Great Western Coffee Shop

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-26900744):

There are worse places to have the car roll into a canal, although I struggle to think of one. Pontcysyllte (pronounced almost "punky sister", with a lisp on the second s) aqueduct is single track traffic, and very popular.



Says it all, and makes it funny.

Ah, thank you for the pronunciation guide, FT,N! Unfortunately I still can't thay it.....




Edit note: Quote marks fixed, in the interests of clarity. CfN.  ;)

A simple exercise will aid you to perfection. Say, ten times daily, "The Leith police dismisseth us, and sympathiseth with us". Should help you, Thynthia.

Ha!  That made me chuckle, FT,N! !  Bit my tongue at the second attempt, and still can't say Pontycysyllte.  Just relieved the car didn't roll into the sea at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch..........

Global warming muth thave cum thearly to that parth of Thanglethea....cuz last time I looked LlanfairPG was a mile or so inland..... ::) ;D

Yr oedd tir pan ymwelais diwethaf, ond yr oedd yn 1974

Google Translate says:


I'm sure you meant something like this  :D.

Well, thank goodness that's been clarified then, 'cos I thought it meant 'Oi 'ad one 'o them, but the wheels fell off in 1974'........ ::)

I would not recommend it anyway I am not sure it is the correct pronunciation. 

I know Welsh is different in the various regions, but I thought that the t and the c (always hard like k) were always pronounced. I usually pronounce Pont kersuchte (that's as near as I can write it).  But I may be wrong as well.

I aimed for an approximation, likely to remain in the mind. The more accurate guide would be "Pon-kay-suth-ter", but that isn't exact. I'm of Irish descent, via Lancashire. If you want an exact pronunciation, ask three Welshmen, which should guarantee at least four versions.

Other similar guides to foreign phrases that I have learned on my travels include the Turkish for "Good morning", "G^naydın", pronounced similar to "Good hiding"; the Hebrew for the same phrase "Boker Tov", or "B*gger off"; the Magayar for "Thank you" which is "K^sz^m", or "Cursin' 'em"; the less precise Russian "привет", or "Privet-hedge", meaning "Hello"; the word "Mercy!" being "Thank you" in not only French but Farsi; and my favourite snippet, learned in England via my work, is the Somali for "Thank you", "mahadsanid", or "My hat's on it". The Somali word for "Rubbish" is "Hashish", which I find hilarious. The Turkish for thank you, "Teşekk^r ederim", was told to me as "Two sugar and dream" by a Turkish waiter after a bigger tip. It is closer to "Te-shecker-eder-um".

I love languages, and have done since I left education. I learned Latin at school, which helped, even though I failed my O-level, for personal reasons. I speak French well enough to do my job in it if my interviewee does not speak English well, plus "get by" Spanish and German, and a smattering of Italian. I can order beer in most other European languages. It means I enjoy my holidays, and lets me compare the roots of the diverse languages we were left with after the Babel thing.

I once had to get a taxi to Ystradfellte - an easy pronunciation, you might think; something along the lines of 'ustrad-vechtuh' ought to do it... Hah! When I finally showed the bemused driver a bit of paper with it written down, he said 'Ah, Istrad-felt'.

Those who know the line west of Swansea will know that the tunnel near Llangynllo station (with the y pronounced 'uh' in English) is Llangunllo Tunnel (so presumably pronounced 'ih'); my guess is that one of them is half-Anglicised, but how is an anglophone supposed to know which?

Be interested to know what Welsh-speaking contributors make of all this..!