Breakthroughs: Does anybody have small successes/breakthroughs speaking Cymraeg they want to share?

Enjoying people’s responses here. :heart_eyes:

1 Like

Indeed! On Rownd a Rownd for example, I notice they very often miss out people’s names (which is understandable as they don’t need to be translated), but also (in the Welsh subtitles) little bits of a sentence, or short phrases, so when one is awake enough to notice that, it’s a “yes!” moment… And in the English subtitles they might translate it differently to the literal meaning, which is fair enough, but it’s good when you notice it.

5 Likes

Well seeing as this thread has just popped up… I just had a bit of a breakthrough moment with my 10 year old tonight.

I’ve been worrying for ages that she enjoys English books so much more than Welsh ones. (She reads anything and everything in English for pleasure, but in Welsh only what the school makes her. Understandable really - to be honest, English books tend to be better, and also easier, as more reading leads to more fluency.)

Anyway, as I have enjoyed Manon Steffan Ros’ books for grown ups so much, I got two that she wrote for young people for my daughter’s birthday a while ago. They had been studiously ignored so far, but tonight I just decided to grab her in a quiet place and read one to her - and she was completely hooked! I ended up reading the first 5 chapters of Pluen, and she was begging for more - but it was (past) bed time! I expect she will finish it by herself at the first opportunity tomorrow, although I would selfishly quite like to read the rest aloud too as it’s so much fun!
(I haven’t succeeded in reading regularly to the kids in Welsh, as I’ve only fairly recently started feeling confident enough to make a decent job of it.)

20 Likes

Gwych!

2 Likes

I was thinking of Rownd a Rownd, little things like "I’ve been " instead of “I’ve just been”.

1 Like

I like suddenly realising I ma understanding without translating. i love Tresaith!

3 Likes

I felt quite panicky Sam! I had a nice telephone operator, when I asked yn Cymraeg if I could speak Welsh with her she said, in English, that her Welsh wasn’t very good! That relaxed me a little, a lot of it was just reading out reference and debit card numbers and the conversation was fairly predictable so quite straightforward really. It was good to use Welsh - speaking council services (Sir - Gar).

4 Likes

My next breakthrough hopefully, as I’ve just reached Challenge 12 on Level 1 @margaretnock … is to do the SSiW / Agored assessment early in the new year!

6 Likes

Just had a Skype conversation with @ChrisTaylor … one hour, 98% in Welsh! I surprised myself again with how much I could talk about and understand.

Thanks for speaking slowly and clearly!

SSiW am byth!

10 Likes

Da Iawn @Howard.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of info on the forum from people who have actually done this, so you may be one of the first. Make sure you post to tell others how it goes.

@aran, @Iestyn,

4 Likes

Just curious - What is the SSiW / Agored assessment?

1 Like

There are at least two threads, but SSiW one seems to be…
Click here
Hope that is useful!
In case you want it, the other thread is:
The more general thread

5 Likes

Info is here @margaretwerdermann
https://www.saysomethingin.com/welsh/info/assessment

2 Likes

Diolch yn fawr, henddraig!

Diolch yn fawr, Howard!

I went to a Plygain last night, and afterwards the man I was sitting next to asked if I was Gog. Counts as success to me.

11 Likes

Yn wir!! Da iawn ti!!

1 Like

Went to Snowdon Books in Bangor to see if they had a copy of a book I was after. It was raining quite heavily, and after I commented on this in Welsh and the shopkeeper replied in Welsh, I didn’t speak a word of English the rest of the time I was in the shop (including asking about the above mentioned book, being told that they didn’t have it in stock but might have it in the warehouse and explaining that I was going home that day and so couldn’t wait). First time I’ve ever had the courage to even try that outside of being on bootcamp - especially given that I had barely encountered any spoken Welsh during my four days there (was a little disappointed by that, but not overly surprised).

10 Likes

Well done @hectorgrey! Keep up the good work.

1 Like

Well done hecorgrey that’s a great achievement . Bet you felt buzzing afterwards . Maybe you were just unlucky in regards to not hearing much Welsh spoken . I find that I hear quite a lot of Welsh spoken around Bangor ( a lot more than where I live anyway )particularly when walking around the supermarkets there .

2 Likes