Pronunciation of "Machynlleth"

[teuchter]

My understanding was that there is a bit of a 't' or at least a softened 't' after the 'n'.

Newsreaders seem to be pronouncing it without any kind of "t". Are they doing it correctly or just being squeamish about saying a word that might sound like it has Jeremy Hunt in the middle?

 

[Frankie Jack]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Machynlleth.ogg
Audio pronunciation.

 

[Poot]

My colleague's daughter asked him what 'my cunt lip' meant. He was pretty stunned until he realised she'd heard it on Newsround.

 

[wayward bob]

maCH-un-LLeth

with the CH as in loch and the LL as in the unpronounceable welsh letter you put your tongue against the roof of your mouth like for l and then blow (gently)

 

[mwgdrwg]

...you put your tongue against the roof of your mouth like for l and then blow (gently)

 

[teuchter]

you put your tongue against the roof of your mouth like for l and then blow (gently)

so, like a softened version of t then.

 

[wayward bob]

not to my ears. your mouth makes an "l" shape too iyswim. the usual english-speaking approximation is "thl" though i never understood why so may people apparently struggle with it tbh.

i couldn't get the upthread link to work. here ya go: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1AYXUSxONVb

and for the lulz http://vocaroo.com/i/s17OCsWKu2eC

 

[davesgcr]

Apparently Midlands referred to it as "Makkinilek"

 

[William of Walworth]

'Mach' (to rhyme with Mack) seems the general way to say it around those parts IME.

ETA : ie in abbreviated form with none of the rest beyond the 'h' ...

 

[8ball]

Mack
Un
Fluff

edit: I'm Welsh, so I'm right you fucking rascists!!

 

[Pickman's model]

Mac
Hoon
't'leth

not quite a hoon, between hun and hoon

 

[Gavin Bl]

((((((ch))))))))

 

[davesgcr]

....Thleth ....

Da Iawn i chi gyd am drio (sic)

(well done for trying)


Says he with an O level in Welsh.....(though an A level unofficially in Welsh butchered East Carmarthenshire dialect circa 1970 something !)

 

[trashpony]

No t whatsoever after the n. When the April Jones story first broke, news readers were pronouncing it wrong with a bit of a soft t. They got (a bit) better over the week

 

[Gavin Bl]

No t whatsoever after the n. When the April Jones story first broke, news readers were pronouncing it wrong with a bit of a soft t. They got (a bit) better over the week

those tricky foreign names....

 

[davesgcr]

Anyone try "Auchenshuggle" - or even the (posh) Milngavie ?

 

[Gavin Bl]

its fair enough for someone not to know Welsh, Gaelic or whatever pronunciations - but I don't think a professional newsroom has the same excuse, days into the main story they are running with.

 

[bendeus]

its fair enough for someone not to know Welsh, Gaelic or whatever pronunciations - but I don't think a professional newsroom has the same excuse, days into the main story they are running with.

This. They seem to take exquisite pleasure in munching the exotic consonants and gargling the alien vowels of warzones from Helmand to Darfur, but when it comes to actually fucking bothering to find out how to say a place name that very much resides in the UK they appear to deem it beneath them, the fucking lazy twats.

 

[teuchter]

Seems like not everyone on this thread can actually agree how it's supposed to be pronounced though.

 

[mwgdrwg]

Mach (imagine a Scouser saying Mack)
Un (as in un-derpants)
Ll (you're going to struggle with that one, press your tongue to the roof of your mouth )
Eth (as in eth-nic minority)

Fucking easy!

 

[mwgdrwg]

Seems like not everyone on this thread can actually agree how it's supposed to be pronounced though.

I'm right.

 

[Gavin Bl]

I'm right.

He is! Accept no substitutes!

 

[Gavin Bl]

Seems like not everyone on this thread can actually agree how it's supposed to be pronounced though.

Again, Joe public on this thread might disagree - but don't see why the TV can't be arsed to get it right. (they don't think its a proper language, and so it doesn't matter)

 

[bendeus]

Again, Joe public on this thread might disagree - but don't see why the TV can't be arsed to get it right. (they don't think its a proper language, and so it doesn't matter)

In a nutshell, though there'd be plenty queuing up to tell us that this is an unnecessarily chippy perspective.

 

[Iguana]

What about Huw Edwards? Is he pronouncing it right? Isn't he a native Welsh speaker?

 

[fogbat]

McInlet.