A Guide to Welsh Pronunciation
the language of the gods
The Welsh language is one of the oldest indigenous languages in Europe; by connecting to it you are being linked to thousands of years of history. The language may appear to serve only to twist the tongue and demand guttural utterances from unfamiliar parts of your vocal range. Your lips may tremble in effort and your tongue collapse from the confines of your mouth whilst spittle spatters anyone in close proximity. But fear not: it is not necessary to engage the spitfire operations of your mouth. Welsh, whatever you have been led to believe, is not as difficult as you would imagine. All that is required is the complete surrender of your normal vocal programming and the ability to embrace something new yet ancient.
There are tricks, the most significant being your ability to enunciate. The English tongue and palate is firm, precise; the Welsh tongue is loose, the palate free, the mouth fully engaged. Let your mouth move when pronouncing the Welsh language—set free the muscles of your face and throw yourself into this most musical of languages. The English mouth can be a rather lazy mouth—words fall limply from the cavity—whereas Welsh is similar in nature to Italian, where the mouth is flung open to enunciate each letter and word with utmost passion and flair; whilst you’re at it, throw in your arms! Our language is colourful, rhythmic, and dances from the whole body. Let loose the English stiff upper lip and go for it!
The key to effective pronunciation is in the phonetic nature of the language; i.e., every single letter is utilised, every sound is important to the whole word. If you can pronounce the letters, you can pronounce the words. The World Wide Web has video and audio tutorials that can be consulted free of charge for sound comparison. So, with all that said, here follows a list of the letters and sounds.
The stress of any word almost exclusively stands on the penultimate, or next to last, syllable.
The Welsh Alphabet
a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y
Welsh Vowels
|
a - |
Short as in mat |
long as in farmer |
|
e- |
Short as in let |
long as in bear |
|
i- |
Short as in pit |
long as in meet |
|
o- |
Short as in lot |
long as in lore |
|
u- |
Short as in ill |
long as in limb |
|
w- |
Short as in look |
long as in fool |
|
y- |
Short as in up |
long as in under |
Welsh Consonants
Some may be similar in sound to their English counterparts but with emphasis on heavy aspiration of sound.
|
b- |
as in bin |
|
c- |
as in cat |
|
ch- |
as in loch, never as in chin |
|
d- |
as in dad |
|
dd- |
as in them, never as in thin |
|
e- |
as in elephant |
|
f- |
as in van |
|
ff- |
as in off |
|
g- |
as in gate, never as in gem |
|
ng- |
as in song, never as in linger |
|
h- |
as in hit; it is never silent |
|
l- |
as in lit |
|
ll- |
no counterpart; voice by placing tip of tongue in L position and exhaling voicelessly through the sides of the mouth |
|
m- |
as in mat |
|
n- |
as in nit |
|
p- |
as in part |
|
ph- |
as in phrase |
|
r- |
trilled by the tip of the tongue, as ravioli in Italian |
|
rh- |
no counterpart; voice by placing tongue in R position and exhaling quickly and harshly but voicelessly through the narrow gap the lips form |
|
s- |
as in sit, never as in kiss |
|
t- |
as in tap |
|
th- |
as in thick, never as in them |