I have other pronunciation guides to Welsh elsewhere (here, and here and Welsh Idioms here), but I made up a cheat sheet for some common names and places and thought I’d share. This is a rough approximation or English speakers. Remember, the /ll/ sound is not known in English and is something of a breathy ‘sh’ sound where you kind of blow out your cheeks while your tongue is on the roof of your mouth.
| Abergavenny –Ah-bare-gah-VENN-ee | |
| Aberystwyth –Ah-bare-IH-stwith | |
| Afon Arthog – AH-von ARE-thog | |
| Angharad –Angh-AR-ad | |
| Anglesey – (this is a Viking name, so not a Welsh pronunciation) | |
| Berwyn – BEAR-win | |
| Bleddfa –BLETH-va | |
| Bryn Glas –Brinn Glahs | |
| Builth – (in Welsh, this is really Buellt, prounced BEE-e/sh/t): http://www.forvo.com/word/buellt/ | |
| Cadair Idris – CAH-dire EE-drees | |
| Cadwaladr –Cad-wall-A-der | |
| Caerleon –Kire-LAY-on | |
| Caernarfon – Kire -NAR-von | |
| Caerphilly –Kire -FILL-ee | |
| cariad – car-EE-ahd | |
| Conwy – CON-wee | |
| Cwm Llanerch – Coom /SH/AN-er /ch/ | |
| Cymru – CUM-ree | |
| Cymry – CUM-ree | |
| Dafydd – DAH-vith (this is with a ‘th’ that in English is the same as in ‘the’) | |
| Darogan – Dar-O-gan | |
| Deheubarth – de-HAY-barth | |
| Dewi – DEH-wee | |
| Dinas Bran – DEE-nahs Brahn | |
| Dolbadarn – Dol-BA-darn | |
| Dolgellau – Doll-GE/SH/-eye | |
| Enid – EH-need | |
| Gethin – GEHTH-een | |
| Glyndwr – GLUN-door | |
| Glyndyfrdwy – Glun-duv-ER-dwee | |
| Gruffydd Fychan – GRIFF-ith VUCK-an | |
| Gwenllian –Gwen-/SH/EE-an | |
| Gwladys – GooLAD-iss | |
| Gwylim ap Tudur – GWULL-eem ap TIH-deer | |
| Gwynedd – GWIN-eth | |
| Hyddgen – HUTH-ghen | |
| Ieuan –YAY-an | |
| Iolo Goch – YO-lo gawk (with the ‘k’ barely heard and aspirated) | |
| Laugharne – Lawn | |
| Lechrydd – LECK-rith | |
| Llandovery –/shl/an-dovery (this isn’t really a Welsh word, except for the beginning /shl/an) | |
| Llyn Peris – /sh/in PER-eess | |
| Llys Bradwen – /sh/eece BRAHD-wen | |
| Llywelyn – /sh/ew-EL-in | |
| Lowarch – LOW-ark (ow as in cow) | |
| Mab – Mab | |
| Machynlleth — Mack-/SH/UN-eth | |
| Madoc – MA-doc | |
| Maelgwn – MILE-goon | |
| Maelienydd – Mile-ee-EN-ith | |
| Maredydd – maar-ED-ith | |
| Marged – MAR-ged (hard ‘g’) | |
| Myfanwy –Muhv-AN-wee | |
| Mynachdy –Minn-ACK-dee | |
| Myrddin Emrys –MER-thin EM-riss (th as in the) | |
| Owain – OH-wine | |
| Penmaenrhos – Pen-MINE-ross | |
| Plynlimon – Plun-LEE-mon | |
| Powys Fadog – POW-iss VA-dog | |
| Pwll Melyn –Poo/sh/ MEL-in | |
| Rhiannon – Ree-AH-non | |
| Rhys Ddu – reese thee | |
| Ruthin – RITH- een | |
| Shrewsbury –as spelled in English | |
| Sion – Shawn | |
| Sycharth – SUH-karth | |
| Tomos – TOM-oss | |
| Treffgarne – TREFF-garn | |
| Tywi –TUH-wee | |
| uchelwyr – ick-EL-weir | |
| Usk – Isk | |
While reading about what these words sound like is useful, hearing it is even more so. Below are some places where you can actually hear how this all is supposed to sound:
Basics: http://www.heart-of-wales.co.uk/welsh.htm
Place names: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginwales/sites/howdoisay/map/howtosay.shtml
http://www.forvo.com/languages/cy/
Video: http://mylanguages.org/welsh_alphabet.php
Gwd lwc. Ai hop ddat yw can ryd ddys and ddat yt meiks sens tw yw. Iff yw can ryd ddys, dden yw ar dwing ffaen and wil haFf no problems at ol yn lyrnyng awr ffaen Welsh alffabet.
Welsh born and in early stages of getting used to it. The village of Llanfair is a challenge. front and back third are ok! the middle is going to take time. Being in Australia for 57 years has taken its toll. Cheers people
Is there an online (or even printed) dictionary that distinguishes between short and long vowels in spoken Welsh?
Hmmm. I’m not sure what you’re asking, since Welsh vowels are pronounced exactly the same, every time. An ‘a’ is like in ‘cat’; an ‘e’ is like in ‘met’, and so on. They don’t change! If that isn’t what you meant, you might try posting in Iaith! https://www.facebook.com/groups/413517082015337
Why is Aberystwyth speed with “th” instead of “dd”?
In Welsh, ‘th’ is sound like in “three”. ‘dd’ is a sound like in ‘the’. We have the same sounds in English, but we just use the same letters to indicate it. Aberystwyth ends in a ‘th like three’ sound.
Not sure what part of Wales you are from but some of your phonetics are way off. I have never said Dolgellau with an sh in the middle. Where did that come from?
It is not meant to be an ‘sh’ per se, but a visual way to represent the sound for a non-Welsh speaker. This is using a pronunciation common in Gwynedd. From Gwyneth Angharad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQBGOb7iQZ0&t=12s
As far as I know the SHROWsbury comes from roman times but all the locals I know pronounce it Shrewsbury
What a fun site you have here. I am enjoying reading it.
Welsh is a very phonetic language & the alphabet has more letters, including groups of letters, & more of those letters being vowels, than English. ‘y’ is pronounced ‘uh’ when it is not the last syllable; as the last syllable it is pronounced ‘ih’. So, ‘Yn y’ would be pronounced ‘Un uh’ but ‘Celyn’ would be pronounced ‘Cel-in’.
‘W’, is a vowel, & is pronounced ‘oo’, but when in combination with ‘y’ (i.e. ‘wy’) is pronounced either ‘ooih’ or ‘oy’. ‘ll’ is pronounced more like ‘hl’. ‘rh’ tends to be pronounced ‘hr’ . ‘f’ has a ‘v’ sound but ‘ff’ is ‘f’. ‘ch’ is like the German or Scottish ‘ch’ (not sure how to write that sound in English). ‘u’ is pronounced ‘ih’. ‘e’ & ‘i’ are pronounced ‘ee’ . ‘ai’, ‘ae’ & ‘au’ are pronounced ‘ae’; ‘si’ is pronounced ‘sh’ for instance ‘siarad’ is pronounced ‘sha-rad’. ‘g’ is hard ‘g’ (as in gate), ‘dd’ the ‘th’ as in ‘this’ ‘th’ is ‘th as in ‘think’. There are probably more.
Welsh word for Anglesey is ‘Ynys Môn’, pronounced ‘Un-ISS Mon’. (Where the Romans trapped the druids).
A pronunciation for Machynlleth could be written ‘Mach-UN-hleth’. Aberystwyth more accurately ‘Ab-er-UST-ooith’. Cadair, ‘Cad-AER’. ‘Plynlimon’ is the Anglicised word for ‘Pumlumon’ pronounced ‘Pim-LI-mon’
BTW I say ‘Shroesbury’, but, in my experience, most of the locals seem to say ‘Shroosury’ but he Welsh word for Shrewsbury is ‘Amwythig’ pronounced ‘Am-OY-thig’ 🙂
Thanks for all that. Very helpful!
Dyfrdwy always gets me tongue tied for some reason
I like the way you avoided Shrewsbury – would you join the Sh-roo-sebury or the Sh-roe-sbury team ? 🙂 I prefer the second myself
I’m American, so I can’t help but say “Shroosbury”. But I’ve heard the other. We were just there, too. I’d have to ask a native next time we visit 🙂
If you haven’t found out yet, it’s Sh ROES bury.
Wanna try Leominster? 😉
(…and yes, I’m American too…)