Ymarfer Hawdd Beth sydd yn eich dychryn chi wrth feddwl am gael sgwrs yn Gymraeg? Mae’n gam fawr a does gennych chi ddim syniad i ba gyfeiriad y bydd y sgwrs yn mynd, mae’n gwbl wahanol i’r sgyrsiau dach chi’n cael yn y dosbarth achos yna mae pawb ar yr un safon. Felly mae’n rhaid cael ffordd i foddi eich hun yn yr iaith heb achosi poen i chi. Mae Radio Cymru yn rhoi ffordd arbennig o dda i wrando ar sgyrsiau pobl eraill a does dim rhaid poeni nad ydych chi’n deall pob gair, daliwch ati i wrando ac mewn amser byddech chi’n dechrau deall - wir i chi! Roeddwn i heb siarad yr iaith am 25 o flynyddoedd a dim hyder o gwbl i gynnal sgwrs. Yn ffodus iawn lle o’n i’n byw yn Lloegr roedd Radio Cymru ar gael ac wrth dapio'r rhaglen gyntaf yn y bore roeddwn i’n gallu cael ynys o Gymreictod yn y car pan o’n i allan. Pob hyn a hyn roedd 'na air yn sefyll allan o’r lleill a dyna oedd ‘gair y diwrnod’ yr un oedd rhaid cael yr ystyr. Roedd fy ngeirfa yn ehangu a chyn bo hir dyna le oeddwn i'n dadlau yn uchel gyda’r radio os oeddwn i’n anghytuno a’r sgwrs. Gobeithio doedd neb yn fy ngweld! Mi wnes i ddechrau darllen llyfrau hefyd, llyfrau ar gyfer plant yn eu harddegau, i ddechrau roeddwn i’n chwilio trwy’r geiriadur o hyd felly anodd iawn i gael y cyd-destun. Achos hynny doedd y stori ddim yn rhedeg felly wnes i benderfynu darllen y llyfr heb cymorth y geiriadur a thrio gwneud synnwyr o’r stori. Roeddwn i mor falch pan wnes i gyrraedd y diwedd a theimlo fy mod i wedi cael blas o’r stori. Ond dach chi’n gwybod be? Hyd yn oed ar ôl i chi ddarllen y llyfr mae’r geiriau yn dal yna ac ar yr ail dro mae popeth yn llawer cliriach, am un peth dach chi’n deall y cymeriadau yn well a hefyd mae eich ymennydd yn gwneud ei waith yn llawer gwell hefyd. Cofiwch, y dyddiau yma mae Radio Cymru yn darparu podlediadau i chi lawr lwytho, cymerwch fantais ohonyn nhw. Un peth byddech chi’n siŵr o sylwi yw bydd ‘na eiriau dach chi’n deall eu hystyr pan ddach chi’n eu gweld nhw ond maen nhw’n anodd iawn i gofio pan ddach chi’n sgwrsio. Na phoeniwch, ar ôl i chi lwyddo i ddefnyddio’r gair unwaith mi fydd o yna yn eich cof y tro nesaf. Crëwch eich ynys o Gymreictod i’ch hun!

Easy Practice What frightens you about the thought of having a conversation in Welsh? It’s a big step and you have no idea to which direction your conversation will go, it’s totally different to the little chats you have in your class because there everyone is at the same level. So you will have to have a way to immerse yourself in the language without causing you distress. Radio Cymru provides an ideal way of listening to conversations without worrying about every word, keep at it and in time you will start to understand - really! I hadn’t spoken Welsh for 25 years, no confidence to have a conversation. With luck where I lived in England I could get Radio Cymru and I used to tape the first programme of the morning so I had an island of Welshness in the car. Every now and then a word stood out and that was the ‘word of the day’, the one I had to find its meaning. My vocabulary expanded and before long I was arguing with the radio If I disagreed with the conversation. Hopefully no-one saw me! I started to read books too, books for teenagers, in the beginning I was looking words up in the dictionary all the time so it was difficult to get the context. The story didn’t run so I decided to just read the book and try and make sense of it. I was so pleased when I reached the end and got the feeling that I had the gist of it. But do you know what? Even after you have read the book the words are still there and the second time you read it it is much clearer, for one thing you better understand the characters and also your brain does its work much better too. Remember these days Radio Cymru supply podcasts for you to download, take advantage of them. Record them to your device. One thing you are bound to notice is that there will be words that you understand the meaning of but which are not so easy to recall in a conversation. Don’t worry, after you have succeeded to use the word once it will be there in your memory the next time. Create your own island of Welshness!