I found by accident that reading books from the same author for a while really helped. I suppose it’s something to do with reinforcement of both style and vocabulary but it seemed to make soaking up new words a more natural process to the point where it’s possible to predict the meaning of a word from context. That’s it for this month’s random thought …
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Yes, I think ‘press on through’ is very much the order of the day - in a similar way, this is how we’ve gone from tentatively encouraging people to consider doing two lessons in a row to running courses where people get through 50 lessons in 5 days…
Given that it’s early days for you with extended sessions, they’re bound to feel a bit intimidating and tiring - but get yourself to that position as often as possible, and you’ll find your tolerance comes on in leaps and bounds… 
And really, you’re into the fun part. What to do when you get there? Keep on talking, buy more coffee, add gin, keep talking…
That makes a lot of sense - great top tip! 
Right, well – after the Bywyd Blodwen Jones I was after something else I could get as an e-book, and tried one of Bethan Gwanas’ others not aimed at learners (I Botany Bay) . I find I’m alternating between looking up every single bloomin’ word and just letting it wash over me until I find I’ve completely lost the plot about two paragraphs ago…
So, going back to plan A: there a clearly more Asterixes and Anturiaethau Tintin out there, but I can’t say I really know any of them that well in any other language. Failing that, skimming through Gwales seems to leave me with Y Tywysog Bach (very formal in French, although less so in English translation, so wonder what the ‘flavour’ of the Welsh would be); Harri Potter (getting a bit tired of, but I do have it in multiple languages already, and it would have some quite everyday vocab and phraseology alongside the muggles and the quidditch); or Bible Stories for Children.
Of those options, I think I’d prefer the Little Prince, if it’s not too stilted.
Any other suggestions that anyone knows of? Y Hobbit? Ty ar Cornel Pŵ?
Very formal.
Can I recommend “Pluen” by Manon Steffan Ros? It’s very good and the Welsh is accessible
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There are quite a few Roald Dahl, if that would be of interest - and at least some David Walliams. Also plenty of Julia Donaldson, although I’d see that as a bit on the limited side for you.
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I second Pluen, I’m reading it at the moment. At bootcamp I also read the first few chapters of the translation of David Williams’ gangsta granny which was pretty accessible.
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Thanks for the suggestion – it looks promising, so I’ve got it on order. Was it you who mentioned reading Y Tywysog Bach? – If you have a copy, I’d be grateful for a scan or a phone pic of maybe the first two pages, or the short chapter where he tames the fox, to see how dreadfully formal it is (whilst not violating copyright…) It does have the advantage of being the only thing other than Harry Potter that I’ve come across so far that I can honestly say I know well in English – @aran’s suggestion of Roald Dahl might well be a good one, but I’ve actually never read e.g. Matilda in English, so from that point of view I might just as well be reading original Welsh rather than a translation.
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Yeah sure. I will when I’m home.
My only issue With Roald Dahl is that the language is weird in any language because it’s Dahl.
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Could I also suggest all the other Bethan Gwanas books aimed at younger readers, every one of them is a gem … and there are loads. My personal favourite is y Gwylliaid.
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Or you could read the English quickly, and then have the head start for the Welsh… but it does rather need to be stuff that you can tolerate for multiple re-readings…
Looking back over my request for “more, more, more…!”, I realise that I was really asking for you to do all the hard work for me and provide me with vocab lessons for all parts of my life! What a cheek - sorry! It’s just that the things that I learn through SSIW roll off the tongue quickly, but other things don’t stick, and once I start thinking about grammar, tenses, etc, everything comes to a stuttering halt.
For example, I am on the committee for the Owain Glyndwr centre in Machynlleth. I can understand most of what is going on (I do the double speed listening practice before I go), but some words I get confused even though I have tried to learn them and they come up regularly. These are words such as consider, support, consult, represent, recommend, increase, campaign, etc. I know ‘consider’, because it comes up in SSiW and ‘support’ because I support Aston Villa). All the others, I can usually pick up from the context when someone is talking, but I can’t recall them if I want to say them myself. Therefore, I don’t say anything. 
Another example, I was telling a group of people about when I went to my father’s funeral (a tale that involves hanging my blouse out of a train window - don’t ask!). Afterwards, I thought it would have been good if I could have told the story yn y Gymraeg - it really didn’t contain any difficult vocabulary.
I now have a list of ten areas I want to be able to talk about in Welsh. It’s not just a matter of learning a few extra verbs or nouns, but expressing things so they flow. Obviously, you can’t provide vocab units for every situation, or even things such as meetings that come up on a regular basis. So, what I think I am asking is whether you could maybe do a video with tips on how to put our own ‘vocab units’ together for post-Level 3?
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That’s a good collection… maybe when we’ve finished Level 3 (and Level 3+) we could do some requests…
Just a thought for @helenlindsay on making your own SSiW style vocab units. I chat with @atomic_newt every Wednesday evening that I’m not working and this week she was telling me about an app that she uses to create such things for her to learn new words. I’ll give her a nudge and see if she can come on to maybe explain how it’s done.
You know very well though that they will become natural in time, some words quicker than others for some reason. Cynrychioli for instance stuck with me the first time I heard it but I still stumble over cyfrannu after hearing it and using it hundreds of times, it makes no sense.
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Yes, that’s precisely it!
I know eventually they will bubble to the surface, but it is taking a long time, probably because I am not saying them out loud in sentences (because I have it fixed in my mind that I don’t know them or get them confused). They are not there when I want them, but they are somewhere in my brain jumbled up.
One of the problems is quite a few of them start with the same first 2-3 letter prefixes: cyn-, cyf-, cyd-… I know the start of so many words and I just can’t grasp the second part. 
I want to speed up the process of getting them out there… in the right order!
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HI! 
Wanting more vocabulary has always been my sticking point! When I was able to start reading that helped enormously but the new vocabulary I acquired was passive…I had trouble moving it to active vocab! I tried lists & flashcards and studied and studied but they would not get in there! 
That’s when I decided to try to create vocab lessons of my own à la “SSI”. Now, I have to admit I have NOT done this extensively yet but what I have done seems to be working and it has great potential.
Here’s what I’ve done:
I’m no expert on apps, but the one I found that works for me is Tape-A-Talk (probably initially designed for students to record lectures.) I like it because it’s pretty straightforward, you can leave gaps and it won’t shut off, you can name files (colors, numbers, etc.)–and it was free!–but I’m sure any similar app will work.
As far as the actual lessons I design, I basically write up a script of words, phrases, & sentences with the selected vocab, following the “SSI” pattern pretty closely because I know that’s what works for me!! I find it’s important to repeat the set and mix them up several times, just like “SSI” lessons do, so you are kept on your toes!! 
It’s a fair amount of work to do the lesson scripts (new appreciation for all of Aran & Catrin’s hard work !) but I think it’s worth it! The only tip I have is to keep it simple–I tried to do a lesson where I had 5 new words in every sentence and I think it was a bit too ambitious! 
Introduce a few at a time and hit 'em from all sides!
I’ve done a couple lessons successfully with Welsh, and have recently begun doing this with a few new languages I’m trying to learn.
If you have other questions, let me know!
Hope this helps!!
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Ahhhhh… brilliant…
What you’ve described here is something we could technically make possible for you to log in to the SSiBorg and build… so you’d have the actual, full SSi patterns… and we/volunteers could get them recorded, too…
Is that something any other of our advanced learners would be interested in?
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Er, well, I’m happy to try! But you do realize how techni-stupid I am right? I’ll need hand-holding!
Let me know what I need to do!
(@gruntius what did you get me into!?!?!)
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Everything, I got you into everything.
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I’d be keen to help I’m also a bit of a follower rather than leader when it comes to technology, but would love to be part of it if I can.
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