Thanks for your answer, Siaron. Iām actually finding these recordings a good way to practice speaking in a way thatās more like a one-to-one conversation. Introverts donāt tend to do small talk, so although itās not easy to think of answers to these questions, itās going to be excellent practice for having conversations āin the wildā.
Many of the suggestions for practising speaking a language involve doing things that I donāt usually do and that I find very hard, like meeting a group of strangers in a pub and casually chatting. This is about the hardest thing I do in my native English, so the thought of doing it in Welsh is rather overwhelming. Just to clarify, Iām not shy. I was a teacher for over 20 years, and thatās probably made my introversion worse because after a day at work, Iād be completely peopled out and Iād need to hide away quietly at home in order to recharge my batteries.
I know exactly what you mean Margaret, Iām the same, given the choice. It takes a series of huge deep breaths for me to walk into anything āsocialā, even when itās not necessarily strangers, and when I do do things like that, Iām much happier to grab a corner and just listen and observe, but as youāll know, thatās not always possible. I have to call on my āpublic personaā to get through it, but yes, it does take effort!
(Iām pretty sure that will come as a shock to those Iāve met up with so far through SSiW, but I keep the offer of a āpanad a sgwrsā open because I feel I do need to practice āfightā rather than āflightā - so anyone else reading this who is near Caernarfon anytime and wants a meet up, please donāt think youāre not welcome to do so - you are worth it!)
So Margaret, if you do fancy a meet up, just the two of us somewhere quiet, let me know and weāll see what we can up with, but certainly no rush, and definitely no pressure!
Thanks for the offer of a quiet chat! I will definitely keep that in mind.
I read your post, @margarethall , and thought āthatās me.ā If I am with people then I need to have a role. I can serve as a volunteer in the village shop, I can act as treasurer to a local group and even make a speech at the AGM. What I canāt do is chat. I have nothing to say. If I do think of something then it is always too late. I dread any form of social gathering. And yet - I was prepared to go and meet a group of total strangers and try to speak Welsh. They are wonderful people, very encouraging, and I do manage to say a little bit. If we were speaking English then I would probably say even less.
Exactly so. According to my daughter, that defines an introvert. Extroverts gain energy from being with people.
The good thing about making these recordings is that I donāt have to look for a gap in the conversation, and I donāt have to worry that the conversation has moved on before I think of something to say. (Sorry, Geraint, for using your question thread.)
Sue
Excellent point! I agree.
(And also with what you and others have said about introversion.)
Somebody came up with an excellent idea here. I recommend all learners to listen to these questions and answers, especially if (like me) you havenāt yet reached a sufficient level of competence to participate actively. Youāll understand much of it, and learn a lot. I certainly did. Arddechog, a diolch i chi.