Listening Practices Level 2 - what to aim for?

Well. Listening practices just seem to go faster and faster.
And voices getting weirder and weirder. :grinning:

Theyā€™re pretty funny, and I do catch a few words here and there, but I doubt Iā€™ll ever be able to hear and understand everything.
So I was wondering: what should we really aim for when we listen to them?

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I think the idea is just to let them wash over you. Donā€™t try to understand them. Itā€™s about getting your ear tuned in to the language. Iā€™ve also found it helpful to do the same with Radio Cymru stuff. Then all of a sudden found myself understanding (rather than translating) a lot more than I realised.

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Exactly what Kimberley said - let your attention rest on them, but donā€™t worry about the understanding - their real value is kicking in when you hear a sentence in normal spoken Welsh and then realise youā€™ve understood it all in one go without even needing to thinkā€¦ :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Kimberley. Iā€™ll keep this in mind, next time I listen to them.

About Radio Cymru: Iā€™m sure itā€™s a good tip and there was also an interesting post by @Baruch mentioning this.

My only doubt is that I had a look at the website andā€¦wellā€¦the fact is that the only thing that looks vaguely familiar to me is this :joy:

Iā€™m afraid itā€™s going to be a bit hard to keep my mind focused on those completely unknown topics. :worried:
But Iā€™ll definitely try!

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Thanks @aran.

One more question, at this point: what about (keeping on) listening to songs, with this approach in mind?

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Try Tudur Owenā€™s shows. Heā€™s a comedian and presenter and he does his shows with two other people so itā€™s quite ā€˜chattyā€™.

Definitely keep listening to songs. Listening to Swnami is one of the reasons I know gwenwyn = poison and you never know when that might come in handy :wink:

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Yes, absolutely - all extra input is extra inputā€¦ :slight_smile:

Thank you for bringing this up. I am struggling too. There are moments of clarity but I mainly catch a word and find myself concentrating on translation of that word. By the time I have worked it out the whole world had moved on :slight_smile:
One question, do we listen to just the latest one we have got to or do we need to practice with past ones too? At the moment I am just going with the latest.
By the way, thanks for using Coffi Du as an introduction. I think itā€™s brilliant. For the first time since I was a teenager I sought out lyrics so I can sing along. So thatā€™s a little extra input for me too.

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The latest is all you need - if you want to add extra work, then using the older ones is fine, but thatā€™s very much a matter of optional extra sufferingā€¦ :wink:

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Listening to level one practices (except the last one), is not suffering, itā€™s amazement and satisfaction for realizing how many words and sentences I can catch, compared to just a month ago!

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More listening exercises have appeared in Level 2!

I thought my app was misbehaving last night, but it seems the extra challenges every five lessons that appeared, and didnā€™t work, were just place-holders for new listening exercises! Now Iā€™ll have to do more housework!

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I have been listening to the first listening practice in Level 2 for some days now, and Iā€™ve been picking up more and more snippets of what is been said. :slight_smile:

Iā€™m letting it ā€˜wash over meā€™, but Iā€™ve been hooked into concentrating and trying to understand whatā€™s been said at a couple of points, because I think Iā€™ve misheard. Can someone reassure me that no one dies :fearful: in the making of this listening practice?

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Iā€™m fairly sure not.

I mean, I think itā€™s the kind of thing Iā€™d have remembered.

[Although you never knowā€¦ :wink: ]

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I have a feeling Iā€™m going to be falling about laughing when I find out what the words actually are.

I donā€™t want to say what I hear, because other people might start hearing it as well! Itā€™s 18-19 seconds in, the first time round, after Catrinā€™s said that she enjoyed the film, you exchange a couple of sentences, she asks you a question and you replyā€¦??

Happily, you later talk about the ages of the children sitting on the sofa, so allā€™s wellā€¦I think. :relieved:

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Iā€™m kind of tempted to go and re-listen myself now!

I can only see one thing in the text that might have worked as a bit of a curveballā€¦ :wink:

Thatā€™s a relief.

I have to admit that I am that person who thinks thereā€™s a line in Paranoid where Ozzy Osbourne sings ā€œPeople think Iā€™m in Sainburyā€™s cos I am frowning all the timeā€ :smile:
I heard it that way the first time and I always hear it like that.

And I mixed up cysgodion and pysgod in Llwythaā€™r Gwn by Candelas - mondegreens in Welsh!

Perhaps, I should move on to the next listening practice - if itā€™s safeā€¦

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Do we want to talk about how easy it is to transcribe English lyrics without mishearing anything? :joy:
Iā€™m sure than once you get past the confusing early stage of learning, Welsh is much easier to understand!

(I admit Iā€™m a bit curious about what Helen is hearing in listening practice 1, Level 2, North - is that right? I donā€™t notice anything strange!)

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I donā€™t know about you, but feel shaky and sick with panic when I listen to the latest Listening Practice for Level 2, so if I manage to listen through it even once without throwing up or switching it off in desperation it is a miracle. I can only pick out odd words. Perhaps I would cope with it better if I were a bit drunk?! Off out for a walk to recover from trying it again just now!tenor

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:smiley:
I have to admit I hadnā€™t listened to it for a while. I tried now and I didnā€™t notice any relevant difference since the last time. :roll_eyes:

But I accidentally had this page open, and I believe that listening to the practice while watching the penguin might turn it into quite a psychedelic experience! :laughing::dizzy_face::exploding_head::rainbow:

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