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Trivia: Stations that don't sound like they're Spelt

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Gwenllian2001

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swcovas said:
I know that for non welsh speakers Welsh ststion names can be a "bit" confusing! However even within Wales we have on the Central Wales line Dolau which in welsh pronunciation should be Dol-ai. Locally it is pronounced Dolly!!

Also Cathays in Cardiff is pronounced Catays.
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Local pronunciation, of course, but is nearer to Dol-eh than dolly. That reminds me of Dollar in Scotland, which was originally the same word. It means meadows.

The name Cathays is not Welsh but derives from Old English (ge)hæg (hedge), which came to be applied to land lying north-east of the original borough of Cardiff. Cathays was, of course the site of the Taff Vale Railway works.
 
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Schnellzug

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Gwenllian2001 said:
Local pronunciation, of course, but is nearer to Dol-eh than dolly. That reminds me of Dollar in Scotland, which was originally the same word. It means meadows.

The name Cathays is not Welsh but derives from Old English (ge)hæg (hedge), which came to be applied to land lying north-east of the original borough of Cardiff. Cathays was, of course the site of the Taff Vale Railway works.
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I always thought it had a Chinese derivation, like Canton, or was that a sort of back-projection since they had one Chinese-sounding name already?
 
Xenophon PCDGS

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stut said:
Well, Łódź you believe it? Again, that's quite phonetic - just try mastering the glottal stops when ordering rød grød med fløde at Københavns Hovedbanegård...
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The two languages that I found the hardest to understand in all aspects of grammar and phoeneticism were Hungarian and Finnish. I did try to master many European languages some 45 years ago, with others at Manchester University and being a Classics (Greek and Latin) and Mathematics scholar, found that already having fluency in French, Spanish and Italian from early days, plus the basics of Slavonic languages from familial connections, were all helpful to me in that respect.
 
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Paul Sidorczuk said:
The two languages that I found the hardest to understand in all aspects of grammar and phoeneticism were Hungarian and Finnish. I did try to master many European languages some 45 years ago, with others at Manchester University and being a Classics (Greek and Latin) and Mathematics scholar, found that already having fluency in French, Spanish and Italian from early days, plus the basics of Slavonic languages from familial connections, were all helpful to me in that respect.
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Finnish is dead easy :) ...along with Welsh I guess this makes me a fluent Elvish (Sindarin and Quenya) speaker.... :)

Ian
 
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6Gman

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Paul Sidorczuk said:
The two languages that I found the hardest to understand in all aspects of grammar and phoeneticism were Hungarian and Finnish. I did try to master many European languages some 45 years ago, with others at Manchester University and being a Classics (Greek and Latin) and Mathematics scholar, found that already having fluency in French, Spanish and Italian from early days, plus the basics of Slavonic languages from familial connections, were all helpful to me in that respect.
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I have heard it said many times that the three toughest languages in Europe (because they are so unlike other languages) are Hungarian, Finnish and Basque.

Mind you, Welsh is tough enough!
 
Schnellzug

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I've always found it slightly ironic that in the Finnish language, (apart from a few words borrowed from others) there is no letter F.
 
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Michael.Y

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Up until recently there was no J in Welsh.

In a country full of Jameses and Joneses.
 
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Hessle is 'ezz-el. Yet Wressle is definitely Ress-el. They are only a few miles apart! :lol:

Brough vs Slough could also be confusing for some.
 
Ivo

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I feel almost pleased to have grown up in an area where most places sound as they should do - by the way, what is so hard about Witham? It sounds as you would expect, i.e. with a silent "h"! - and find it strange seeing so many other examples elsewhere. (Almost.)

Max said:
Brough vs Slough could also be confusing for some.
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I've said this in other threads but I would be more worried about Loughborough. The "ough" phoneme appears twice - and sounds completely different in both instances! "Loff-buh-ruh"

Michael.Y said:
Up until recently there was no J in Welsh.

In a country full of Jameses and Joneses.
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Famous evidence of the influence of English unfortunately...
 
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While we're here can I remind VT Train Managers from London that there is a G in Birmingham, thanks.
 
Aictos

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Hertford North and Hertford East are both pronounced Hart Ford (insert North/East).

Overseas Students at the University of Hertfordshire used to pronounce Hertford as Hut field hence when they wanted a train to Hatfield they often ended up at Hertford.

Harrogate I believe is pronounced Harro Cut?
 
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HLE 13 said:
Hertford North and Hertford East are both pronounced Hart Ford (insert North/East).

Overseas Students at the University of Hertfordshire used to pronounce Hertford as Hut field hence when they wanted a train to Hatfield they often ended up at Hertford.

Harrogate I believe is pronounced Harro Cut?
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Arragut.
 
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stut

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As in:

"Your girlfriend said you were inadequate."

"No, she said I was in 'arrogate."

Etc
 
ert47

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Not sure if mentioned yet, but there is Surrey Quays and West India Quays.

Quay should really be pronouced "kway"
 
Yew

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Gwenllian2001 said:
Yes okay, but it has been stated several times on this thread that Welsh, unlike English, is pronounced exactly as written.
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That word has 4 l's in a row. and hence impossible to pronounce as written ;)
 
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Gwenllian2001

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Yew said:
That word has 4 l's in a row. and hence impossible to pronounce as written ;)
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No it doesn't, it has two Lls; one at the end of drobwll and the other at the beginning of Llantisilio and it is easy to pronounce. Either learn the Welsh alphabet or stop writing nonsense.
 
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