According to the 2001 Census, 80% of young people (between the ages of 3 and 15) in Gwynedd speak Welsh. this means that Welsh is still the first language, the home language, of almost everyone who lives here - and if you hear people speaking Welsh in the shops, they haven't just stoppped speaking English because you have come in! Also, if you are spoken to in Welsh by a teenager, he or she is not insulting you - just assuming you are a local and probably asking you what time it is. (This actually happened to a teenage friend of ours, who was quite shocked at the aggressive response she got from the English visitor.)

We moved into Llanberis in May 2002 and have been learning Welsh since. As this is written in July 2004, we have not been learning long, and this is a guide to the kind of things we felt the need to learn as beginners.

The first word of advice is - do not underestimate the Welsh language! It is a very ancient form, quite different from modern English, and therefore difficult for an English person to learn (much more difficult than French or Italian, say, which are in structure very similar to English). The fact that modern Welsh uses quite a few english words is a very superficial feature of a extremely complex language.

Pronouncing Welsh place-names is probably the most important place to start for a visitor, so my next ptoject is to put a map on this page with sound files so that you can click on a placename and hear it spoken with the correct pronunciation. Please be patient while I organise this....

Now for some more about pronunciation:

• The Welsh alphabet is different from the English one in several ways, which means un-learning and re-learning some letter sounds. (Watch especially for the letters f, u, w, and y.)
• On the other hand, the Welsh way of spelling is remarkably consistent: you will not find 'silent letters', (knife, knee, gnash) or letters sounding completely different in combination, (through, though), or the same vowel with different sounds in different words (navy, navvy). Where English has three letters, c, s and k for only two sounds, Welsh just has c (as in kick) and s (as in sister) - there is no need for a separate letter k and so you won't find it in Welsh words. You can see this in some of the words which Welsh has borrowed from English, but which spells them its own way. Thus the sports of 'Rwgbi' and 'Criced'; a bookie is spelt 'bwci', and you might travel to a match by 'bws' or 'tacsi'.
• You will, however, find two ways of writing the English combination 'th'. This can be said two ways (as in 'bath' and in 'bathe'). So for these two sounds, Welsh has two letter-combinations - 'th' is reserved for the soft form like think, and the 'new' letter 'dd' is used for the sound at the beginning of words such as 'that' and 'though'.

After that introduction, here are some of the most important letters to learn if you want to pronounce Welsh correctly:

Vowels:

• 'a' 'e' and 'o' are said like the english short form.For example:
  • 'a' is always like in 'fat' or 'cat'- never any of the fancy english alternatives.
  • 'e' is always like in 'hen', 'men, or .'pen' - never silent, never the 'ee' sound of the word 'english' and never the rather grunt-like sound at the end of 'dinner'.
  • 'o' is always like 'dog' or 'log' or 'frog'.

• 'i' and 'u' are bit more tricky:
  • 'i' is like the english 'ee', but short rather than long. 'Feet' rather than 'dream'.
  • 'u' in Welsh is very similar (to a foreign ear) to the 'i' sound, and is quite different from the english pronunciation - until you get your 'ear' in, it's best to think of it as the same sound.

• There are two extra vowels in Welsh, however, represented by 'w' and 'y' respectively:
  • 'w' is pronounced a bit like the 'oo' in 'book' and a bit like the 'u' in 'luck' (depending really on the kind of english accent you have). Think of the words 'bwci' and 'rwgbi', which are borrowed by Welsh from the English, pronounced the same way, but spelt in the Welsh way.
  • 'y' is the other vowel in Welsh. You will see it a lot, both in longer words and as a word on its own. This one is usually said as the grunt-like sound that is so common at the end of lots of english words - dinner, rubber, doctor, computer, and many others. (One slight complication though - at the very end of a word it sounds just like the y at the end of English words - happy, silly, dirty, jolly, and so on).

Consonants:

• I have already mentioned the consonants c, th, and dd. The only other differences to watch for are 'ch', 'f', 'ff', and 'll'.
  • 'ch' is pronounced at it is in the Scottish or Northern English 'loch' - made exactly as if you are clearing your throat.
  • 'f' is a misleading one for English speakers - you have to remember that in Welsh it is sounded the way we would sound the letter 'v' (like the english word 'of').
  • 'ff' is the one that sounds the same as our letter 'f'(like the english 'off').
  • 'll' is really tricky for English people and you have to hear it. To make it you put your tongue against the roof of your mouth just above your front teeth (a bit higher than if you were going to say 'th') and then just blow gently - no hard starting sound, just a continuous, almost-whistle.

Pairs of vowels (diphthongs)- just one rule really:

• Dont' try to do anything fancy when you see two vowels next to each other - the rule, unlike English, is that each vowel is sounded separately. Thus, for example:
• • the word 'peidio' is sounded p - e - i - d - i - o, making a sound which in English would have to be spelt 'payed - ee - o' (more or less).
  • the word 'croeso', meaning 'welcome' is sounded rather like 'croy-so'.

If you listen carefully to words you will get the idea.