# Welsh/Celtic: orthography



## suma

Celtic street names or town names, etc always seem impossible to sound out.
The orthography looks so bizarre, unlike most other Euro languages. Do the letters have the same value as in English?


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## caelum

This is on the first page on Google for "Celtic orthography".


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## jakowo

And here you've got a _Guide to Irish Gaelic Pronunciation_.

http://www.standingstones.com/gaelpron.html


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## Stoggler

caelum said:


> This is on the first page on Google for "Celtic orthography".



That link has a fairly good overview for Welsh but why they have a list of Irish names under the section for Welsh is odd

Welsh orthography is easy to learn really and once you get past the conventions you're familiar with from most European languages and accept that "w" for example is a vowel then you're on your way.

(using "w" as a vowel isn't so odd when you think about it: "w" is called "double-u" after all.  And the /u/ and /w/ sounds are produced in the same part of the mouth with rounding of lips)


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## Tegs

Put any Welsh placename into the box in this text-to-speech website, choose a Welsh voice (note, not Welsh English) and press play. 

http://www.ivona.com/en/

You should get the correct pronunciation.


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