Have just completed this course and it has been a roller coaster. Many times I wanted to give up especially on the weeks when there was a lot of new vocabulary. Other times I was pleasantly surprised when I managed a whole sentence correctly. Never used the pause button just did every lesson twice. Many thanks to Aran and Iestyn. It is a brilliant course, the only thing I didn’t like was Slack, but that is just me, never spoken face to face before. I need time to assimilate everything and then I might press on with three. Also, I didn’t do as much welsh speaking as I should have done but I intend to carry on until I think I am a Welsh speaker. Diolch
Well done @rolidoodle! By the way, I was really nervous when I had my first ever Welsh conversation, in Wales and not on Slack. But I overcame it almost immediately. It was great.
Good luck!
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Huge congratulations on getting to the end of it in one piece! Yes, the face-to-face stuff is challenging - but so, so worthwhile if you can summon up the determination… 
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I didn’t actually say I was still in one piece! However I will continue learning my ambition is that Welsh comes as naturally as English without me thinking have I got the right tense or getting words in the wrong order in sentences. Rhaid I fi ymarfer, ymarfer, ymarfer.
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I’ll settle for ‘still able to type’… 
Yes, it’s all about building conversations into the fabric of your life now - the more the merrier…
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Wow, I have just finished the six month course. Although I was determined to complete it, I am so pleased to have actually made it, thus proving two things wrong, that Welsh is too difficult to learn, and you can’t learn a language when you are old. That is down to the skills of Aran and Iestyn and everyone on their team.
I have thoroughly enjoyed it all. I have looked forward to Monday mornings, and the arrival of the new challenges from Aran, with all the extra bits, and Iestyn’s supportive emails every couple of days. I’ve loved the forum, and reading about how everyone else is doing, and knowing there is a safe place to ask any questions. The whole set up of the six monthly course made me feel supported and among friends, never that I was struggling alone. I have tuned the car radio permanently to Radio Cymru, and heard some beautiful songs as a result. I turned to S4C when there was nothing else I wanted to watch on TV and am now completely sucked into Pobl y Cwm.
Of course, I’ve also, got totally frustrated too. There were the words and phrases that just would not stick in my head, the tenses that I kept getting wrong, and all the little words and prepositions that got muddled up with each other. Also, listening to Welsh spoken was so much harder than trying to speak it, unless it was Iestyn or Cat in the Challenges. Trying to talk to people made me despair, as it just seemed to create a hole in my head where all the words I had learnt suddenly dropped out.
BUT, gradually as the challenges progressed, the things I thought I would never remember from previous ones, were there, actually in my head. I went from only understading a word here and there on Radio Cymru, to recognising phrases and getting the gist of what was going on. I can stumble through sentences and know that I can convey a meaning even if not grammatically correct. Some sentences come very easily now, unfortunately mainly ones along the lines of 'Mae’n ddrwg ‘da fi ond wnes i ddim deall be ddwedest ti’, and when I look something up in the dictionary, I know how far I’ve got to go. So many words! But I know it will only get better, after all Dee and Nicky were adult learner’s once, and even Aran.
I have always loved Wales, ever since I moved here, and now I feel a real part of it. I have Welsh going round in my head most of the time, so I’m so glad there is a Level 3 that I can move on to. Thank you all so much for making me a Welsh speaker
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What a huge, huge achievement! Massive congratulations, and thank you so much for this warm and inspiring feedback… 
Llongyfarchiadau/Congratulations! Thanks for sharing that - I enjoyed reading it. How wonderful that you feel a real part of Wales now!
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Thank you for your kind comments. I have one quiry though. I have signed up for Level 3 and am awaiting the start on Monday, but thought in the mean time I would go over some challenges, especially 25 which recaps the first level… I find I can no longer access them. Fortunately I’ve printed off all the vocabularies but I was hoping to dip into the lessons too if possible. Is there a way I can?
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Send an email through to admin@saysomethingin.com @bizzielizzie. You should still have access so something needs to be tweaked somewhere.
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Thanks. I have done now.
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Fantastic - congratulations!
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I’m not sure if I maded it clear in my last post. I meant that I had now contacted admin. Not that I can now access Levels 1 and 2.
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Ifan’s going through tickets at the moment, so this should be done for you before too long…
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He has sorted it all for me, thank you.
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Helo BizzieLizzie,
Like you I recently finished the 6 month course and am using the level 3 challenges to keep extending myself. I live in Australia but have an App on my phone to listen live to Radio Cymru, which I do most days. I’m fortunate to have a few friends in Wales that I can exchange emails with in Welsh and weekly classes start up again next Tuesday at The Welsh Church in Melbourne . I’m really looking forward to them. Also have now finished a couple of Welsh language novels written for learners.
SSIW really provides the backbone of my efforts and I’m pleased to say that the passion for the Welsh language is growing rather than lessening. Andy (another Australian SSIW er recently posted a very helpful link to S4C which allows us folk who live away from Wales to watch a range of TV shows. Thank you for your encouraging post
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Hi Bill ,
You are inspiring. I’ve taken me long enough to get to this stage living in Wales let alone on the other side of the world. I’m always amazed at the places SSiW reaches. I see you are from Carmarthen, and Burry Port, both of which I know, as I’m in Glais in the Swansea Valley. I find my interest in Welsh increasing the more I do too, but I’m very impressed that you have read novels, I haven’t tried to move on beyond my grandchildrens’ early stage books yet. 
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I’m so used to hearing more and more amazing success stories following on from the 6 month course, that for a moment, I actually thought you’d written a couple of Welsh language novels for learners! 
Still, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Aran works that into the course…
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Not in the least. Go ahead. 
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