SaySomethingin.com Reviews 93

I'm generally distrustful of 5* reviews but Aran, Catrin and the SSIW team really deserve it and I feel qualified to say that after 18 months with them (old course 1, new course 1&2) and now feeling able to call myself a Welsh speaker.

Perhaps initially it's easy to feel lost and unable to remember anything, shouting gibberish into the air over the top of poor Catrin - the method is far from what I use in my job as a language teacher - but then you begin to notice things you learnt in earlier lessons come out "automatically" as you wrestle with a tough phrase. Did I just catch myself self-correcting a mutation? Or biding my time until I can call something "sothach llwyr" or a "llond llaw go iawn" in the real world?

Combining SSIW with Duolingo, reading, radio, TV and the usual socials, I can visit Cymru and barely require a word of English in most interactions. I really am "synnu at faint dw i di dysgu". We visited Eisteddfod this year, and a lady on the YesCymru stand and I were both welling up as we chatted *in Welsh* about learning yr Hen Iaith here in the Basque Country - it's clear to see how much this language means to people.

I'm going to take a couple of weeks off from the challenges now I've finished level 2, but will be keeping my subscription going and starting the next course, and looking for opportunities to keep practising. My only regret is not meeting Aran and company on the Maes Dysgwyr (we walked in from Nefyn and got lost on the Garn!)

Diolch o galon, i chi i gyd! Mil esker lagunak!

I’ve never been able to learn a language despite multiple attempts over the years, I’m now 47 weeks into this course and really enjoying it. I can’t tell you exactly how I’ve managed it but what I’m being taught is actually staying in my head for once! The way the course is laid out is fantastic and there’s so much support available if you want it. I would thoroughly recommend SaySomethingIn for learning a language, the satisfaction you’ll get from doing it makes it really worthwhile.

Simply the best language learning system out there (bar moving to the country itself), it really worked for me. So easy to use, fits round life. I used it on my commute, which made it really easy to fit in. Yes, it feels hard at times but you can always repeat a lesson or come back to it after you've tried the next one and be surprised at what you know.

Dw di bod yn dysgu Cymraeg efo SSiW a mae hi'n diddorol iawn. Sorry for any errors! It is a superb platform from which to learn Welsh as an absolute beginner. I took Welsh for a year in school and never got further than "mae Aled yn dysgu" and I didn't understand that! Yes its hard. I'm now on Level 2, having found the whole of Level 1 a huge challenge ... by challenge 5 Level 1 I felt so confused. But I tried to put the analytical brain to one side and approach it as though a child learning a mother tongue. This really helped, just taking it on board at face value. Make a lot of use if the pause button initially. Give yourself time to search for the words and structure. It's normal to not remember what you've just covered. It's spaced learning, keeping on introducing new material while bringing up the old. When I'd got towards the end of Level 1, I revisited Challenge 5, and was so surprised at how "easy" it was. It's far better than Duolingo, at least for me, I was getting so frustrated with that platform's Welsh course, and anyway, I would rather have real people. ... and they also cover Spanish.

In response to the latest comment. I have found SSIW technique an excellent way to learn welsh or any language. It really helps to download the SSIW welsh dragon ap and access the weekly recordings from here. You can slow down the pace of the speaking or speed it up and you can read the vocabulary before listening to the tape. Also if you download recordings onto your phone from weekly emails you can listen to the tapes over and over again wherever you are. I had to work all this out myself and it took a while.

There’s unnecessary waffle on the emails which I ignore and scroll straight to the bottom to see what I have to do. The numbering of emails is different from the recording number which doesn’t help either. It would help if the numbering matched.

I work on all the recordings over and over, read the vocabulary and listen to radio cymru and watch S4C a bit. It’s working well. Diolch Team SSIW. Ps I didn’t find Duolingo anything like as realistic and helpful. I mean how many time do you have to have to write ‘Mrs Jones buys her Leeks in Turkey’ before you go bonkers!!

I found this course hard. I struggled from the beginning, had issues understanding the females voice & found that for an absolute beginner, that it was spoken too fast with the sentences too long.
By the 5th lesson, the email said something like "congratulations on reaching this stage. Most people have quit by now" Wow, doesn't that make you think that something isn't right if MOST people have quit by then???
I never got offered any help. No one contacted me when I didn't upload my lessons. Absolutely no contact whatsoever other than the weekly emails with the lessons.
For someone that doesn't know a Welsh accent, trying to listen to the recordings, it is not easy.
Too fast, too long & too much to try to take in each week.
Very disappointed & feeling let down. Guess I'll go back to Duolingo. At least there's no pretence of help there & it doesn't cost.

In reply to the SSi Team...
"We do not state that most have quit by then..."

My apologies, my wording was incorrect. Copying from Week 5's email...
And I quote...
"Week 5 - and just the fact that you’ve got this far is SURPRISINGLY important.
You see, most of the people who don’t achieve success with the 6 Minutes a Day Welsh Speaker class are the people who drop out IN THE FIRST MONTH."
End of quote
So what does that say? My wording wasn't spot on, I admit but surely you're saying basically the same thing??
Look, the idea of learning another language as we were taught our mother tongue as toddlers, is a great way. It just needs to be implemented better.
I never had any chance to learn Welsh for a year at school or hear a relative speaking Welsh. So starting from scratch, it was hard. I just believe that more help could be afforded if you can see someone falling behind & flailing!
If I'd had some help, I would STILL be using SSiW. You have no idea how much I want to learn the language of my ancestors. But you cannot expect someone to receive emails, links to lessons & to get it all.
I was happy to pay 10 quid a month (which has now gone up to 30 quid a month?) but you must accept that some people need help & you need to be watching out for people failing and help them. It's not always all the fault of the person that drops out & by the sound of the email, that is what's happening quite regularly!

This is a brilliant way to learn Welsh, and very exciting. I have tried via other sources and been left very demotivated, especially when learning about how many sheep or goats Mrs Jones has in her field. Hardly the kind of conversation you are going to have on a regular basis.

However, Say Something in Welsh is different. It concentrates on practical sentences which enable you to speak very confidently.

There are times with some challenges that I think "nooooo this is never going to happen", as it appears they are throwing far too much at you in one go, but do trust the process. I'm more than surprised just how quickly it goes in. You can work this course as fast or as slow as you like, you have total control and can even break down each challenge into smaller segments if you wish, and go back over old challenges. Everything is geared up for working at your own pace, unlike others!
If you want real life success, this is the go to course!

I have been on this Welsh course for 11 weeks now and it has been remarkable how much Welsh I have learned It is as a child learns to speak language from day 1- they just pick it up by just hearing it and don't question if the tense is right or not.
I have tried to learn Welsh in the past but was always worried about saying it right but this course leads us NOT to worry about it but just DO it!!! 100% recommend it

I have undertaken a number of language courses with a number of different providers; I have never made progress to the same extent as I have with SSiWelsh and SSiSpanish.
Whilst only in the early stages of learning Welsh my confidence grows by the day; I have a higher level of understanding in Spanish and would have expected to make the progress that I have. I hadn’t expected the two to be mutually supportive however.
I have yet to take full advantage of the support that is available both on the SSi site and SLACK but having had a good look around both the support available is impressive.
Obviously I hope to maintain my current rate of progress and feel that if I don’t the fault will be with me and not the ‘tutoring’.
Got to go now, I have a Challenge to complete.

Hands down the best way to learn a language. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can say many useful sentences. When I'm done with the Welsh course, I'm going to do the Spanish.

Returning to THE course after an absente of Three years (!) I immediately found myself back in the saddle. Started lesson 1 but after four weeks I finished lesson 8 almost without using the pause button. Just keep listening and repeating. Don’t write anything down. Enjoy!

A fantastic learning platform. Enabling me to continually build and revise my Welsh. I go at my own pace which I can ramp up/down. The support network is lovely. My Welsh rapidly develops as I hear it twice and see the words in both languages. It sticks! This is the future of language learning. It challenges, stretches and supports. Totally innovative. The real deal. They are lovely people too who want you to succeed. My dreams of being a Welsh speaker are finally coming true. Thank you.

I first came across Say Something in Welsh in 2020. I had no particular desire to learn Welsh, but the purely audio teaching method intrigued me. I thought I’d give it a go, just to see how it worked. Then I got hooked.

• You learn like a child learning its mother tongue, but faster: by listening, from context, and by making plenty of mistakes when you speak. No grammar. Almost no reading or writing. You can practically feel the new synapses growing in your brain. It’s exhilarating.

• It takes up no extra time. Put it on an MP3 player and you can fit it in anywhere: out shopping, doing housework, or walking the dog / children.

• The Saysomethinginwelsh community is fantastic. There are so many people learning Welsh all over the world and SSiW brings us together.

Why not give it a go?

SSiW has been the perfect way for me to learn real world spoken Welsh very quickly indeed. Within the first few lessons I was able to say more than I ever did learning at school, real full sentences that were conversation standard. I chose SSiW over conventional classroom sessions due to the way the course is constructed concentrating on speaking, and the fact I was able to learn at my own pace listening and repeating each lesson until I was happy to move on to the next level. My aim was to speak first and pick up the grammar later. After all I don't know much about English grammar as a 1st language speaker so speaking & communicating naturally was my priority. What I didn't want was to end up speaking like a Welsh Shakespearean actor!
SSiW provide Slack forums and weekly chat sessions and all sorts of support and interactive activities, including bwtcamps where you can immerse yourself in the language for a whole week with other siaradwyr newydd, and a Welsh teacher on hand too. So in short if you want to learn to speak real natural Welsh I highly recommend SSiW.

SaySomethingin provide an innovative language learning platform that I found to be very useful. Their staff are always supportive. They have a number of accessible online platforms that permit ongoing use of the Welsh language.

School? No.
Duolingo? No.
Other Welsh courses? No.

SaySomethingIn Welsh is (in my humble opinion) the ONLY way to learn Welsh.

You learn to speak the way people ACTUALLY speak every day, rather than learning how to write with perfect grammar.

Children learn to speak before they learn to spell, so why don't we learn languages that way? That's how SaySomethingIn Welsh teaches.

I've not been able to dedicate as much time as I'd like to this, but in the small amount of time that I have dedicated, I've learned way more than I ever have from years of school in Wales and other courses.

I've had compliments from fluent, first-language Welsh speakers and have even been mistaken for a fluent speaker on MANY occasions.

The only danger with this course is that once people hear you using the Welsh you learn here, they will presume it's your first language and you will be thrown into the depths of a Welsh language swimming pool. But damn does it feel good, and it's the best way to improve.

This is such a natural way to learn the language. Listen and repeat. Just like we all learned our 'mother' tongue. I feel so very happy to be learning Welsh in this way. Learning useful words and phrases and putting them together into meaningful sentences appropriate to my (early) stage of learning. And, getting the pronunciation right too, Plus, as a subscriber, you get all of the benefits of top-class support via Slack. You have lots of opportunity to join video chat sessions either 1-1 or in groups at your level of learning. Many thanks to Aran and his splendid team for everything they do. Diolch yn fawr iawn! Hwyl am y tro! Bill Evans

SSIW is amazing! I tried for years to learn to speak Welsh using conventional methods but never got to the point of being able to have a conversation. SSIW forces you to speak from day one, doesn’t bog you down with incomprehensible grammar and encourages you every step of the way. You need to engage with the method and trust it. It’s truly brain training- chunks come back to me that I can now adapt and use effortlessly. It’s not instant and it requires a commitment and practise, but it works!!! Diolch i bawb!

I started my Welsh language journey 3 years ago with SaySomethingin.com and can't thank them enough for what has been a life changing (and affirming) experience).

Amazing! I am learning Welsh, and the quality and speed of the responses from the experts and fellow contributors just helps me soooo much.