Welsh letter pronunciation: a thread

C
• always the K sound as in cat or Kill
• never S as in city

Conwy
—
Ch
• always as the Ch in the Scottish loch
• never as in lock or church

Rhos-goch
—
Dd
• always sounds like the Th in breathe or Then

Rhuddlan

F
• always the V sound as in Venice

Felindref
—
Ff
• has the same sound as Ph, and the English off
• never the V sound

Ffestiniog
—
G
• always hard as in Get
• never soft as in Gentle

Garn

Ll
• a voiceless L. Produce an L, but breathe out both sides of the tongue

Llanelli
—
Ng
• has the sound of Ng in singing
• In a few exceptions, Ng is pronounced ng + g as in the English finger
• In others, n and g are separate sounds (Llangollen)

Bangor
Llong

R
• trilled like a strong Scottish R, or as in Spanish and Italian

Rachub
—
S
• same as the ss in moss, or the S in Sit
• never the z sound as in nose

Dowlais
—
Th
• has the same sound as the Th in Thin
• never as the Th in The

Bethesda

Thanks to @OrdnanceSurvey for the bulk of this detail.
Its website is an absolute treasure trove https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/guides/the-welsh-origins-of-place-names-in-britain/

Considered doing this. Didn’t.



Ff
• like the ough in rough
• never like the ough in plough
• or the ough in thorough
• or the ough in ought
• or the ough in through

Fflipinec

By popular demand...

W
• short, as the oo in took
• long, as the oo in moo
—
Y
• 2 sounds:
‣ In monosyllables, and in the final syllable of a word, it has the same sound as the i in Brinton
‣ In other positions, it has the same sound as the u and the e in under

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Ai hop ddat yew can ryd ddys and ddat yt meics sens tw yew.

Iff yew can ryd ddys, dden yew ar probybli a Welsh spicyr and ar reit at hôm widd owar ffonetic langwej.
In ôl laiclihwd, efriwyn els wil bi wyndyring wy ther’s no Gwgl Translêt byton, so yt’s basicyli a sicret langwej!