about us

Cadw Swn was founded by Welsh-to-adults tutor and author Colin Jones with one aim; to produce the easiest, most enjoyable Welsh course possible.

Colin had been teaching Welsh to adults for a number of years after learning Welsh himself, and had been interested in accelerating the learning process. He noticed (as have many others) that playing certain pieces of classical music in class lead to a more relaxed, informal atmosphere. This, in turn, meant that students were apt to take in new information more easily, and also 'perform' better when speaking Welsh in class. The idea of making learning both more relaxing and more productive struck a chord.

Colin soon discovered that a huge amount of pioneering work had been done by Georgi Lozanov in Bulgaria, who had devised a system known as Suggestopedia. This technique, uses specific pieces of Classical and Baroque music to alter brainwave patterns, putting people into an 'accelerated learning state'. 

Building on Lozanov's groundbreaking work, and drawing on his writing skills, Colin began writing the stories which would accompany the Cadw Swn course. He also found a 'guinea-pig' who had no Welsh at all; Scottish-Canadian artist William Brown, who had set up his studio in Colin's native Cwm Llynfi. Now Colin could write one lesson, try it out, and adapt it as necessary. He could also see if the method really worked.

The time spent working with William proved exciting and fruitful; William seemed to be progressing in leaps and bounds, but was this down to the course, or was William simply a 'model pupil'? Colin needed to find out more.

William's success in learning Welsh soon led Colin to look for more pupils to try the course out on, and also to see if the course would work in a group environment. A pilot class was set up in Bridgend, where it became something of a talking point.

'An advert had been put out in the brochure containing details of all the Welsh-to-adults classes in the area, and the local newspaper had run a very short article on it. On registration night there were simply far too many people to fit in one class, I ended up having to turn people away.' Remembers Colin. 'There was a real buzz; I'd got there very early, only to find a group of people already waiting. When I'd finally got the 20 pupils into one room I explained what I'd be trying to do, and how the course might be different to what they'd expected. Some people had just come for a 'normal' evening class, and I was partly hoping to get the numbers down. 20 adults in one class is quite a lot, plus I wanted to give people the chance to take a more traditional class if they wanted. No-one left.'

There was another problem; Colin's workload. The course was to run for 27 weeks, and Colin had planned to write and record 20 stories. However, nearly half way through the course he still only had the original 10 stories he'd used with William, together with a host of other tutoring work.

'It was a crazy time.' Colin says, 'I was taking classes all over the place; I'd be in Cardiff one morning, then drive to Maesteg or Cornelli for a second class, and often have another class in Bridgend in the afternoon. I'd usually have an evening class somewhere too. Plus I didn't have the stories for next week's Cadw Swn lesson, and I was trying to sort out what was needed to publish the course. I'd end up writing the story in the car the day before the lesson over a sandwich, and recording the vocals often only hours before the class. I eventually started performing the stories 'live' in class over the music. Things got quite stressful, but I knew that something important was happening.' 

The problems weren't over yet though, as Colin had to licence the classical music if he was ever to release the project commercially.

'I looked around and to my horror found that it would cost me more per CD to licence the music than I could buy a classical CD for in the shops. There was no way the course could be released, I'd simply have to charge too much money for it. Actually, I couldn't even afford the money that was being asked, and wasn't prepared to get too far into debt to pay for this crazy classical music Welsh course dream.'

The course, by then a success in the pilot class as well as the one-to-one lessons with William, was dead in the water.

'I seriously thought that was the end of it. I didn't see how the course could ever see the light of day. I thought it was dead. That was a big blow for me, because one of the reasons behind my work is wanting to see more people learn Welsh. I really saw a big need for it, still do.'

Phone calls, web-surfing, personal contacts lead to nothing, until one day Colin happened to strike lucky...

'For some reason I phoned a particular record company. I knew that I couldn't afford their rates, but I was sure that there must be a way around the problem, and what did I have to lose? I got talking to a very nice guy, I don't remember his name unfortunately. He'd heard of companies striking deals with record labels in Eastern Europe, where foreign money was much needed. A company in the Czech Republic looked particularly promising, so I decided to find out more.'

What Colin found was remarkable, a treasure-trove of beautifully-recorded music by some of the most gifted performers in the world. 

'I was staggered. I went to Prague to visit the company, and was given full access to their catalogue. Some of the music hadn't even been released on CD. And it was gorgeous, just what I wanted.

People always comment on the recording of the Four Seasons we have; it's simply the best performance I've ever heard. I could listen to it for hours, which is lucky because I hear it all the time in my classes.'

He then locked himself away in the studio, recording and synchronizing the 20 Aberarthur stories over the classical and Baroque music to produce the mammoth 10 CD package available today.

In 2000 the course was launched on 'the maes' at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Llanelli. Colin shared a stand with artist William Brown, the very first 'guinea pig' for the course. 'I knew the course worked on the Friday, when I heard William discussing prices for his paintings with prospective customers entirely in Welsh. When it mattered he could 'slip into' Welsh with ease.'

The course launched then is the same as the one on sale today, although the presentation has improved dramatically. The original ring-bound folder has been replaced by a handsome paperback course book, and the CDs now come in full-colour cases. 

Since launching the course Colin has appeared on national TV and radio, and has given a number of talks about the method. His website can be found at www.colinbradshawjones.com

'Cadw Swn contains many years of experience, research and teaching condensed into one Welsh course.' says Colin, 'I believe its the best home-study Welsh course available today.'

We hope you agree.