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[Hywel1]

hi aran, i know its possible to make ur own cd's of ssiw, but 2 b honest i just cant b arsed. if u were to produce cd's of ssiw intro and intermediate courses at a good price, then that could make some cash 4 u and i could listen to and practice the course in the car. if lots of other ssiw people bought the cd's then roc'n roll. hywel.

[Aran]

Thanks for that, Hywel. We'd like to be able to offer CDs, but it's tricky - the only way we can get reasonable prices is by buying in bulk, and that would put us at serious risk if we didn't sell a lot of them. It's a risk that we can't really afford to take at the moment, although it might become possible at some point in the future...

[my_cat_silky]

I hope no one minds my mentioning this, but I feel somewhat concerned that so many people seem to be listening to the lessons while driving! I tried this once and nearly got run off the road for my pains, and I am an experienced driver of many decades! I think that the concentration required to formulate responses during the lessons is simply too great when trying also to focus on keeping one's attention 100% on driving. I suppose that if one has been through a lesson a couple of times and simply wish to use it to practise what you have already learnt, that wouldn't require so much concentration, but to try to attempt a new lesson is asking too much of one's ability to remain focused, I think, especially if driving conditions are anything like they are near where I live!
When I drive, I tend now to listen to Radio Cymru (tapes of it as I can't receive it over here!) or other dialogues or songs in Welsh, as they are easier to listen to as background sounds that you can tune into when the driving isn't getting too tough but don't require your absolute concentration as the lessons do. Just thought I'd mention this as it is worrying how even a few seconds' distraction can sometimes nearly cause unexpected situations that can lead to accidents, and I would hate the thought of losing any SSIWers this way!

[Aran]

I suppose that if one has been through a lesson a couple of times and simply wish to use it to practise what you have already learnt, that wouldn't require so much concentration, but to try to attempt a new lesson is asking too much of one's ability to remain focused, I think, especially if driving conditions are anything like they are near where I live!

Yes, I agree with this. Repeats, practice, yes - new lessons, I'd advise against it. Be careful out there, folks.

[jstetson]

Re: lessons while driving. What they said.

I recently took a crash avoidance class with my daughters. One of the exercises we did was a demonstration of the effect of distraction. Bottom line, attempting even a small task can add several seconds to response time. Easily the difference between stopping safely and ending up in someone's back seat.

[youngblandford]

Becareful when doing a new lesson whilst walking. Twice I've stepped in dog poo whilst trying to contradict an implication.

[Sionned]

I recently took a crash avoidance class with my daughters. One of the exercises we did was a demonstration of the effect of distraction.

I remember reading a story of a man teaching his teenage daughter the same lesson. He found a big empty parking lot somewhere and set up a bunch of big (empty) cardboard boxes in a pile on one side of it. They got in the car on the other side and he told her to drive slowly toward the boxes and stop just in front of them. As they got closer he started conversing with her and, naturally, she ran into the boxes. No harm done, but a very graphic lesson in how easily you can be distracted and just how damaging that could be.

I also remember seeing a British road safety vid (an ad, I think) with a bunch of teens driving in a car together, chatting and laughing. The driver turns to say something to her friend in the back seat (dumb!) and they end up in a very scary and graphic crash, with her friends badly injured.

Bottom line, if you can't tune it out, don't allow it in the car!

[Morgs]

I would definitely buy the CD's. I drive to my parents in Flint from Cardiff at least once a month and it's 'dead' time for me.(especially because during one part of the drive there is no radio signal at all). I tried Radio Cymru but my Welsh isn't good enough and in three hours of driving I only understood 3 words and one of those was 'Swansea'.
I agree that we have to be careful of distractions, but what about some new recorded conversations -at different levels- that we haven't heard before? Maybe simplified news reports or weather bulletins or 'pretend' chat shows?We could listen to those and 'absorb' the Welsh like we are supposed to and practise our listening skills? It wouldn't be as distracting as trying to learn something, but it would be brill practice. Please? (I am desperate for practice in listening because I am rubbish and I panic like mad - my speaking and reading isn't too bad). Please give it some thought!

[Morgs]

p.s. you could do a 'poll' of forum members to see how many would buy them and even take deposits beforehand so you wouldn't be out of pocket if you bulk purchased the cd's.

[Spenny]

p.s. you could do a 'poll' of forum members to see how many would buy them and even take deposits beforehand so you wouldn't be out of pocket if you bulk purchased the cd's.

We've looked at this, and when you say definitely buys CDs would your answer be the same if the cost was somewhere between £2.50 and £5.00 a CD - so between £30 and £70 for the course which is "free"? It is not worth doing unless it is done to not only cover costs, but cover the time diverted from other activities, and there is also a small but important issue of course maintenance. Although the course is fairly stable now, it has been refined over time - making old CDs obsolete. The trouble is that an increasingly smaller percentage of CD players are not mp3 compatible, yet producing a CD version of mp3s introduces more technical support issues as people get confused as to what they should be buying. So the real negative is that the trade-off is that although CDs might bring some income, the production and distribution is quite a distraction from the core activities of producing the course.

A cheap MP3 player preloaded with the lessons would probably be more cost-effective though not everyone can use them in the circumstances that they want.

So it would have to be very low cost to be worthwhile, and I'd suggest that the only sensible way would be for some volunteers to produce and distribute them. That, of course, is a good SSiW approach to the problem, but there is a risk associated with it, and to start with it would have to be experimented with before any bulk production of CDs was invested in.