So now I'm learning Welsh.
It all started with a task I had to do at work which felt rather a lot like a Welsh grammar exercise. Now this is not a normal part of my job at all. We do have to provide some services in Welsh, but we've staff and infrastructure in place to do that while people like me can remain happily monolingual (or at least, devoting themselves to languages spoken in other countries and/or timelines...)
But since foreign travel is still not an option, and living and working in the EU is now one great visa headache, I might as well have a go with a language that is actually right on my doorstep.
Being a much smaller language than any I've previously attempted, there are fewer learning materials available, so rather than hunting for the best course, I'm in the process of figuring out how to make the best use of what's available (while trying not to distract myself with the complaint that nothing is as good as Begegnungen so everyone ought to just learn German instead). So at least that's something different.
Currently the plan is as follows:
- figure out how to make the best use of the materials on
https://learnwelsh.cymru, which look great for vocabulary and audio (although you have to use their clunky website app thing to access the audio, but at least it's all there), but not so great for grammar explanations or practice (the assumption is you're using the materials in a classroom and are therefore at the mercy of your Welsh tutor for this). They're also free of charge, although I've just handed over £10 for a print version of the Mynediad (A1) textbook because I don't like reading textbooks from a screen
- supplement with Gareth King's Basic Welsh: A Grammar and Workbook - which actually looks like my kind of grammar workbook
I've also decided to use Anki but am tweaking the settings as suggested on
sfuqua's log. I used the new default settings as suggested but realised pretty quickly that the two step reviews in the learning phase is pretty pointless for me, as I make the cards myself from lists I've made myself, so I don't need to see new cards twice in the first session they appear. But I've tweaked all the other settings and will see if it makes a difference.
The courses on learnwelsh.cymru have actually all been set up with corresponding courses/decks on Quizlet, Memrise and Duolingo. But since I prefer Anki, I shall be carrying on making my own vocabulary deck (which is part of the learning process for me anyway...)