I think its a taster type course. As far as Iām aware, more esrablished students donāt usually see it because their computers/devices bypass it on the way to their chosen course material.
Nope, itās the new intro for new learners - some bite-sized lessons to warm them up for the real stuffā¦
Havenāt been doing the lessons for a while, and decided to get going again. I started going over them in the evening, and partway through Challenge 2, I began to get tired. But I was determined that I was going to finish before I went to bed. Survived the challenge, and now itās past midnight and I want to sleep. Nos da, pawb.
Why say ādwi dal isio siaradā, when you can say ādwi dal ishadā? Iām getting to be a pro at combining words, apparently. Also said āymarfadā for āymarfer siaradā.
Gonna start Challenge 3 soon. Wish me luck. And for anyone reading this forum, prepare for the whinging and whining later when I forget words, mix things up, and draw a complete blank. If it feels anything like the first time I did Challenge 2, Iāll spend half the lesson on the pause button and the other half accusing Aran of trying to overload my brain.
Come to think of it, I donāt always do well with English either. Earlier today, while on the phone with my mother, I was saying, āYeah, you asked if you wanted me to bring overā¦ I mean, you had asked if you wanted meā¦ AUGH! You asked if I wanted Dutch Brothers.ā I could not for the life of me say āYou asked if I wanted you to bring me Dutch Brothers.ā (Dutch Bros does coffee drinks and smoothies, for clarification.) And this is the language Iām fluent in.
Had to say ādechrauā in Challenge 3, and all of the sudden my attempts at CH sounded horrible and pathetic, and nothing like a CH should. This is going to bug me all through the lesson. I think Iām better at pronouncing LL than CH.
Okay, this isnāt too bad. Iām doing okay, other than CH. Maybe this lesson will be less painful.
What was this word? Huh? What? Oh, I think it was āboā ddiā or āboddiā, something like that. This doesnāt quite make sense to me, but okay. AUGH, I canāt get the hang of this. (brain implodes and parts of it catch on fire)
Drat, it was āboā fiā. And Iām still struggling to put it in sentences. How did a single thing mess me up so badly? I was doing okay up until that point, and then my brain died a horrendous death. Guess I have something to do tomorrow, go through this lesson again.
Pob lwc.
Combining words or using one that sounds similar does happen a lot. But thatās usually hilarious, if you donāt take it too seriously.
As for CH, donāt worry, when you reach Challenge 25 and the past tense of hearing youāll get to practice that a lot!!!
However, for the unusual sounds of Welsh language, I can say that finding a song that you enjoy with a lot of those is very helpful. After about a million hollol, it became quite natural to me. So I could move to a new song going mynach sychder, yn mynychu cornel. Still working on this!
Diolch! My lessons are filled with moments of frustration when I forget stuff or struggle greatly, and moments of laughing helplessly at ridiculous errors Iāve made, like mixing up words and stringing them together in ways that make no sense.
The funny thing is, Iāve been aware of CH and rolled Rs for a long while, though I wasnāt that good at CH, and was no good at producing a rolled R. Perhaps the R is formed in the throat, sort of like CH?
And after reading some things on rolled Rs, Iāve gained the impression Iām forming R the wrong way for trying to roll it. Yay.
Anyway, Iāve listened to music and sometimes tried to sing along and mimic it. Iāve tried CH, but it doesnāt always come out well, and sometimes I forget about trying to pronounce it differently in songs. And I tend to envy everyoneās rolled Rs without making much effort to duplicate it (or get around to looking up explanations of how to say it, apparently).
The LL sound, on the other hand, was a new concept to me, and for whatever reason, I proceeded to hyper-focus on it. So those arenāt as intimidating to me. But CH is touch-and-go, and trilled Rs just donāt happen.
Thatās exactly the planā¦
Keep practicing your āCH,ā it will come. Sometimes, I have to stop and physically say the word, ālochā as in Scottish loch to get the āCHā sound. Trilling āRāsā has a genetic component to it I think. My Wife canāt trill āRāsā for anything and sheās supremely talented!
I donāt know about genetic. What I know for sure is that in Italian language weāre supposed to trill the Rās too, so weāre somewhat familiar with it since weāre toddlers.
However probably about 50% or more of the population - including myself - pronounce it in a whole lot of different ways that are not exactly as it should be.
In most cases it could be corrected or improved - itās just a matter of habits and lack of practice. In fact since Iā've bee learning Welsh, and doing an effort to get its sounds right, also my Italian R has become better!
But since itās our mother tongueā¦we usually just donāt care and we manage to communicate anyway.
I guess this is worth remembering, against excess of perfectionism (I also forgot to mention this to @meowmocha)
Yeah, slightly confusing in Newport, SE Wales, where Lock in English seems to suggest the expanse of water (Dock section) thats being controlled by said lock gate. So theyāve got South Dock North Lock. Not to be confused with Loch
Same thing in the United States. We love to slaughter foreign words, so loch is lock.
Hello. I want to learn the language of my motherās family. My grandmother was born in Bridgend, great grandma in Swansea. My great grandfather on my fatherās side was born in Wales. Pennsylvania coal miners. BUT my Welsh grandma went to college soon after immigrating. I have been to Wales when I lived in the UK, but always wish I could move backā¦
Croeso! Welcome to the wonderful SSiW forum! Donāt hesitate to ask if you need any help along the way.
Hey!
I just started this thing and it seems to be pretty cool. I want to learn welsh because I love welsh culture and music (I come from brittany, in france). And I loooove the sound of this language.
My written english is not perfect but I have no problem for reading or understanding, I hope itās ok for you.
Hope Iāll enjoy learning welsh.
Hey zhala-1 and croeso (welcome)
Donāt worry about your written English. There are many people who are not native English speaker.(like me)
Please come here if you have any questions, problems or if you just want to share some success.
Enjoy your journey into the Welsh language.
Hwyl
Thanks @brigitte !
For the moment I really enjoy the sessions. I donāt want to rush it because I think it may overload my brain, but for the moment I find it quite easy (Iām on day 4). Thatās pretty cool.
Itās fun because Iāve started to watch some welsh series and I recognize some words wich seems to be the same in breton. For example ben or pen (I donāt know how it is written) seems to mean head or end. And du (I donāt know if itās written like this) seams to mean black.
I come from a place called PenhoĆ«t. Pen is āthe headā or āthe endā, and hoĆ«t come from coat/hoat/goat (I donāt know the real way to write it) wich means trees or forest.
In welsh, trees is ācoetā. So āpen hoĆ«tā = āpen coetā ? Thatās really close !
I donāt even speak breton but I have some friends who do and I love breton music and culture. (and obviously I come from Brittany)
Welcome. Feel free to soak in the atmosphere (so to speak) and contribute or ask questions any time. Ah, PenhoĆ«t. Thats great. We have Pencoed with same meaning, in our area. Also, the locals pronounce it āCodeā
hey,
I came from Duolingo, but I feel as though I need a bit more engagement so I can actually get the words in my head. I did some digging and found this site - I have heard good things!
Croeso Rebecca,
you will soon see, that the words and sentences that you learn here, really stick and you can use them in conversations. Donāt hesitate to come here and ask any question, and tell us how itās going for you.
Pob hwyl.