WJEC GCSE Welsh Second Language Revision Guide

11 CYMORTH ADOLYGU / REVISION AID Strategies for understanding language 4 Prior knowledge. That is, what in the text do you understand. Sometimes people look at a piece of text in Welsh (or any other language) and think: ‘ I can’t understand any of that ’! Read the piece silently to yourself and underline every word you understand. This will make you realise that you understand far more than you initially thought. 4 General information e.g. ‘Caerdydd ydy prifddinas Cymru’. You should be conversant with ‘Caerdydd’ and if the word ‘prifddinas’ is not known to you, you should be able to find the meaning because you know that Cardiff is the capital of Wales. ‘Roedd Elisabeth 1 yn frenhines Prydain’. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the word ‘frenhines’ but you know that Elizabeth 1 has been Queen of Britain. 4 Knowledge of other languages, e.g. pont, eglise (French), garej, ffrind, siop (English). Sometimes, the meaning of these words becomes clearer when you read them out loud. 4 Welsh words which are similar to English, e.g. technoleg, trên, bws, platfform. Every language uses words which are common and the Welsh language is no exception. 4 Context e.g. ‘Roedd e’n chwarae pêl-droed i Spurs cyn symud i Real Madrid ac mae e’n dod o Gaerdydd.’ This context tells us that this text is referring to a famous footballer. 4 Part of a word, e.g. mo rwr, dydd iadur, llun iau 4 Pictures – usually pictures give the reader, a good idea regarding the context and content of the text 4 Titles and sub-titles 4 Guessing, risk taking ‘ if all else fails ’! 4 Skimming, i.e. reading the entire text in order to identify the main ideas quickly in a text. 4 Scanning, i.e. looking for details, sometimes in order to answer questions.