Here’s @Nicky and me wishing the Cwps farewell from all of us on the forum!
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Googles: can you die of a hangover
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Huwgles response: “yep!” 
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Oh dear!
I had been hoping to see Wales next year, including Aberystwyth, and visiting Y Cŵps (not least after reading about how much good it did @aran when he was learning Welsh).
Did a bit of searching the forum to remind me what it was called, plugged it into Google Maps to see where it was… and saw that it was marked as “Closed Permanently”.
Came back here to see whether anyone knew anything and found your comment (and the thread in general) 
I suppose the Hen Lew Du will be the next best bet for an evening of Welsh in Aberystwyth?
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Hi Phil,
The brewery that owns Y Cwps (Felinfoel) are still very much in the hunt for someone to carry on running the pub, and to be fair to them I think (based on rumours) they’ve actually turned a couple of people away because they didn’t have the intention to keep the “welsh element” to the pub.
It’s a superb location, and is the first pub a lot of students hit as they walk down the hill from the university - so I can’t see it staying closed too long to be honest.
Yr Hen Lew Du is the next obvious Welsh pub - but I’ve also had fairly good Welsh speaking evenings out at pubs like Scholars, The Railway Club and The Ship & Castle also.
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Thanks! So I’ll wait and see and try to keep an eye out. Thanks also for the other mentions.
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Hello all! I’m revisiting this forum after a while but I’ve been trying to keep up the learning process since last year when I left Aberystwyth and have been back in New Delhi. It’s difficult to find speakers here (surprise, surprise!) and I’m really keen to learn a lot more before my next visit to Wales. How do you suggest I assess what I’ve learnt until now and speed up my learning process? I’m listening to Level 1, Challenge 13 at the moment, and have also been going through DuoLingo at work sometimes intermittently… Can anyone suggest a Plan of Action for someone so far away, who fell in love with the language and country and needs to do something about it!? Note: My next big goal is to write a cynghanedd so anything you can suggest to get me there is welcome! 
@aran
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Hello again @mohinigupta has it really been a year!?!
Have you thought about joining welshspeakingpractice.slack.com? It’s an online community linked to SSIW with 400+ members taking part in regular scheduled hangouts and 1:1s over the web. A really good to practice Welsh if you aren’t flooding with speakers around you.
Send your email address to admin@saysomethingin.com with the title “WSP” and they’ll do the rest.
For a kind of “recovery course of action” if you will. Might I recommend…
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SSIW, Levels 1,2 and then 3.
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If S4C is accessible online for you, how about trying to watch an hour a week?
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Spend an hour or two a week listening to Welsh language podcasts.
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Chat for an hour a week on WSP.
I think a couple of weeks on that routine will blow the cobwebs right away!
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Hi Mohini!
Tell me a little about your usage patterns with the challenges - do you tend to repeat them multiple times, how much do you need to use the pause button, how often do you say something (don’t care if it’s ‘right’ or not) in the gaps?
Nicky’s ‘jump in!’ overview is great… if it feels a bit overwhelming, I’d suggest (subject to a little more info about how you’re using the challenges) putting it into a set of consecutive targets, so you go:
1 - get through to the end of Level 2 (or ideally 3)
2 - make sure you do a 5 minute listening exercise every day
3 - when you’ve finished Level 2 (or 3!), commit to one hour’s 1-on-1 conversation (via WSP) per week
4 - start working through Beca’s advanced content…
If you get to 3 or 4 on that list, you’ll be flying by the time you’re next over here… 
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Great to hear from you, @Nicky! This is such a warm platform to come back to These tips are really helpful, I wasn’t aware about WSP - and S4C/podcasts are a great idea too, I should look up what I can access online easily. Might come back here for recommendations, so feel free to share your favourites/easiest ones to begin with…
I hope everything is well with you in Aberystwyth - no sign of revival at Y Cwps?
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Hope you’ve been well, @aran! It’s really lovely to be back on this forum.
I went through 10 Challenges of Lesson 1 in my first month in Wales, and then joined formal classes at the Uni through Dysgu Cymraeg for two months before I left. I then came back to New Delhi, and thought I’ll brush up with Duolingo because I couldn’t find time to listen to SSi Challenges. I have finally decided to bring SSi back into my routine, mainly because I love the way you have put together the learning process at SSi. It really works for me, especially because I am an aural person (having learnt the piano for years and years). I have recommended this platform to everyone who has wanted to learn the language.
Regarding my usage pattern: I am always saying something in the gaps during the Challenges like you suggest in one of the first sessions, and I am happy to find that I remember the first 10 Challenges quite clearly. I haven’t repeated any challenge yet. While I am quick at remembering and answering in the gaps, my listening practice is quite weak and I don’t engage with the listening exercises enough, especially when they are fast. I can read basic Welsh seamlessly now, but still find it hard to catch even familiar words when they are spoken. Listening exercises and practice sessions with a speaker will really help here.
Like you suggested, I will complete Lesson 2 first, and then move on to weekly conversations on WSP. Some days at work are more tiring and time-consuming than others, but the thought of getting back to this is making me feel happy and motivated. So I hope I don’t wait another year before completing the next ten challenges.
Also, open invitation to New Delhi - @aran @Nicky and any other SSi Welsh speakers who’d like to visit. Let’s organise an event here some day
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Everything is very good here. Most of the old Y Cwps crew have transferred 2 minutes walk down the road to Scholars, however the dream for all is for Y Cwps to re-open.
The problem at the moment seems to be a stumbling block between the brewery and anyone interested in taking it on as a going concern. The brewery are apparently only interested in renting it out, and all of the community groups interested in the pub have been told under terms of their grants etc that they can only buy it outright… so its a bit of a sticky one at present…
…hold tight!
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Ahh, this is all excellent news - you’re describing someone who responds very well to the method - which means that if you focus on getting through to the end of Level 2 as soon as possible, you’ll see some remarkable changes…
But it will be very, very worthwhile for you to start building a 5 minute a day accelerated listening exercise into your routine - at Challenge 10, you’ve just got to the first accelerated exercise, so just listen to that in a Zen paying attention but not worrying about meaning kind of way every day, and it won’t be long before you start to notice words and then sentences jumping out at you…
It’s lovely to see you on the forum again! And I LOVE the idea of a New Delhi meet-up - that’s more fuel on my long-held dream of a round the world Welsh practice trip…
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Okay great, will do this and reach out if I have any more questions… Thank you so much for the motivation
And yes, ab dilli door nahin! (Delhi isn’t far away now!)
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And just keep us posted in general terms - it’s always great to hear how the journey is going…
I’m now going to be faintly irritated until I’ve spoken Welsh in New Delhi…!
[But it’s just dawned on me that before we can commit to a world tour, we’ll need to have a bunch of other courses in other languages ready - I’m not pitching up in New Delhi only able to speak Welsh or English (or, at a pinch, to say ‘here please’ in Urdu 
).]
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I’m glad - and I think doing this just in Welsh would also be great, given how little people know about the language. I will happily be the Indian ambassador for this!
Will keep you posted on this thread… I’m sure I will have more questions/exclamations as I learn…
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That’s the best sign of a successful learner… 
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