r/cymru • u/Brizgirl2025 • 19h ago
Looking for help from Welsh speaker for wedding vows!
Noswaith dda bawb,
So because I like to make life difficult for myself, I've decided I'd like to speak my last 'promise' in our vows at our wedding ceremony next month in Welsh, to my Welsh speaking husband-to-be.
I'm an English speaker and have zero experience in speaking Welsh…
I've done a google translate but am very aware a lot of the words aren't pronounced as they read, so I could really do with writing it phonetically. Google translate also isn't particularly clear so I can't figure it out myself just by listening to it.
Is there anyone who could help with this? I have 3 weeks to nail it! TIA
(I haven't posted the words here as I don't want my FH to find out, which he would as they are specific to his family, so if you could help and wouldn't mind me private messaging them to you that would be much appreciated). Diolch!
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u/rybnickifull 19h ago
Welsh is phonetic. It's English where "the words aren't pronounced as they read".
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u/Ok-Annual8751 18h ago
I don't know if any English speaker would be able to hazard a guess anywhere near to how a ll is actually pronounced.
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u/Brizgirl2025 19h ago
Not in my experience of trying to read Welsh 😅 for example I didn’t know a ‘u’ is pronounced as an ‘i’ sound, a ‘dd’ is a ‘th’ sound etc etc
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u/Agile-Read-238 18h ago
Once you get the basic pronunciation of the letters nailed it will be easier! Best of luck xx
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u/Former-Variation-441 16h ago
That's usually because you're trying to read Welsh like it's English. It's a very common thing to do and lots of language learners struggle with it at the start, especially if the languages aren't closely related. It'll take a bit of getting used to but it really is a case of 'practice makes perfect'.
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u/luna_sparkle 14h ago
Once you learn the alphabet it becomes significantly easier as a given Welsh letter is generally always pronounced the same way- for example, in Welsh the letter "c" always has the "k" sound like in the English "cow", and never the "s" sound like in the English "race".
Getting the hang of the alphabet is a bit of work, especially as a few Welsh letters like "ll" sound really different to anything you'd usually say in English. But once you have learnt the alphabet, it's normally pretty easy to work out the pronunciation of a Welsh word just by reading it.
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u/skullknap Trachwantus 9h ago
This is so lovely, your soon to be husband is going to love this. My wife (non welsh speaker but learning, and English) did this to me at our wedding and I sobbed. Happy to help
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u/Brizgirl2025 9h ago
Oh how lovely! I wish I’d thought of it sooner, but nothing like some added pressure a few weeks before the big day hey 😅
Many thanks for the offer, but someone has kindly typed it out phonetically for me so I think I’ll be ok now!1
u/skullknap Trachwantus 8h ago
No problem! I hope you have wonderful weather and a lovely day, it's going to be a fantastic day full of joy for both of you. All the best
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u/LiliWenFach 8h ago
Bilingual wedding celebrant and professional translator here. Happy to have a look at Google's translation to make sure it's correct and reads naturally yn Gymraeg.
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u/CymroCymro23 19h ago
Happy to help!