Short term memory and Lesson One.

                                                                           Memory always seems to fade back some as we get older, as we all already know. Mine is no exception and as I approach the half century mark, I find my short term memory to be the worse of the two options. Once I learn something or remember it, usually it sticks for a long time. Getting it IN THE BRAIN is the more difficult part and one I work on every day. With Welsh,there is no difference. So, that being said, the task at hand was Lesson 1 of Say Something in Welsh.

The first encounter with this method of learning a language was with German and French many years ago,primarily with the Pimsleur way of doing things. It never appealed to me though as I really did much better with books and spoken conversation,etc. Now though, things have changed. I find that even though having the books and using them to be very valuable, this language needs to be listened to intently and with a different set of ears than I had before. So I did exactly what the speaker/instructor said in Lesson 1 and didn't look at the notes or written language until I'd listened a few times or when I needed to clarify my pronunciation. This has proved to be a valuable tip and one that is teaching me Welsh better than with just books.

The first lesson crammed a LOT of words into a short half hour. With twelve very useful words and a small amount of building blocks, this method allows the student to learn how to construct sentences and not to simply memorize tourist phrases to get by. And I shall be the first to admit, it has been listened to repeatedly by these ears a LOT over the last five days. At least twice a day since that first hearing. As mentioned, I need a real dowsing of instruction to get it through my thick skull before it sinks in.

Now,though, I have finally been able to remember a good 90% of the words in lesson one and to make up sentences using them. Words that will enable me to move on to lesson two in hopes of adding to it. Words and verbs such as Trio, siarad, gwneud, rhywbeth, moyn, mynd as well as the very necessary Dw i'n... and Dw i ddim yn.... These are essential and it makes me happy to have finally remembered them. My concentration levels are nothing like they were as a younger man though. So, I find that listening while I RUN is a grand and very fine way of learning Welsh. Experimenting with this method as well as trying to listen at home in a quiet room or noisy coffee shoppe tells me it is the optimum way to achieve this. I simply have a difficult time with languages now compared to my younger days. So I adjust,like we all do. :-)

Lesson 1 is in the books for me now. I shall move on to lesson 2 and go back to the first when I need to refresh the brain: which means once a week. As these are half hour lessons, they can be knocked out a few times a day and eventually the sub-conscious picks up enough to make the rest hang on. In the meantime, I listen to BBC Cymru and also some Welsh videos on YouTube.