A (very long) month in: An update on my new year’s resolution to learn Welsh

Ella Groves

The end of January is often the time when we face facts and ditch our new years resolutions – best intentions laid to waste after a month of seemingly-endless cold and an empty bank account.

But not this year. This year is different.

As my first month of learning Welsh draws to a close I’ve already compiled a catalogue of mistakes but, perhaps more importantly, I’ve kept going.

When learning a language, it is important to remember that it is persistence, not perfection, that gets results.

Throughout the different levels or stages (known as belts), SaySomethingIn provides regular ‘learning breaks’ during which you hear more about the SaySomethingIn method, language acquisition, and different brain functions.

The idea is that if you understand how your brain is learning you will feel more confident in your ability to learn.

One of the key tips I took away from this month was the importance of not worrying over mistakes. It’s easy to feel disappointed or discouraged when you can’t remember the right words, but this is a vital step.

The important thing is to keep going. The repeated nature of the SaySomethingIn lessons means that slowly but surely each of the new words will make its way into your Welsh vocabulary.

So let me share the most important tip SaySomethingIn gave me – “Just trust the process and keep on moving.”

‘Progress’

So, how far have I made it this month?

I’ll be honest with you all – some days were more successful than others. Sometimes life really does get the better of you – but I kept going.

Since my first update, I have completed all three belts in the orange section and have moved onto the first of the green belts.

Throughout the orange belts, the vocabulary and sentence patterns presented gradually increased in difficulty and I began to notice more and more unfamiliar words dotted amongst the sentence patterns I had become comfortable with.

Helpfully SaySomethingIn gives you the option to immediately repeat sections of the course if you found them particularly challenging through their ‘revisit’ button on the learning page.

As I worked my way through the levels I could see a real progression in my Welsh skills as I developed my ability to piece together longer and more complex sentences, drawing on the language I had learnt in the earlier levels.

‘Music’

A side goal I set for myself was to listen to Welsh language music.

There’s so much out there. And so much good stuff! Welsh language music really is having a moment.

Complete immersion in a language is often discussed as the most effective way to learn, if your brain is forced to function in your target language it will eventually adapt and you will learn.

But this not only feels, understandably, daunting for most people, it’s also simply not practical. Most people do not have the opportunity to move to the country of their target language and fully immerse themselves in it, they instead must try to learn around their daily lives.

So people often turn to media in their target language as a way to practice their language skills and music has been found to be particularly useful.

Music is an essential part of my daily life, outside of work I am a singer and during work I spend most of my time listening to music whilst writing.

So over the last few weeks I’ve tried to incorporate Welsh language music into my everyday listening.

I’ve even found myself some new favourites including the Welsh pop-rock group Gwilym and indie-rock group Sŵnami.

Why not have a look and try out some new artists in your target language, who knows you might find your next favourite song.

‘What next?’

So my goals for this month.

I will be continuing to aim for half an hour of learning Welsh every day and will be attending Dysgu Cymraeg classes every Monday to get in some extra practice with fellow Welsh learners.

But mostly my goal is to keep going, keep trying, and keep learning.

You can see the first of my articles covering my Welsh learning journey here.