Mike M

I grew up in an English speaking part of south Wales, and was never aware of the Welsh language. Now well into retirement I started learning Welsh via learnWelsh.cymru. I started doing this to reclaim both my Welsh language and heritage. Currently I’m working my way through the Sylfaen level. As part of that we were offered free access to SSIW and I am so glad that I took that offer up. SSIW has been an exciting revelation to me.

I’m still working through level 1 of the south dialect course, yet even at this stage I can see that it is improving my Welsh speaking skills beyond where they were from the Sylfaen course alone. I think they will complement each other nicely. I’ve done about 12 days of the 5min listening exercise at 2x normal speed, and this has already made a big difference for me when listening to Robin Radio audio on my course. Previously I have found this audio too fast, but now it is much more mangeable for me to listen to. I do find the Challenges tiring, but they are also immensely enjoyable, and I am learning a lot from them, and each time look forward eagerly to the next one.

Based on what I have experienced so far, I am confident that by the end of level 3 my spoken Welsh will be very good. SSIW really does deliver on its claims, and I would like to express my thanks to Aran Jones and everyone else who has played a part in creating such an incredible learning resource.

Diolch yn fawr iawn!