Welsh

To an English speaker, Welsh probably looks absolutely crazy. Double 'f's, 'd's, and 'l's all over the place.
Oh, and 'w' is a vowel.
Unlike English, however, the letters only make one or two sounds, so once you know if/how they differ from English, you're pretty such set!

Consonants, where different from English:
  • c: always hard--"cat"
  • ch: gutteral 'k', like in Scottish loch
  • dd: like hard English 'th'--"the"
  • f: like English 'v'--"van"
  • ff: like English 'f'--"fall"
  • g: always hard--"go"
  • ll: aspirated 'l', no English equivalent
  • r: rolled 'r', like in Spanish burro
  • rh: aspirated 'r',"hr"
  • s: always soft--"sit"
  • si: like English 'sh'--"shin"
  • th: always soft--"thin"

Vowels:
  • a: short in like "cat", or long in like "father"
  • e: short in like "pet", or long in like "grey"
  • i: short like in "pit", or long like English 'ee'
  • o: short like in "cot", or long like in "cope"
  • u: short like English 'i' ("pit"), or long like English 'ee'
  • w: short like English 'oo' ("took"), or long like English 'oo' ("boot")
  • y: short like English 'i' ("pit") or like English 'u' ("cut"), long like English 'ee'

Digraphs (ha! not done yet!):
  • ae, ai, au: like English 'y'--"my"
  • ee, ei, ey: like "uh-ee", or like English 'y'--"my"
  • aw: like English 'ow'--"now"
  • ew: like "eh-oo"
  • iw, uw, yw: like English 'ew'--"pew"
  • ow: like "owe"
  • oi, oe, ou: like English 'oy'--"boy"
  • wy: like "oo-ee"

Examples:
  • Eluned (f)--"el-EE-ned"
  • Aderyn (f)--"ah-DEHR-in"
  • Aerona (f)--"eye-ROE-nah"
  • Cadwgyn (m)--"kad-OO-gun"
  • Gruffudd (m)--"GRIF-fith"
  • Hywel (m)--"HUE-el"

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