks for the advise and support. I haven’t beaten myself up about it and it is another week. The great move takes place Friday.This week been spent doing boxes etc. I look forward to permanently living in Blackpool.
Annwyl Ffrindiau
Apologise for not writing my welsh journey for past two weeks.I have been busy moving from London to Blackpool.I have been travelling there and back to sort out some underlying medical issues including the day time sleeping. Those who had been on the 10 day intensive course will remember that and I had to keep walking around. I have been keeping up with my welsh. It can be frustrating at times especially when you think you got a handle on it and forget it. I know it is about commitment and I am committed to this long and difficult journey to be a welsh speaker.
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