Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.
My second daughter can actually pronounce that. It's Welsh. And it's a real place in Wales.
Yesterday at the Folklife Festival there was a woman who was teaching people how to speak Welsh. In the less-than-fifteen minutes that my daughter listened to her, she got the pronunciation down pat. A real gift for Welsh. Me? Not so much.
Here's your Welsh lesson in less than a minute. The LL in Welsh has no equivalent in English. Position your tongue in your mouth as if you were going to make an L sound. Then blow air around your tongue. Better yet, get someone who knows how to do it show you.
We learned the translation. "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave" We also learned that folks usually abbreviate it to LlanfairPG.
My Kingdom for a Horse
14 hours ago
When I was in Wales long ago I marveled at their bread and their impressive road signs which you could see everywhere (they were in Welch). The language had a certain rolling quality which was interesting to listen to but would have been too hard for me to learn.,
ReplyDeleteLOL.... wow... love the literal translation. Too funny. I'd never get the spelling correct, let alone the pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteWow. I am impressed. I also know better than to ever attempt to say that!
ReplyDelete