Pronouncing Welsh Gaelic

[RichStPete]

Is there a primer on how to pronounce Welsh names?  I tried to read Sharon Penman's historical novels on Wales but was put off because my Anglo-Saxon trained mind could not wrap itself around the written Welsh words.

[KGarrad]

Welsh is a phonetic language - every letter is pronounced!

There's a reasonable guide here:
http://www.cyclingwales.co.uk/welsh.html

And (usually!) the emphasis is on the penultimate syllable.
NEW-port
Aber-YST-wyth
Llan-DUD-no (say it as Llan-DID-no!)

[ScouseBoy]

The Welsh language  has its own alphabet.    Ll   Dd  are  classed as individual specific letters.

Llan  is pronounced   like clan  roughly speaking.

Rh  is another  letter   as in Rhyl   or Rhiannon, and a Welsh speaker  will pronounce it  with a slight "c"   sound  at the start of the word. 

[bibliotaphist]

I'll be the first to be pedantic: Welsh is a Celtic language. The Gaelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) are also Celtic languages .. but Welsh is not Gaelic.

[RichStPete]

Thanks to one and all!
Rich Hughes

[ScouseBoy]

The Welsh language as spoken can have significant local variations.

I was in a meeting in Conway just a few weeks ago.

[Sinann]

(Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) are also Celtic languages

This is something that has always puzzled me, I would have written this as
(Irish, Scottish, and Manx) are also Celtic languages..
Why is Gaelic added to Scottish?
I've encountered this quite often and the one Scottish person I did get a chance to ask didn't know.

[osprey]

possibly to differentiate it from Scots? 

http://www.scotslanguage.com/What_is_Scots%3F_uid2/What_is_Scots_%3F

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/find-out-more/books/the-gruffalo-in-scots

[ScouseBoy]

Welsh is a phonetic language - every letter is pronounced!

There's a reasonable guide here:
http://www.cyclingwales.co.uk/welsh.html

And (usually!) the emphasis is on the penultimate syllable.
NEW-port
Aber-YST-wyth
Llan-DUD-no (say it as Llan-DID-no!)

Newport is the English language  name.

The No  at the end of Llandudno    is a soft no   .... Not like know  or No as in negative.   But like the       the letter "O"   in Knobbly.     If you travel  on Arriva trains Wales to Llandudno  they announce  the stops first in one language and secondly in the other language.