Questions for you Brits and Welshies

[Gabriel013]

It's pop in the north of England.

[Goten]

Yeah, I've always called pop, everyone round here does (either that or fizzy drinks). It's cool to see an American call it pop, I thought all you lot just called it soda.

Oh and just to warn you, Llangollen isn't actually pronounced Langolen, I dunno if you have been told but Ll (two L's together) is a separate letter in the Welsh alphabet that sounds pretty different. It's hard to describe in writing and you'll be able to get away with just saying it how you imagine, but you might get some smart arse who will take the piss out of you in a pub

[svosen]

It's "pop" in Montana, as well. I thought "soda" was an east-coast thing. However, back in the 1920s and 30s, there were "soda" fountains in drug stores. A couple places around here have renovated and are operating soda fountains.

[Norrec]

Originally Posted by svosen

It's "pop" in Montana, as well. I thought "soda" was an east-coast thing. However, back in the 1920s and 30s, there were "soda" fountains in drug stores. A couple places around here have renovated and are operating soda fountains.

It's kinda all over I think, I know my ex (and currently one of my closest friends) in Kansas City calls it pop too. PA and Ohio and some of lower NY call it Pop, New England calls it soda, and I know some of the mid west calls it pop. I like people who call it pop cause soda is dumb.

Originally Posted by Goten

Oh and just to warn you, Llangollen isn't actually pronounced Langolen, I dunno if you have been told but Ll (two L's together) is a separate letter in the Welsh alphabet that sounds pretty different.

How would you best describe it? Probably isn't like the Spanish Ll is it? Where it sounds like a y? (llama = yah-ma)

I'm not too worried about sounding like an ass/arse over there, but it's kind of interesting that we apparently have slightly different pronunciation of things I didn't realize we would before

Like Lieutenent?
We call it Loo-Ten-ent here, and a friend in Canada (and I assume you in Europe) say it 'left-ten-ent', am I right on that?

[Goten]

I've always been confused over the loo/left-tenent thing so I really cant help you there lol.

It's not the same all over the UK, in fact its not same for every word in Wales, but in Welsh we have a completely different alphabet and some letters are actually made up of two letters put together (e.g. Rh, Ll, Ch, Dd) and are pronounced slightly or even completely differently to how you would say them for an English word. I found this about Ll (I've put the most important part in bold):

------
1.1. Ll

Ll has an undeserved reputation for being difficult. In fact, it's by far the easiest of the non-English letters to learn. The problem is that it is often advertised as an "unvoiced L", and that's not quite true.

1. Say the English word antler, making sure you say the t as a real t, not as a glottal stop. That is, make sure the tip of your tongue is touching the back of your upper teeth or the ridge immediately behind them.
2. Drop the an part and say tler without using your vocal chords. In other words, whisper.
3. While saying this, try to sustain (hold) the l as long as possible. It should sound a little like air hissing out of a bicycle tire. That's the ll sound in Welsh.

If that doesn't work, try a similar technique using the word please.



------

I wouldnt recommend trying it unless someone in Llangollen teaches you know as its quite hard to understand until you hear someone say it/explain it properly. I don't speak fluent Welsh but I know enough to understand pronunciation and I still struggle with it in some words

[Gabriel013]

I've just been practicing that but I doubt I'm doing it right.

[HannibleL316]

I'm about 20 min from Llangollen and I always thought the Ll was said sort of like a "lch" sound if you get me
Llangollen would actually sound like Langochlen.
Or am I totally wrong? lol

I actually even went to a Welsh high school: Llanfyllin.
And I've proper forget everything I was taught! lol

[Goten]

Thats pretty much right except the "lch" sound is also at the beginning two L's too (although Im guessing you just forgot to put that in), but to some people that might look like ch as in chips see what you mean tho! It's really hard to describe without having heard it, that description I pulled from some website isn't the best, but I thought it gave the jist of it

Don't worry Gabe, I've been trying to teach all the English people in my uni (which is in Wales btw) how to say double L and other Welsh letters/places/words (etc) and they always get it wrong too!

[Norrec]

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Llangollen

Pronunciation
Shlăn gŏsh' lĕn

Is that about correct?

[Goten]

It's about as close as you can get, yeah Welsh is such a hard language, you think living here all your life you'd be able to grasp it, but sometimes it leaves me puzzled