Dear All,
I am on the 6 mins a day Welsh course - but getting a bit confused if I ever use a dictionary and compare with what is taught on Welsh 6 mins a day course?
For example in The Welsh Learners Dictionary it uses hoffwn I for I would like ( same in Book ‘Gramadeg Cymraeg Cyfoes’ ) but SSIW teach hoffen i for I would like ? Lots of other examples I could quote.
Why the difference ? What dictionary/grammar book would SSIW suggest that follows your course ?
John Lever
The SSiW courses teach Welsh in a spoken form, whereas dictionaries and grammar books tend to only include words in their full written form. It’s one of the reasons learners with SSiW are encouraged to try not to refer to dictionaries or grammar books for as long as they can resist the temptation!
Having said that, Gareth King’s grammar books are very helpful in bridging the gap between written and spoken forms, but there are no specific books produced that follow the SSiW method.
Hi John,
The ethos behind SSIW is that it’s most effective for conversational language acquisition to avoid reading until you are converstaionally active.
Part of the problem many language learners experience is premature reading fluency. This can often negatively affect our listening proficiency and our accent.
The regional differences in Welsh mean there is much less of a standard spelling for many many words. It’s not like French and English which have this standard. So many will spell in their regional dialect.
Therefore, I wouldn’t worry about differences of spelling at this stage.
All the best,
Anthony