Writing a booklet about the SSi Method - looking for your experiences

[aran]

My plan is to do one lesson a day until finishing level 2

Great approach - and actually a startling rate of acquisition…

[Diego]

Hi Aran,

I would like to share my experience with you. I have been learning since mid April this year, and even though I’m slow because I just finished lesson 20, I think I accomplished a lot because I only play the challenges in my car when I’m driving to work in the morning. Because I’m driving I cannot pause or do anything else I just got in a zone with Welsh. I found out that when I don’t force myself to think and just let the words flow things become more natural. I do rest during the weekends and don’t touch any other material only in youtube videos of Hwb, which I found very interesting with different sounds and accents. I even saw your interview with them.

I can also say that compared to other languages I learned in the past the fast pace of Say something in Welsh develops faster the intuitive part of speaking and understanding a language living it. I’m a complete believer on this method and would like to thank you for such an incredible gift to the everyone who’s willing to accept it.

One important thing for me is the music, learning French was not easy because of the method, a bunch of grammar and few conversations but the music open a new universe of words. When I immigrated to Canada many years ago I found myself with a very different accent in Quebec and I couldn’t even understand the first days but then the experience of living the everyday change everything. One day I found out like magic that the conversation in the Subway or people asking for things in the street were clear for me. There is a breaking point when you are learning a language and after that there’s not coming back. I think with this method you reduced the time to reach out that point.

Diolch!

[aran]

That’s so interesting and helpful, Diego - diolch yn fawr iawn!

[aran]

you went through most of our material in three or four years (or more!)

This was me, or is me, depending how you look at it.

@pollypolly - could you tell me a bit more about the timing of your journey? A kind of overview, and where you’ve got to now, and how you feel about it?

[aran]

I love these! The most important realisation was that no matter how fast the language is, even if it is artificially quick, your brain picks up the words it knows. That was a massive thing for me. I now don’t feel put off by the speed of normal speech, and almost feel bogged down if it is too slow. Clarity of speech is much more important for my understanding.

@cat-1 - would you mind telling me (either here or via PM) a little about your background? I’d like to use this bit in the booklet, so I’d like to introduce you, rather than just quote you as ‘random person off the internet’…

[aran]

Lots of practise in the real world through Ty Tawe and SSIW groups yes - huge help.

Could you tell me a little more about your journey with this? Doesn’t have to be every step - but a few ‘overview’ paragraphs would be brilliant…

[aran]

I made very liberal use of the pause button. Personally I found time pressure counterproductive. (Maybe because it reminded me of the trauma of times tables tests at primary school, which I always forgot to learn!)

Sonia - could you (here/PM) send me a little potted bio of you? I’d like to include this bit where I talk about being allowed to follow different routes…

[aran]

In summary, I guess, being told explicitly not to do a lot of the things I automatically associated with learning a language (rote learn, read and write, sit down and pay attention to things, conjugate) was an absolute blessing, because it meant I had no idea what I was doing, no preconceived ideas about how things should be, and since whatever this was seemed to be working, I was free to just enjoy myself. And as a result, Welsh is now hard-coded into my brain, only three years after picking it up, infinitely more so than French, which I learned in school from age 5 to 18 and am still fond of but has always been a bit distant and theoretical to me.

I’d love to include this bit in the booklet, Alex - could you send me a potted bio of you?!

[aran]

However this is partly due to the fact that I usually listen to SSiW while washing up…

I’d love to use this - can you tell me briefly where you live, what you do, that kind of stuff? Here or PM…

[aran]

I used to get in a pickle about this and first instinct was to panic because it’s difficult enough learning one way of saying something but am much more relaxed about this now. I think this shows huge leaps forward because now I recognise that the two are the same. Before I was just confused…

Could you PM me a brief intro to Jenny?! I’d love to use this bit…

[aran]

At first, I was repeating the Challenges – up until about no. 3 of Level 1, I think, I tended to do one in the evening with some Romani and then repeat it in the morning on the way to work. I stopped as soon as I got the email telling me to stop, although I have repeated the odd one here and there – especially the end of Course-ish ones, such as Course 3 Lesson 24, which revised a load of vocabulary that I had somehow missed when skipping bits of the courses. (In fact, I’m going to have to revisit that one again – but maybe I should go through all the Vocab units before I do.)

I’d like to include this, Richard - if you don’t mind sending me a brief intro to you?

[aran]

AS you get older, picking up a new language becomes, of course, a little harder. This is especially so if you already use a second language to a high level, in my case German to Interpreter level. For several years after I ceased using German very regularly I found it difficult to remember words in Welsh and immediately recalled the German words, which caused much amusement at Lampeter when I went there for my first short colloquial Welsh courses!

That sounds interesting and fun - would you mind sending me a potted bio, so I can introduce you in the booklet? @Nefyn

[aran]

I also sometimes repeated lessons in the first Course (did a lesson 2 times if I felt I needed a repeat, maybe 3 for just a couple that I really struggled with). I only repeated a few lessons in Course 2 and none in Course 3. It makes me really uncomfortable to get things wrong, and I’ve struggled to change that attitude. I’m all for the theory that mistakes are good in my head, but it doesn’t always translate to my emotional self. I’m a lot better about it than I used to be, and now I’m going through Level 1 with no pause button (well, except very occasionally for really long sentences). It’s hard to overcome to compulsion to make sure I can get it right…

That struggle would, I think, be inspirational for others - would you mind sending me a brief story of you so I can introduce you in the booklet? @AnnaC

[aran]

As for suffering, I think that only came at my first bootcamp. After a couple of days my head was just splitting with mental pain and fatigue. But at the end of a week I hardly knew which language I was speaking, hugely satisfying.

I’d love to include that, Dafydd - if you’d be kind enough to send me a brief ‘Intro to Dafydd’ kind of thing?

[aran]

I’m another person who needs to be doing something else at the same time to get the most out of the lessons and challenges. When I first started Course 1 in January 2016, I found that I could only do about 10/15 minutes at a time before my mind would start to wander and I’d have to stop. I spent about 3 months getting to lesson 13, and then gave up (temporarily) as I was getting really frustrated.

I’d really like to include this, Jane - a brief ‘from, does, is’ about you would be very handy! [Don’t want to trust this to my memory! ;-)]

[aran]

I never actually got in to the listening exersizes properly . I tried them every now and then and found them impossible to follow. I just listened to a lot of radio Cymru instead . A couple of weeks ago , out of interest , I tried some of the listening exersizes to see how I got on with them now. To my surprise I found them so easy to understand it was just like listening to English !

Sam, could I trouble you for a brief intro to you, so that I can use this bit?

[aran]

Not using the pause button: I gave that my very, very best shot, but it just did not work for me. I stuck it out for three whole lessons, during which I said almost nothing at all before Cat’s voice kicked in, and worse, by the end of the third non-pausing lesson, I was at the point where I wouldn’t even have known what to say any more even if I’d had plenty of time to say it. The new information was now coming too fast for me to take it in.

I’d really like to share that in the booklet, Matilda - would you mind giving me a brief intro to you - where you’re from, what you do, that sort of stuff?

[aran]

One thing I have been putting off is finding someone to speak Welsh with. I feel too silly, and am afraid I won’t know how to say anything useful at all (please don’t take that personally, course authors). I’ve failed to capitalise on opportunities to speak Welsh when faced with people who are obviously Welsh speakers in shops etc. But I am going to Skype some of the guys on this forum. Might just have to have some wine beforehand.

That will resonate with a huge amount of learners! I’d love to include it… would you mind giving me a little background about you?

[aran]

New material just will not sink in when I’m tired. Almost a waste of time for me. On several occasions I’ve done a lesson and felt like just quitting the whole damn thing. The next day, refreshed, I redo the lesson and it’s a whole new, positive experience, and the material really gets learned.

This is a really important point I’d love to include - could you send me a brief introduction to yourself?

[aran]

Because I’m driving I cannot pause or do anything else I just got in a zone with Welsh.

That’s a great example of something I say in the booklet - would you mind sending me a little bit of background about you, so that I can introduce you in the booklet?