Okay, I want to get a group together for those of us who wish to learn Welsh! I have started learning, and it is hard, but really neat. It was much easier than I actually thought it would be, it's just that it requires time and practice. Which is where you guys come in! We can practice together, and help each other with pronunciations, etc.
I would like to start out with the Welsh alphabet. There are several pronunciations that I have found for some letters, and so I may post all of those together. It is much easier to hear the sounds, and I will try and include links to the sound bites wherever possible, as well. My sources are the BBC Wales website: BBC Wales ; the website Gwybodiadur; Clwbmalucachu and a few others I will list as they show up.
When I make mistakes, please please correct me! I am just learning this, and there are a few Welsh speakers here (Welsh Guy, for instance) who know much better than I do! Tomorrow, after collecting all my sources together I will start with the alphabet and pronunciation.
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"Alas for those who never sing and die with all their music left in them" - Oliver Wendell Holmes
C- [I]always[I] hard, as in 'college', not soft as in 'cent'
Ch - as in bach or loch, but with a more guttural sound at the back of the throat.
D - same as in English
Dd - promounced 'th', like 'these' or 'those' (a bit harder)
F - pronounced 'v' Ex: "fel" - (pronounced vel)
Ff - as in 'f' in English Ex: "ffa" (pronounced fah)
G - hard, as in gang, not as in George
H - same as in English
J - as in English (not an original Welsh letter)
L - same as in English
Ll - place your tongue in the position it would be in to say 'L', then blow towards the front of your mouth gently. Ex: llaeth (sounds like hleyeth)
M - same as in English
N - same as in English
P - same as in English
Ph - same as in English "physical' Ex: ei phen (pronounced a fen)
R - think Willie the Scotsman on the Simpsons. That exaggerated, rolled R
Rh - Place tongue in position you would use to say R and then blow, a soft r - hr with a roll Ex: rhif (pronounced hreeve)
S - same as in English
T - same as in English
Th - same as in English, like 'with', not 'those'
W - 'oo' or 'uh' as in 'zoo' or 'bus' Ex: "cwm" (pronounced koom); "bws" (pronounced bus); "yw" (pronounced you)
Y - has two sounds:
'ee' or 'ih' in the final syllable and in words of one syllable OR 'uh' in the preceding syllables Ex: "dyn" (pronounced deen); "mynydd" (pronounced muhneethe); dynion (pronounced duhneeon). Or think about it this way - pronounced like the "y" in Happy or myrhh. Other ex: "yr" (pron. ur); "yn" (pron. un); "fry" (pron. vree); "byd" (pron. beed)
The vowels:
A - short as in 'cat' long as in 'car'
E - short as in 'met' long as in 'late' but with no eeee after the a (called a pure vowel)
I - short as in 'bit' long as in 'lean' or 'feel'
O - short as in 'hot' long as in 'bore'
U - short as in 'bin' Ex: "sut" (pron. sit - or in the north shut) long as in 'seen' Ex: "thus" (pron. thees)
The vowel combinations[/COLOR]:
Ae, Ai, Au - are pronounced 'eye' Ex: "Cymraeg" (pron. Kimreyg); "ninnau" (pron. nineye); "main" (pron. mine)
Ei, Eu - are pronounced 'ay' like 'way' Ex: "eithaf" (pron. aythav); "neu" (pron. nay); "deisiau" (pron. dayshy); "teulu" (pron. taylee)
Oe, Oi, Ou - pronounced 'oy' or 'oi' Ex: "poeth" (pron. poith); "croeso" (pron. kroyso); "cyffrous" (pron. kiffroys)
Ew - pronounced like 'e-ooh' or 'yew' Ex: "mewn" (pron. moun or meh-oon)
Aw - pronounced like 'ou' in 'cloud'
Ow - pronounced like 'oh-oo' Ex: "brown" (pron. bro-oon)
Wy - two ways: 1. rising accent - 'gwydd' would be pronounced GWEETHE falling accent - 'gwydd' would be pronounced GOOH-eethe
2. as in English 'win' or 'oo-ee' Ex: "Wy" (pron. oo-ee); "wny" (pron. win); "mwyn" (pron. moo-in)
Ywy - as in 'howie' or 'owee' Ex: "bywyd" (pron. bowid); "tywyll" (pron. towith)
Ng - as in finger or Long Island Ex: yng Nghaerdydd (means 'in Cardiff') pronounced (un ghire deethe); yng Nghymru (means 'in Wales') pronounced (ung Humree)
I think that is it for our first lesson!! It is not very hard, as you can see once you practice it a bit!
LOL! It actually makes more sense than English, so they say. But then, most languages do, I hear. And they do have a Southern dialect, but I am not sure the word "ya'll" is in it.....I will check on that, though. Of course, we have Welsh things all around us here in the South - oh, wait that's "Welch" as in Welch's grape juice. Nevermind !!!
Amen to that! I sure tried, and just couldn't get Gaelic. I have put more effort into Welsh and that seems to be coming along well right now. Plus there are more resources now that I have access to the Internet! The books on tape are difficult to me, because they all seem to skip really important steps. At least, the Gaelic and Welsh ones have anyway. SO, I have been looking at websites to fill in the gaps. That may help you out a lot.
Thak you so much for getting this together! As I've said before, my area is Scottish Gaelic. I know next to nothing about Welsh! I wish you all lots of luck with your language learning! And keep up the good work susieq!
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Slàn agus beannachd, Allen R. Alderman
'S i Alba tìr mo chridhe. 'S i Gàidhlig cànan m' anama. Scotland is the land of my heart. Gaelic is the language of my soul.
Done! Paul said that he was going to try to provide us with a set of subforums, one for each language, when he gets time! I think that will help a lot! Anyway, I am WAY off-topic so I'll get out of here!
Beannachdan Dé oirbh uile! God's blessings on you all!
This post has been edited by WizardofOwls on 10-Feb-2005, 08:21 PM
Hopefully this will help! I am trying to find out a bit more about a few other things and will post them here.
Oh, and does anyone know about the mutations? I cannot seem to figure it out. I will keep looking, and see what we can find! But if anyone knows, please post here!
Thanks!
This post has been edited by susieq76 on 11-Feb-2005, 12:52 PM
Okie-dokie. I have been reviewing some of my lessons, and it appears that the best way to describe nasal mutations is that they are an easy shortcut - a way to sort of run two words together in order to pronounce them more easily. I will give the examples of this as we come across them, but for now don't worry about them at all.
O'r diwedd! I found the right place to post about learning Welsh. Helo, eto, susieq76! Do you know why the section for "croeso" was locked? Does that mean we can't post in Welsh? I'm still trying to wade through this forum.
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Weithiau, mae'r ateb i'n problemau o dan ein trwynau, dim ond bod angen i ni gymryd cam yn ôl ac edrych eto. - Stuart Kerner
Hello gwenynen! I'm not sure what you mean by the "croseo" section, but as the forum moderator, I would gladly welcome posts in Welsh! If you would like, I can even create a "Welsh only" thread! Would you like that? Unfortuantely I have no Welsh myself. I am learning Scottish Gaelic, but I have an interest in all of the Celtic languages. Let me know if I can help in any way!
This post has been edited by WizardofOwls on 26-Mar-2005, 08:01 PM
Hi, Wizard of Owls. What I meant was "Welcome to Wales" by Welsh Guy started on 27/10/02 and now it's locked.
Welsh only thread would be great, but as I'm still relatively new to Welsh, I can only write simply. As Welsh Guy suggested, English translation should be added to Welsh posts.
Thanks for your reply!
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