Tongue of Twisters

Welsh General / Questions
#1

Helo eto pawb! Hope I find you all well and in high spirits :smile:

After a year’s break from my Welsh language learning journey for marriage, beard growth, poor time management, a sudden fascination with coding and clearly an expanding list of excuses that make me feel more guilty by the second, I hath returned!

I finally leapt over the not-so-steep stile to Level 2 and tumbled head over heels into the beautifully-sounding construction “fyddwn i ddim”.

I’ve had tremendous fun overusing this the last few days, saying it again and again to the annoyance of my already-suffering wife, repeating it thrice after shots of only the best tequila, passing out then waking up to enunciate it afresh…it’s fair to say my love for the sounds of Welsh (and Mexican booze), grows with each challenge, which leads me rather long-windedly to my question.

Are there any Welsh tongue twisters you’re aware of and would be willing to share? Even ones of your own creation? I’d love to learn some!

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#2

F033FF94-8DD9-4D1B-B3BF-089DE1376EF8.png1125×2001 1.29 MB
This poster is out of stock, but may be what you’re looking for:-

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#3

I may not have my hands on the poster but the image you’ve provided satiates my curiosity for now. Thank you so much!

#4

I’ll see your “fyddwn i ddim”, and raise you a “ddylwm i ddim”.

May not be that much of a tongue twister, but it usually makes me wonder if I’ve put my teeth in properly (and I don’t even have false teeth…).

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#5

Of course, you could try looking on YouTube for a classic Welsh childrens song called “Cyfri’r geifr” or “Oes gafr eto?”. Or you could follow this link:-

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#6

How’s this? If someone’s grandfather was staying uninvited in their house and someone else repeated to them what their father had just said about it might go like this (if I’ve got it right :worried:):

Dwedodd dy dad nad ydy dy dš di ddim tš dy daid di

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#7

I read that as “Your dad said your house is not your grandfathers house.” I think I’m right…

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#8

Diolch @Garys - that’s exactly what I was trying to say!

#9

I just love cryptic :heart:️.

#10

Here are a few…

Rowlio lori lawr yr lon. - rolling a lorry down the road

Rowliodd Lowri lori lawr yr lon. - Lowri rolled a lorry down the road

Rowliodd lori Lowri lawr y lôn. - rolling Lowri’s lorry down the road

Mae Rhys yn ei grys yn bwyta pys ar frys efo’i fys. - Rhys is in his shirt eating peas quickly with his finger

Wel meddai Wil wrth y wal ond nath y wal ddim dweud wel wrth Wil. - Wil said well to the wall but the wall didn’t say well to Wil

:smile:

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#11

In fact, we can fussy-correct that one step better… :slight_smile:

Dwedodd dy dad nad ydy dy dš di ddim yn dš dy daid di.

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#12

I find this really hard to say: “yr ellyll erchyll” (horrible troll ?) from the welsh version of three billy goats gruff - tri bili-bwch gafr

Id hate to imagine if there were another smaller one in a place called Llanerchllwch

y llall ellyll bach erchyll llanerchllwch ?

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#13

Thanks Catrin! I really appreciate the translations :smiley:
Lorry seems to find it’s way in to many languages’ tongue twisters but coupled with Lowri and lawr I’ll be set with this one alone for days…my poor wife :joy:

#14

Ooh, this one’s a toughie! Having a good grasp of Spanish helps with my pronunciation of Welsh a fair bit though “ll” is still giving me grief from time to time.

#15

As if my family dinners weren’t complicated enough :joy: Thanks for this! haha

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#16

This is a grand thread, and I am grateful to ye who established it. However: for me, Welsh is universally and ubiquitously tongue-twisting. I am looking forward to getting beyond Level 1 Challenge 12 to start to discriminate between what Welsh people consider a tongue-twister and what they just say because that’s the way you say it. To which I add: I was innocently reading a Welsh-for-learners book at my dentist’s the other day and absolutely unprovoked a lady announced (rather plaintively, I thought): “No one needs to begin a word with two 'd’s. They just don’t.” So take THAT, Welsh.

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#17

My regular trip ups occur when trying to use 'ers blynyddoedd yn ol and ochr arall. For some reason not so much when reading them just whilst recalling them.