Welsh Alphabet Notes
I found an explanation of the Welsh alphabet on Wikibooks and Iâll be taking notes here. :] Website
Welsh is still written with the Latin alphabet but there are a few sounds and letters we donât have as well as some differences with letters we think we know!
a,b,d,e,g,h,i,j,l,m,n,o,p,s,t - pronounced the same
c - 'catâ (not, never, uh-uh no way, c as in âcelebrateâ)
ch - âlochâ, we donât have a sound like this! This is the hard ch sound heard in the word 'loch' or German 'ich'
dd - 'ratherâ, a hard sound
f - âveryâ, (Yr Wyddor Gymraeg mentions that we have this concept for f in âofâ)
ff - 'fallâ, how English speakers would typically pronounce f
ng - âlongâ, a letter in its own right but sounds exactly how you pronounce it in EnglishÂ
ll - another one we donât have a sound for, this one is tough. On Yr Wyddor Gymraeg they say:
âsounded by placing the tongue so as to say 'l' and hissing out of one side of the mouthâ
ph -Â âfallâ, also like the English typical f sound
r - trilled and always pronounced!
rh - r with aspiration Yr Wyddor Gymraeg says:
the difference between 'rh' and 'r' is similar to that between 'wh' and 'w' in "when" and "went"
u - âbinâ or âbeanâ reminds me of the word âbeenâ which can be pronounced either wayÂ
w - âweatherâ or âfootâ or ârootâ
y - âbinâ or âbeanâ, again reminds me of âbeen'
All consonants sound the same no matter where they are in a word and the same is mostly true for vowels as well.