I’m not blaming anyone apart from myself , but just needed to tell someone!!!
I had laboriously worked thro’ the old course and got bogged down in lesson 13…so after about 6 months break, I began the new course at the beginning of last year…my NY Resolution I guess. 4 weeks ago, I stepped from lesson 12 to lesson 13…and although i don’t actually believe in luck as such, I have to agree with the opening comment that it is “unlucky for some!”…yes 4 weeks, with about 10 mins most days, but am having a real struggle to get my brain, my memory, my Welsh-listening ear round it. I’m still only 2/3 through it…and to help me, I am working through the course from the beginning alongside it, and being surprised at how tough even that is. When I can, I am listening to [and sometimes watching] S4C for about 30 mins . and trying to make up welsh sentences relevant to what I am doing .
I’m not seeking for help as much as wanting to hear at least one voice saying , “poor old thing” …[???
“peth hen tlawb”…???
There we are , then. Got it off my chest and will now go back for a next session of meeting someone last night who works with my sister who wanted to tell me that someone knows someone who wanted to work with an old woman!..Keep up the good work…and I’ll try to do so, too!..hwyl…dw i Pedr.
I think there is a clue there in the phrase “laboriously worked through”.
It suggests that a different attitude might help.
Treating it more like a game, say, than a job of work.
And take plenty of breaks. When things were getting tough for me on the old courses (and they did, sometimes), I used to break them up into 5 or at most 10 minute segments, with plenty of rest or change of activity in between.
And maybe watch (as well as listen to) plenty of fun things on S4C, and not being too proud to use the subtitles (English or Welsh, or both). There is an American linguist called Stephen Krashen who has made famous the concept of “comprehensible input” in language learning. Well, subtitles are just one of the ways that the input of the S4C audio can be made more comprehensible to learners, so use them ad lib, if they help you.
Peter, I’m not sure I understood right: you started lesson 13 four weeks ago, and now you’re 2/3 through, so still 1/3 before the pain ends?
If so, more than “poor old thing” you deserve a full bottle of whisky!
Well, my approach to challenge 13 was different: this lesson is a nightmare (definitely agree with your title), therefore let’s get out of it as soon as possible. It felt like trading water when you’re exhausted and about to drown. You just want to reach the shore, right?
No pause button, no matter if I remembered just 4 words of the English sentence and uttered 1 word in Welsh.
Finished, moved on, felt great!
p.s. I never repeated it, but for some mysterious reason, after a few months I tried to do it again and I did it quite effortlessly and mostly right.
I think the equivalent of poor old thing might be “pwr dab”?
But I agree - SSi works best when you treat it as a game. If I remember correctly, 13 IS a bit of a pig. It is better to romp through it, move on, do a couple more lessons, then go back and have another stab at it. You’ll be surprised how much easier you’ll find it.
Just to add to the excellent advice from the others, if you are still aiming for the “get 80% right”, then please disregard that - it’s old advice and really not relevant anymore. As the others have said, do as best you can once through and then move on. You won’t ‘miss out’ on anything because of the spaced repetition in the following lessons and you can always go back to any lesson a later date.
It may not feel like it, but you really are doing ok, honestly!
Diolch Siaron and other contributors…I forgot to mention that I began working through SSiW…about 7 years ago, …so a bit of a glutton for punishment! Sorry, I can’t translate that into Cymraeg. …pwr dab that I am…hwyl iawn
I seem to recall challenge 13 was horrible. Just move on. All the stuff in it will come up again in later lessons anyway. Don’t torture yourself… this is supposed to be fun!
If you’ve gone up to 13 in just 4 weeks, you are galloping along - and you just ran into one of the toughest challenges on the course, so it’s normal to find it tough. Plough on through, and from 15 onwards they’re not bad…
Indeed! I watch a few of the toddler programmes on S4C, eg: ‘Nico Nog’- a sweet little dog who lives on a barge in Llanwelli, includes 2 quiz qns about the story, a good way to feel clever I find! Certainly easier than Challenge 13 If you don’t mind sudden random songs, bubbles appearing etc, preschool tv in Welsh is a good way to pick up simple phrases etc. Obviously to supplement SSiW!.
Good luck and have fun.
If you don’t mind sudden random songs, bubbles appearing etc, preschool tv in Welsh is a good way to pick up simple phrases etc. Obviously to supplement SSiW!.