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[dreamsofwales]

Just wanted to share how much I enjoyed visiting Iestyn's Llandysul group this afternoon. I was in the area on yet another house-hunting trip so took the plunge and went along. I've just started chatting to a Skype partner and have had a few brief chats in shops during my visits but otherwise opportunities to speak welsh have been limited as I live in Hertfordshire. The group was my first time chatting with more than one person and it was brilliant fun. Everyone made me feel so welcome,even after I told them I wanted to buy a "ty bach" near the coast ....... I had meant to say ffermio bach!
Iestyn was fantastic, speaking slowly and clearly, exactly as he does in the lessons. It's made me look forward to Bootcamp even more. So if you're near a group sometime soon, maybe on holiday, I'd strongly encourage you to go along. I was able to understand everything that went on and said quite a lot too, though of course afterwards remembered loads more that I could have said. It's fantastic that resources like this exist for us learners so let's make the most of them. I'll definitely go again on a future trip.Thanks again to everyone in the group and especially to Iestyn - you were brilliant!

[toulouse2]

Hey Michelle, great to hear how well your first conversation group went - can i just ask how far through the course you are? I am doing course 1, and have reached lesson 15 and seem to have suddenly got worse all of a sudden! Hopefully just a glitch. I live very near Llandysul, and would love to go to the group; but can't manage that particular time. I'm booked onto a bootcamp next year though; so one way or another i will have to learn to speak Welsh!

[Tahl]

I am doing course 1, and have reached lesson 15 and seem to have suddenly got worse all of a sudden! Hopefully just a glitch.

For a confidence boost, spend a few minutes doing something like Lesson 4 or 5, and you'll realize how far you've come.

[dreamsofwales]

Hi Ros,
I'm near the end of course 2 southern version. Which Bootcamp are you going to? If it's the April one I'll see you there. I agree with Tahl about going back to earlier lessons, it really will show you how far you've come.

[RobertBruce]

I am doing course 1, and have reached lesson 15 and seem to have suddenly got worse all of a sudden! Hopefully just a glitch.

For a confidence boost, spend a few minutes doing something like Lesson 4 or 5, and you'll realize how far you've come.

From my perspective, I think the 'going backwards' phase (which I've also witnessed on bootcamps) is actually where you start becoming bilingual. Previous to this, you're doing everything with English to the forefront, thinking in English while you're arranging the Welsh, and then thinking in English while you're speaking - "Is this right? Did I use the wrong word there? Should I hit the pause button? Help!"

When you start doing stuff automatically without having to go via English you start to produce Welsh subconsciously without having to think too hard. But this comes at a price - your subconscious Welsh isn't yet quite engrained enough for you to produce it flawlessly every time and sometimes you say mynd when you wanted to mean dod and sometimes you say hi when you wanted to mean fe.

But don't, don't mistake this for going backwards or getting worse, because, in truth, you're actually making a huge leap forward (and one, I might add, that some people on traditional courses take years and years to make, if ever).

No need to worry! Give yourself a pat on the back!

[essenbee]

When you start doing stuff automatically without having to go via English you start to produce Welsh subconsciously without having to think too hard. But this comes at a price - your subconscious Welsh isn't yet quite engrained enough for you to produce it flawlessly every time and sometimes you say mynd when you wanted to mean dod and sometimes you say hi when you wanted to mean fe.

This is tremendously encouraging, thank you very much for posting it!

Stu

[toulouse2]

Michelle, i'm going on the September bootcamp; i would have liked to go on one of the earlier ones, but by September all my children will be in school full-time, so it made 'escaping' a little bit easier to arrange! Probably for the best anyway, as it gives me more time to get up to speed. Some really encouraging comments - I'm definitely going to do Tahls suggestion of going back to lesson 4 or 5 , so i can see how far i've actually come.

[Dee]

Just wanted to share how much I enjoyed visiting Iestyn's Llandysul group this afternoon. I was in the area on yet another house-hunting trip so took the plunge and went along. I've just started chatting to a Skype partner and have had a few brief chats in shops during my visits but otherwise opportunities to speak welsh have been limited as I live in Hertfordshire. The group was my first time chatting with more than one person and it was brilliant fun. Everyone made me feel so welcome,even after I told them I wanted to buy a "ty bach" near the coast ....... I had meant to say ffermio bach!
Iestyn was fantastic, speaking slowly and clearly, exactly as he does in the lessons. It's made me look forward to Bootcamp even more. So if you're near a group sometime soon, maybe on holiday, I'd strongly encourage you to go along. I was able to understand everything that went on and said quite a lot too, though of course afterwards remembered loads more that I could have said. It's fantastic that resources like this exist for us learners so let's make the most of them. I'll definitely go again on a future trip.Thanks again to everyone in the group and especially to Iestyn - you were brilliant!

Did you see this Iestyn? I think it warrants repeating ... especially the bit about "speaking slowly and clearly" (Most of us think Iestyn speaks at 'normal' speed and Aran speaks 'slowly' )

I'm sure you are going to do really well and enjoy every minute at bootcamp Michelle - and congratulations for taking the opportunity when you could. It sounds like that Llandysul group is really worth getting to for anyone nearby!

[Arianrhod]

You're an inspiration, Michelle