Hi, @therese.danchin! If you type ‘long sentences’ into the search box here, you’ll find lots of people with exactly the same problem! The most comforting thing that I read on this issue was that it doesn’t really matter whether you say,’ I met someone in the pub who used to work with your brother’ or ‘I met someone in the pub who said he wanted to practise Welsh with you’, as long as you say something. The idea is that you don’t have time to over-think it, but just say what comes into your mind. As you go on with the course, eventually those long sentences will just come out effortlessly. Meanwhile, laugh at your mistakes, because they’re part of the learning process!
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Hello, I am new to the course and new to the technology - not sure which is more challenging :). Seriously though, I think I have my head round the difference between I must and i 've got in challenge 4, but I am at a loss with 'and’from one of the earlier challenges. I got that it’s r if a consonant and ac if a vowel, but when I am doing the challenges I usually get it wrong for eg; fine if followed by dween, but when followed by ma, I assume it will be r but you say ac . I no comprendez and despite repeatedly trying to understand it, I don’t - so please help, thank you - Sue
Helo Bronwent,
Thank you so much for your encouragement! I’ll try and remember that. Thanks again. Therese
Welcome Sue 
Try not to overthink it and after a while your mouth will say what your ears have heard rather than what your brain thinks ought to be there!
‘And’ is either ‘a’ or ‘ac’. When it comes before a word beginning with a consonant, it’s ‘a’ and when it’s before a word beginning with a vowel, it’s ‘ac’. However, there are occasions, like “ac mae” which seem to break this rule. This is because “ac mae” is actually a shortening of “ac y mae” which, over time, has lost its ‘y’ but not changed its ‘ac’! It’s a little anomaly that “just is”, but honestly, if you say “a mae” until you naturally switch to “ac mae” (and the more you hear it, the more it’ll stick), it’s not a huge problem.
Hope that helps a bit, but the bottom line is, don’t worry at this stage, just go with the flow!
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Hi, I joined and did the first lesson. I tried to go to the forum where I could ask to be put on the map, but somehow got redirected to a general forum list. I am in Knoxville, TN USA 37923.
I would like to know how to also learn to spell what I’m learning to speak. How do I do that?
Also a friend directed me here to find a translation for the title of a knitting pattern I wrote, but after signing up and doing the first lesson, I can’t find a place where I can translate. The name is “Soft, Leafy.”
Thank you (Dioch?)
~ Nikki
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Hi Nikki, welcome!
The forum is a bit of a behemoth, but don’t worry, there are always people who can help you navigate it!
We have a thread for asking to be added to the map here The 'Please add me to the SSiW map' thread 🗺
but I’ll also tag @Sionned for you here, as she’s the one who actually does the adding.
The course isn’t designed to teach spelling, it’s designed to get people speaking first and foremost, but most people pick up spelling as they go along and by doing ‘extras’ such as reading Welsh - you might find the articles on https://parallel.cymru/ useful. Generally though, we encourage people to speak and hear first and read and write much later. It does all click into place eventually, but trying to do it all at once can be overwhelming.
We don’t have a built-in tool for translating on the site - but what we do have is lots of people who will help with a translation.
So “Soft, Leafy” would be “Meddal, Deiliog”
Hope you enjoy the rest of the course, and remember, we’re all here to help, most of us have been through or are going through exactly what you will come across, so never worry about asking on the forum if you need any help, support or encouragement!
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Hi, Nikki - I’ve added you to the map. Thanks!
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Hi there,
I’ve started a night school class with Dysgu Cymraeg Gwent. Great fun, feel i’m doing ok and could probably have a very basic conversation. I’m listening to dialogues and can now understand quite a bit. I’m trying to use all sorts of resources to broaden my understanding but speaking practice is not frequent hence i thought i’d have a go on here this site. However…… the first challenge (south) straight away shows differences, using ‘moyn’ rather than ‘eisiau’, Using ‘eisiau’ where I’ve been taught ‘angen’, i’ve been taught ‘dw i ddim yn cofio’ etc etc. I appreciate they’re all correct but It does confuse things somewhat and i wonder if i should continue or stop now to avoid confusion !!!
It also raises an interesting question which may be better suited to other topics on the forum, such as should there be a standardised regulated official vocabulary overseen by an organisation similar to Academie Francaise in France ??? How do the various methods reconcile or meet the needs for their students if they use different vocab etc etc ?? interesting stuff.
Hi Jonathan, and welcome!
If you’ve been taught want/need as eisiau/angen rather than moyn/eisiau, it sounds like you may have been taught by a North-Welsh speaker - you caould always try the first challenge in Northern to see if that helps!
The thing is, SSiW tries to expose you to many different ways of saying the same thing, not to deliberately confuse you (though yes, depending on the degree of previous knowledge, it can be confusing), but because that’s how you hear it spoken ‘in the wild’ - people use lots of different forms and whilst you are free to use whichever you prefer, at least you will recognise the ones you don’t personally use when you come across them
This has actually been attempted and many book-based courses are based on this. Great for writing essays or passing written exams but the problem was/is is that the ‘standardised’ vocabulary isn’t the one used by first-language Welsh speakers, so people would put a huge amount of effort into learning words and constructions that they would never get to hear in TV/radio/podcast/conversation etc, and by using what they’d learnt in speech, people would always sound like a learner rather than develop a natural sounding Welsh vocabulary.
This can be why the SSiW method often seems confusing or counter-intuitive, and whilst no course will suit 100% of people, the results we’ve seen from SSiW prove that it does get people speaking in Welsh much quicker than some other courses .
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This particular course is a national (Dysgu Cymraeg) course split into North Wales and South Wales, and i’m doing the South Wales version. The teacher West Walian (Llanelli/Burry Port) with Welsh as her first language so thats interesting ! Thanks for the reply !
I’m sure everyone had asked this before but what is the best way to get that ll sound. When I hear it on the lesson it sounds more guttural and I find it very difficult to do after a G or a W
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The simplest way to do it is to put your tongue where it would be to make an L sound but instead of making a sound, blow air. It does take a bit of practise and it is trickier before and after certain letters, but it will come in time
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I’m trying that but I don’t seem to be able to get it quite as harsh thats probably the wrong word as it sounds. My dogs keep looking at me strangely as I was round trying to make the sound 
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You don’t need to put any “voice” in the actual ll sound, though letters before and after will have voice. The bare ll sound is mostly a kind of hissy sound. But don’t worry about it too much. There are always variations in the way people say things, and this is no exception.
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How harsh the ll sound is partly comes down to accent. A first-language Welsh friend of mine from the Gower has such a soft ll that it sounds almost like an h to me. You don’t need to mimic exactly how emphatic it sounds in the challenges - as long as you can make the sound to some extent, people will get what it is.
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Ah may be I’m just overthinking this then. Thanks for the reply x
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Hi Bronwen,
I am having problems with SoundCloud as I am unable to get it onto my mobile due to the fact that the phone is old and isn’t able to download it. How can I speak using this system please?
Thank you for your reply. Therese
I am working on the challenges, by doing the full challenge each day. I am slow, but I feel I am getting there, but Is there a way for me to hear Welsh being spoken (slowly) and to try to speak myself?
Even though it will feel much too fast right now, it’s worth having S4C or Radio Cymru on in the background while you do other things if you can - don’t even try to translate or understand it, just let your ears get used to hearing the rhythms and patterns.
One thing you can do that will help enormously with speaking, is to join the WSP group (Welsh Speaking Practice) on Slack. There are lots of people there at all levels and very willing to slow down for you if they are more advanced. To join the group, ask for an invite from admin@saysomethingin.com . I’m going to tag a couple of particularly patient and encouraging people who speak regularly to people in WSP - @BronwenLewis and @AlanP (there are plenty of others, of course, and you’ll soon find other regular chat partners, but Bronwen and Alan are very used to helping people start out on Slack.)