Hi all…Im Dai from Port Talbot…I have tried & failed to learn Cymraeg a few times over the years. Giving it one final go, and going well, so far. Instead of going to classes, I have been going thru my old notes myself & trying to go to coffi & chat meet ups etc. to get more practice.
Came across SSIW a couple of mths ago and think it’s great…have worked thru the 3 levels. …the first 2 were quite comfortable, but Level 3 I struggled bit, so will redo it!
Have to admit, I thought the listening exercises were rubbish, just gobbledegook, wouldn’t understand a single word even if they were in English! !
So, what’s next, once I’ve done Level 3 again?
Also, must admit I find it hard to navigate around thus forum! !
The listening exercises are intentionally made to sound like gobbledegook - it feels counter-intuitive but listening to them at that speed does actually work because it makes normal speech (which learners often find too fast) seem slower.
There are plans for a few more lessons after Level 3 in the pipeline, but going over your old material is great. If you’ve done the South Wales levels, you could always have a look at the North Wales ones (you don’t have to actually use the N forms, but they’re handy to know!), but talking and using your Welsh as much as you can is the best way forward. Watch S4C, listen to Radio Cymru, keep chatting to people (there is a channel on Slack for speaking practice which many of us use) and start reading suitable books too if you can. You won’t understand everything 100% in any of these things to start with, but they will all help improve your listening and speaking skills and build vocabulary.
Getting around the forum isn’t too bad once you get used to it, but if you have any other questions (about anything at all!), just post and someone will pop up and answer
Hmmm, think there must be something wrong with my app, as the listening exercises are literally chipmunk unintelligle!! Literally a few sentences squeezed into a split second!! Perhaps will delete it all & re install it!!
Good idea listening to the Northern versions too…will do that!
Yes, I listen to Radio Cymru as much as I can each day, and also watch Pobol Y Cym everyday, with Welsh Subtitles, online so I can pause it, to give me some extra time!!!
Ha ha. No really, I thought that about the listening exercises at first but then realised its not about understanding them, just feeling the rhythm pattern of the speech. I find listening to real full speed Welsh a bit like that also, but the more that I listen, the more that my brain seems to start deciphering it.
Chipmunks is about right. I thought the same when I first heard it - completely unintelligible but now it doesn’t feel so bad. Stick with it! There is something about how our brains work on another thread with some altered speech as an example. If I can work out how to share it I will. Maybe someone else reading this can do it first
I’m usually (almost) the first to greet new members but this time I (might be deliberately) failed just to give people more space to converse. So, first of all Welcome here. As you see, you’re at the right spot at the right time so here we are.
I have to admit that I didn’t read other’s posts so I’ll go blind with this answer but … the listening exercises are meant to be “gobbledegook” brecause as such they have its purpose. You can (and it might be you already did) read explanation about why this is so elswhere on thsi forum from all various members (including me) and all various aspects but on short - they’re not aimed to understand anything in the first place but to forcre your brains to react as fast as it can in the real life situation where you don’t have much time to really understand, translate and what’s more to it. it’s similar to listening to the radio which plays in the background where you don’t actually think about what they’re talking but you still understand the bits and pieces. The more you listen the more you’ll understand and eventually your prediction in real life of what one is due to say improves too.
Uh, OK that’s in (not so) short. Explore the forum to read more.
On all forum navigation and such stuff I’d suggest you go through the list of Really useful ‘How to’ stuff and other great posts and see if there’s anything what solves your navigating around troubles. The things might be a bit out of date in details but in general it’s more or less still all the same as described there.
but now it doesn’t feel so bad. Stick with it! There is something about how our brains work on another thread with some altered speech as an example. If I can work out how to share it I will. Maybe someone else reading this can do it first 
