Pronunciations Tips

Welsh consonants don't actually sound all that radically different from most languages. When English-speaking people hear it spoken, they won't really trip over anything -- until these two consonants come up. The /ll/ can mystify people, especially since there really seems to be no similar consonant in English. It's pronounced in roughly the same place in the mouth as an /l/, so ... well, sometimes people pronounce it that way, as in the Anglicized version of the Welsh name "Lloyd." But it's breathier, so you also find another Anglicized version of the name: "Floyd." Is it like an /l/? Is it like a th- sound? How about a fl-? Or a weird /s/?

Then, there's the /rh/ sound. Sort of like an /r/ with a little more spit. Or is it? Do you just blow out a bit when you say the /r/? Do you stick an /h/ sound in front, or after? How do you say that thing?

Despite the fact that the /ll/ sound is most often used as an example of the inherent weirdness of Welsh pronunciation, it's the /rh/ that trippped me up the most. The /ll/ isn't that bad, once you get a handle on the mechanics of how you need to move your mouth in order to say it.

And while learning these new sounds, it's very important to be aware of a mental shift that you'll have to make. In fact, this is a basic mental shift that you will need to make to learn any foreign language. Do not attempt to shoehorn the sounds of the new languages into your own native sound system. Don't let yourself listen to a word like llwyd, squint, and ask, "What was that really?" while you try to shift it over into the English language sound system in your mind. The Welsh sound system is different, and in order to become a good Welsh speaker you will simply have to accept that the word "llwyd" is not merely "Lloyd" with a cute Welsh accent, but is in reality the word llwyd with no accent at all.

This is a difficult mental shift to make, and many people aren't even aware of the fact that it must be done. But in order to become a facile speaker, and in order to pick up a foreign language well, you must make it. Do not attempt to suss out the "real" form of a Welsh word by rendering it in its closest English equivalent. The real form of the word is the Welsh form.

The /ll/ Consonant and How To Say It

Getting to the point where you can say this properly is a two-step process. First, I'll give you a general idea that will get you most of the way there, and then a small tweak that will have you ll-ing away like Llewellyn the librarian (llyfrgellydd) from Llanelli.

First off, say a regular /l/ sound, and hold it. You can feel that your tongue is vaguely similarly placed for a /t/ or a /d/. You've got the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth, but you've dropped the sides of your tongue a bit so instead of blocking the airflow totally through the mouth, the air can hum past the sides of your tongue.

Now, try saying a /t/ and then an /s/. The /s/ is also very similar to the /t/, except in the case of the /s/, you drop the tongue a bit and hiss the air past.

Okay, keep that in mind.

Now, put your tongue in the position you'd use to say a regular ordinary /l/ sound -- but instead of letting the air hum past easily, hiss it out. Don't just delicately breathe it out; get a nice, juicy hiss going like you would with an /s/.

Okay. Feels strange, right? Well, you're most of the way there.

Now, make the /ll/ sound again and feel where the air is hissing out of your mouth. Chances are, if you've made the sound the way I've outlined here, it's hissing out past your eyeteeth. What you want to do now is move that point back, the place where the air is hissing out past the sides of your tongue. Instead of having it hiss out past your eyeteeth, push it back so it's hissing out past your molars, pretty far back behind your cheeks.

Click here to hear the words "cyllell" and "llysiau," or "knife" and "vegetables"

There you go! Now, you can /ll/ yourself blue in the face along with natives like Anthony Hopkins and Ioan Gruffudd. Congratulations -- or rather, llongyfarchiadau!

The /rh/ Consonant and How To Say It

Oh, this one. Despite the fact that the /ll/ has the reputation as the red-headed stepchild of Welsh pronunciation, it's the /rh/ that annoyed me the most. You may find it different, though; everyone's mouth is unique. I think most of the difficulty lies in the fact that there is no simple mechanical way to describe how it's made, like there was with the /ll/ sound.

The /rh/ is essentially a trilled, voiceless /r/. The Welsh /r/ is strongly trilled, not like the half-swallowed /r/ we use in English, especially American English. (By contrast, the English-English /r/ is sort of asleep at the switch a lot, especially after vowels. They drop `em off, we swallow `em.)

Click here to hear the words "fel arfer" and "roeddwn i" or "typically" and "I was"

You can hear that lovely trill that's so absent in American English. (There's just something missing in a language that won't let you trill your /r/'s.)

The voiceless /rh/ sound is the same sound, only -- surprise, surprise -- voiceless. It's helpful to think of it as /hr/, where you try to say an /h/ and an /r/ at the same time.

Click here to hear the words "rhedeg" and "rheolwr" or "to run" and "manager"

Those two consonants are the most frequent challenges to English speakers, as they are difficult to grasp in terms of existing English consonants. But as you can see, the /ll/ is graspable once you get a handle on how your mouth is moving, and the /rh/ is ... well, it's manageable. I still work to get it exactly right, and I don't all the time. Your mileage may vary.