llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Away With The Fairies wrote: »

This is actually a real place name. Has anyone been?

Yes, if you divert slightly off the main route from Holyhead out of Anglesey you reach it easily. A branch of Edinburgh Woollen Mills is there selling touristy stuff. I remember as an I year old on a school trip bus to London one of the girls could pronounce this word fluently, so I took it upon myself to learn it, and every since I love opportunities to rattle it off.

Penrhyndeudraeth is another nice one to try and pronounce. Once had to ask a bus driver to let me off there. Welsh is very largely phonetic, with consonant and diphthong rules to learn.

E = e as in met, set, pet
U = The vowel sound in meal, meat, she, pea
EU = the vowel diphthong in Say, Play, May
RH = Hr, the way "what" is actually pronounced "heat"
AE = the diphthong sound in Eye, Buy, Shy

Once you know the rules it's mostly easy to put them together, so it goes:

pen-hrin-day-dry-th

Gay Byrne once had a competition on his radio show, the prize a trip to Wales, Competitor callers had to rattle of the full of Llanfair PG, and a Welsh man was the judge. I tried to call in with my attempt but couldn't get onto the show at all as the lines were blocked. The attempts were, of course, pretty lame, and though not perfect I would likely have won the prize on that occasion.