Dipyn o Gymraeg ~ A bit of Welsh
Readers and reviewers often comment that, while they enjoy the Welshness of my books, they sometimes struggle to get their tongues around some of the characters' names and other words I use to add flavour to my stories. Some have said they wish they could speak Welsh in order to 'hear' the words on the page, and others have suggested a glossary might be useful. Due to word count restrictions, it's not really possible to include a glossary in the books themselves, but here is a quick guide to some of the names and frequently-used Welsh words in my books, and also a useful link to a fuller pronunciation guide to be found online, courtesy of Aberystwyth University. Basically, all letters in Welsh are sounded purely, none are silent, and consonants are the same as in English but are usually hard, not soft. Vowels are often very different to the English and we have two extra ones - w and y - and also diphthongs, which are two vowels run together that have their own unique