Everyone pronounces our daughter's name wrong

in South Wales we often pronounce traeth more like trahth with a long ah sound. Llaeth (milk) is often llahth. It should be more like eye, really speaking.

Yes, we've mostly been in S Wales. I was told Maentwrog is pronounced mine-too-rog (with the first syllable like 'eye' with an m in front).

Returning to names, I always try to get the pronunciation correct, but if it is an unfamiliar dialect or derivation it can take longer. I'd always ask someone though rather than insist my way was the right way.

Also Machynlleth is a pig of a word even if you speak Welsh! It’s a lot of moving around the mouth to get those sounds in order.

It does vary a bit by dialect and accent. Here in South Wales we often pronounce traeth more like trahth with a long ah sound. Llaeth (milk) is often llahth. It should be more like eye, really speaking.

My sister told me about her new doctor who was awesome, when I asked her name she said it’s on the prescription Dr Meddyg. I almost crashed my car laughing at her. 😂

Having spent a few holidays in Wales, I got confused about the 'ae' in words, as it seemed to be pronounced differently depending on who you spoke to.
I think I now know how to say Machynlleth, though.

i hope they were told to turn left at the Ysgol School and then right at the Traeth Beach 😂

...and there's a story about some visitors to Wales asking the way to the Gwesty Hotel!

@Lplatecook , that's different. The Welsh for 'Café' is Caffi, and it is Caffi that is pronounced Caffy.

You could say that in Wales, hotel is pronounced gwesty, but it isn't; the Welsh word for hotel is.

NB in Wales, it's pronounced (and spelt) caffi. Just sayin'!

Pronunciation of cafe depends on region! And maybe generation? As a child I would say “ kaff-ee” with ‘kaff-ay’ being regarded as posh!

Is it like Dana, pronounced Dayna or Dahna or Danna, that kind of thing?

thays a really good video that talks about it among other things if you’re interested!

its quite hard to describe but if you say the letter A slowly you’ll notice that vowel has two sounds: an ‘a’ and an ‘ee’. That’s a diphthong. In my accent the ‘ee’ doesn’t happen so it’s a flat a.
so for me spayed and spade sound different. Spayed has the ee, spade does not.

Alex Jones doesn’t do it, she has what we would call a ‘posh’ welsh accent here because she does just that. 😂

I usually come onto Baby Names because it’s a sweet topic with everyone excited about newborns and the like.

This thread has gone… differently 😀

@JoanThursday1972 . are you sure that's what she was looking for?

I wouldn't but I did hear a woman in the pub on Sunday say that she was looking for a nuddy. (a hoodie).

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying , I say Spade and Spayed the same way
'I'd say I gayve Alex a wayve'

If I was talking to Jên, I wouldn't call her Jayne. Jên doesn't have the 'y' sound in it.

So words like gave or spade are not gayv or spayed.

That’s really interesting. How are they pronounced?

(I’m trying to imagine Alex Jones or Huw Edwards saying these words but the imaginary Alex and Huw keep saying gayv and spayed…)

Then I’m confused as to why you think I can’t tell those sounds apart? What was it I said that gave you that impression? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t understand. Eira and Eifion have the same vowel sound at the beginning so it doesn’t matter which you compare to Avian or Anal. The way i pronounce eye is it related in any way to way I pronounce avian. But Do you know the IPA? I can give you phonetic transcription of my Avian, but basically in my part of Wales we don’t insert a y sound in words with an a vowel. So words like gave or spade are not gayv or spayed. It’s called yod dropping and is a very common feature of Welsh English as it directly ties to the welsh language.
where are you from? I can probably explain it better if I know what your accent is.

@TheOriginalEmu , I know what a diphthong is, thanks.
I didn't say Eira and Avian, I said Eifion and Avian.

Given that you say eye with an 'uh' sound in it, I can't work out how you say 'avian'. Not that I even care.

😂😂 that funny because I’m a speech and language therapist, it’s literally my job to be able to distinguish tiny nuances between sounds and accurately record them.
I don’t know what makes you think I can’t distinguish between Eira and Avian? possibly you misunderstood my comment about diphthongs because you don’t understand what a diphthong is? It’s two vowel sounds together to make one.
the irony is in my accent they are probably more distinct than for most people, as Eira is a diphthong and Avian is a monophthong flat sound.
I have a very standard South Walian accent, for us the vowel in the name Kai or in the welsh word Mae is different from the vowel in eye or fly. If you can’t tell them apart maybe you don’t have a very good ability to distinguish between sounds? 😒

There's no such thing as a strange accent, just an accent you aren't familiar with.

@TheOriginalEmu , I'm aware that accents exist, but if you can't distinguish between the first syllable in Avian and Eifion, or Anal and Einion, then your ability to distinguish between sounds is not good.

If eye for you starts with an uh sound, then you probably have a strange accent or speak strangely.

Ah, understood 🙂

Insistence on a certain pronunciation usually ignores that accents exist.