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

Saw this quote without reading the context it was in, so for a moment I thought it was Welsh rather than Cornish. But the two languages aren’t related. Nope, not at all. Totally different.
One of these days my brain will learn to recognize Cornish, maybe… :roll_eyes:

Thats brilliant…i like the idea of practising first, i keep diving in and tripping myself up then reverting to English. A bit of prep so I at least have the vocab sounds like a brilliant idea!
Syniad da! And well done you:fist_left:

Im very impressed too:smiley:

Nice breakthrough - hopefully the watershead. Chatted with a couple of friends about stuff that they are doing in their lives. Got home and realised that the conversation was in Welsh. I never thought that would happen.

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Despite being too panicked to actually speak a word of Welsh on my holiday to Wales, I did spend a rainy afternoon in Porthmadog library and read my first book in Welsh.

And although I have been doing the SsiW method and haven’t been reading, I found I could understand the gist of some of the beginner readers.

Which doesn’t make up for the fact that I couldn’t even utter a Diolch but I guess it is a small success in a way.

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Mae hen foi sy’n gweithio yn y castell St Mawes yn siarad Cernyweg. He’s a nice interesting man and we managed to communicate with Welsh and Cornish. It’s a lovely place and well worth a trip. Pob lwc.
Btw, I was worried that After Lefel 1, that I sounded like Robert Newton trying to speak Welsh. Thing is, it’s not far off :flushed:

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Diolch yn fawr iawn @andygildon :grinning: I’ll have to visit there, it looks lovely. And how serendipitous! Kernewek a Cymraeg :grinning:

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It is lovely and there’s loads of ferries around Aberfal. Mrs G found Alan, a Mebyon Kernow member, at the castle when she asked if they’d any books in Cernywek (they have). You’d be able to read the information signs in Cernywek with your Welsh. Two days before, we met a couple from Castell-nedd on the coastal path and they were telling me (in Welsh) that they could read the bi-lingual signs etc. Roseland area is lovely and feels a bit like Wales.

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Sorry, just noticed I can’t spell Kernewek!!

Maur ras ha diolch yn fawr iawn @andygildon :grinning: ha Mrs G.
Dw i’n mynd i Cornwall mes nesa felly gallu i cerdd a e a siarad Cymraeg a Kernewek!
(Apologies for the poor written Welsh here- I mean I’m going to Cornwall next month so I could meet him and speak Welsh and Cornish!)
Diolch for the advice re language books. I picked up a couple in St Ives, but haven’t made a start yet. I’ve just finished Lesson one of SSiC.

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Hope you have a lovely time. I think there’s often lots of Cymru Cymraeg in Cornwall, it’s not too bad driving from the south. I was surprised to have two conversations in about an hour in Portscatho.:+1:t2:

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Turns out my neighbour is a first language speaker and is totally stoked the “the sais next door knows how to speak welsh”! In the last 24 hours, through him I’ve met loads of sharadwrs who hang out at the local pub and are so welcoming. I spent an entire evening using Welsh to get by! I also managed to turn two people on to SSiW!!

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Baby steps! I remember being too scared to say ‘Diolch!’ and now I feel fluent, you’ll get there! :smile:

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Don’t know if this counts. A few Welsh speakers came in the shop today and I’m never brave enough to say anything in Welsh but I said Diolch! Very small I know but I was so happy. :joy: I need to be braver

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Wow. Big step, seriously, well done. That was the hardest part of your journey over. Difficult because the Welsh speakers respect that you are in charge at the shop, so will probably change to your language. Perhaps try s’mae next time, or diolch to the first customer. Hopefully they will change to Welsh, and you have the option of changing back if it gets too complex :smiley:

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Go for it Jen! You’ve said diolch now, there’s no turning back! Keep doing that, then, be brave and add to it…‘diolch i chi’! (www dyna sialans i ti/there’s a challenge for you!) Then, 'oes gennoch chi fag? etc etc…

baby steps + pushing yourself a little bit = fluency…guarenteed!

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:rofl: thanks. Probably be a challenge doing my job in Welsh. The questions to ask and money but maybe eventually. I did find a website that taught you “work Welsh”
Dw I wedi anghofio nawr.

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My partner walked into the room as my soundcloud was playing one of my question answers for the forum. He said “that lady said a little more slowly”. It’s the only thing he’s picked up from me doing Welsh. But “that lady” was me! He seriously thought it was someone else and I was doing a lesson or something :grin: so chuffed!

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I listened to a podcast the other night on BBC Radio 4’s Art of now about Welsh music called Cymru Rising (this one is in English), then when I had finished that switched back over to Welsh-language content with the Welsh learners’ podcast Pigeon for a while (links below). I was listening to Pigeon and just breezing along with the stories while scanning the forum, and it hit me… I had been following the stories and understanding what was going on to the point that I had gotten so comfortable, I had completely forgotten I wasn’t listening to English any longer. It was like waking up in the middle of it and thinking, HOLY COW, I’ve been listening yn Gymraeg! This wasn’t me sitting in focused attention straining to catch the words, this was effortless and I forgot I was even doing it. Hooray! Still waiting to remember any dreams so I can see if any are in Welsh, but alas, I forget instantly when I awake… I’ll keep hoping! Happy learning, pawb! :sunny:


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Well I’m a bit chuffed. I tune in to Radio Cymru in the car for half an hour on my way home from work & a quiz called “Gweud y Gair” is a regular thing I hear. Well, a few days ago, I got the gist of a question & answered correctly!! The words I picked up on were ‘Nadolig’ & ‘Ddrama’ so I answered ‘Pantomime’ - CORRECT. What a great feeling.

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