Croeso! Welcome to 1 sentence in Welsh - how is it going for you?

Croeso @jeni-scott

Welcome to the forum - for help or frivolity!

Rich :slight_smile:

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Hi everyone. Iā€™ve only just started to learn Welsh on Duolingo recently but looking at S4C I found a link to this. It looks a lot like the Michel Thomas way of language learning, which I have found really good in French German and Italian. I spend several holidays in North Wales every year and have done since I was born almost 60 years ago. Now I finally have some spare time to really give the language a go, something Iā€™ve wanted to do for a long time.

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Schwmae pob :wave:?! Apologies if thatā€™s wrong! I was ā€˜signpostedā€™ to SSi by a Welsh speaker - she hasnā€™t used it herself, but had heard good things about it :+1: I did do a year of evening classes in Welsh, but my aged brain couldnā€™t retain the information from one week to the next! Iā€™m not too sure how well Iā€™ll remember the 1 sentence eitherā€¦even if I do one every dayā€¦itā€™s only about 30 minutes since I did my first 1 sentence lesson and Iā€™ve already forgotten one of the words :worried::grimacing: I moved to Wales two years ago and really want to learn the language, even if itā€™s just verbally. Wish me luck, peeps!

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@trish-2 When I started out, the words didnā€™t make any sence. I couldnā€™t remember anything at all. Sticking with ā€œ1 sentence in Welshā€ showed me that the method works even if itā€™s sort of uncomfortable at first. Now I think Iā€™ll be able to rattle off that sentence if somebody wakes me in the middle of the night! :grin:
Good luck and see you around!

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Thatā€™s amazing. My father grew up in Alexander Terrace and work in the Six Bells pit before moving to England in the 60s. Itā€™s a mightily small world.

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Wow. They were close neighbours, then. Glendaā€™s family name is Jenkins. Her dad was assistant manager. I think Six Bells Pit - Iā€™ll check. Most of the family worked in the local pits. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Shā€™mae John, My family name is Mitchell. My father Terry worked there until just before the diisaster in 1960. My grandfather Hubert was working there still at that time but was of shift. I took dad back to see the Guardian a few years ago and he was reminiscing over the names of the victims, many of whom were friends he had either worked with or been to school with. I still have relatives in six bells, my aunt still lives in the family home in Alexandra Terrace. Iā€™ll ask my dad about Glendaā€™s father to e of he remembers him. Hwyl fawr. Gareth

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Great thanks Gareth. Glendaā€™s father was Ken Jenkins. He worked in Rose Heyworth, where unfortunately he died in a mining accident. All the family lived near to the Vivian Pit on Alexandra Rd, where some still do. :slightly_smiling_face:. Nice to see the Cymraeg initiatives in the area.

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Thatā€™s classy. Since following the link to this Iā€™ve discovered loads of great music yn Gymraeg. Really like Georgia Ruthā€™s Codi Angor too

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I live in Scotland but have travelled to Wales for conferences several times through out the past few years. Always thought the Welsh language was beautiful. Iā€™ve tried Duolingo but just couldnā€™t get it. I also tried your 30 minute courses a few years ago but due to my ADHD, I couldnā€™t focus that long. I have just completed the one sentence course and even on the last day I didnā€™t struggle at all. I already speak four languages (Scots, English, Esperanto and French). And I hope to move to Wales for Uni. I want to speak some Welsh before hand. I honestly love this methodlogy but will be taking the 6 minute course I think :slight_smile:

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Itā€™s great that youā€™ve enjoyed the 1 Sentence taster! And Iā€™m sure youā€™ll be made very welcome in Wales.
The 6 Minute course is based on the same 30-35 minute challenges, but you only get 1 a week so you can do it in bite-sized chunks a little at a time, whatever suits you. If you do it spread over the whole week it averages out to around 6 Minutes a Day, hence the name, but it would be interesting to see if you could build up to longer sessions - perhaps splitting each challenge into 3 blocks of 10 minutes or so each. Itā€™s as flexible as you need it to be :slight_smile:

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Diolch, @Irina! Iā€™ve completed Day 4 of 1 sentence todayā€¦so far, so good! One question, should we be also doing the ā€˜Challengesā€™ while weā€™re doing the 1 sentence courseā€¦or are they for a different course? Iā€™m a little confused with the 1 sentence a day, as initially I didnā€™t realise there were also set coursesā€¦

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Iā€™m glad to hear that you are doing so great, @trish-2 ! The challenges are a part of the big course: you either get one per week when doing the 6 minutes course or two weekly with the 6 months course. These courses offer a lot of guidance, even more support than this wonderful forum and plenty of opportunities to chat in Welsh. You can do some of the challenges (maybe 15?) without committing to a course, too. It took me two weeks after the 1 sentence taster to decide that I really want to commit to learning Welsh. One month in, I am low-key in love with the method and all the wonderful people here :heart:

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Many thanks again @Irina! Iā€™m sure I will be subscribing to one of the main courses in the near futureā€¦itā€™s just deciding which one will fit best (both in terms of time and Ā£)! I know what you mean when you say you are ā€œlow-key in love with the methodā€ - me too! I just need to remember a) to do it daily and b) to let go of my perfectionism :roll_eyes::joy:!

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Finding the daily slot can be difficult indeed. I found out that I could do the challenges while driving to and from work so I could commit to the 6 months course (which means about 4 hours a week of Welsh). Maybe you have a similar activity in your daily routine - something that you have to do anyway and that doesnā€™t require too much focus.

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Thatā€™s the secret right there! If you can incorporate your Welsh learning into something you already do each day, then you donā€™t have to find ā€˜extraā€™ time to fit it in - commuting, or walking the dog, even while youā€™re washing up - if you can find something and make it a habit, itā€™s the best way to go :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Deborah-SSi and @Irina! Iā€™m almost ready to commit to the 6 month course! Iā€™m a little confused though (it doesnā€™t take much to confuse me :upside_down_face: ) - is the 6 months course totally different from ā€˜Course 1, 2 and 3ā€™ that I see mentioned? If not, does the Ā£100 cover all three courses, or only 1? I donā€™t even know if Iā€™m making myself clear or not?! Can you enlighten me?!

Hi My Name is Roy, I started to learn Welsh with the Urdd years ago but work stopped meā€¦ I brought my Children Iolo and Gwenyth Angharad back from the Philippines when they were born so they could learn Welsh. They now go to Welsh School and speak Welsh.
Im now hopping to be able to with them in our own language . Hwyl fawr

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Iā€™m sure somebody more knowledgeable will come along but this is my take on it as a new-ish learner: I too was very confused by all the possibilities offered here and the differences between them. So I just closed my eyes and clicked the 6 months course in the end :joy: Now I know that:

  • 6 months course covers Levels 1 and 2 in six months (two challenges per week)
  • 6 minutes a day course covers the same Levels 1 and 2 in one year (one challenge per week)
  • Level 3 is ā€œDeep Endā€ and you need a monthly subscription for it either way
  • There used to be ā€œCourses 1-3ā€ before but then they got re-vamped and are now called Levels

So basically you can start on your own because some of Level 1 is available for free (like 15 challenges, but Iā€™m not sure). However Iā€™m glad that I committed to the course right away because there was a lot of uncertainty on my part about about how to do the challenges (what to aim for, how many repetitions) AND the human touch is invaluable - actually talking to people from day 1, participating in video sessions and other activities like Post Card Club that I wouldnā€™t have been brave enough to join otherwise. I was very enthusiastic about learning Welsh to begin with but Iā€™m even more motivated now with all this supportā€¦

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@Irinaā€¦thank you SO much :star_struck: that is very helpful! Iā€™m going to go ahead and click on the 6 months course! Iā€™m so excited (having just done the 1 sentence a day for 5 days, I truly believe this method is going to work for me)! One last (slightly personal) questionā€¦what does ā€˜5 Minuterā€™ mean by your name?! So - Iā€™m now off to commit myselfā€¦wish me luck, and maybe weā€™ll see each other on here again :woman_student: ?!

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