General question...help?

[daibanjo]

as a native speaker of the Welsh Language I require very little phlegm in pronouncing their names.

As someone who is trying to learn Gaelic (STILL), I had to bring this to the front and laugh my butt off.

Oh! All right
The Ll sound in Welsh is made by pressing your toungue to the roof of your mouth and making a slight hiss. The Ch sound is made in the back of your throat as if you were gathering phlegm ready to spit.
I was born and raised in "Llanelli" you can't miss it, it's just west of Llangennech and just south of Llechyfedach.
When you can say that without phlegm then you've got the language.

[Kitsune]

As someone who's ansestors were in no way Celtic, I say that it's impossible without phlegm.

But then, my ancestory is English, Polish, and Ukrainian. I can't even spit right!

[MaryE101]

One of my best friend's is from Wales and a lot of his family is still over there. He learned a little Welsh last time he was over there. He tryed to tell everyone (back at school) "hello" and we all ended up rolling on the floor laughing because it sounded like he was cussing us to the edge of the world and back!!!

On the other hand, it sounds beautiful when his Grandmother speaks Welsh...so maybe it's just my friend!

Mary E

[daibanjo]

Well, you never know. i don't trust these Welsh guys. You never know what he was taught to say.
In South Wales we have a slang way of saying hello. The correct Welsh is "Sut Ydy'ch chi" That's "How are you" we just say "Shw Mae" the best translation of that is the American "Howdy" It's easy to pronounce, just say "My shoe" then turn it around to "Shoe my"
Those who follow the Celtic path here in America experience difficulty with the pronouncing of the names of Deities and Festivals. Deities like Bendigeidfran, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, and festivals like Lughnasadh and Samhuin come to mind. The important thing that I keep insisting on is that what you say is far more important than how you say it. All that is important is that the right intent be behind the word.

[Kitsune]

You're lucky... In Japanese, they have words that sound so similar that it's insane...

Like the japanese word Husband, if you sound the vowel a half second too long suddenly means slave...

Or the Word "Kimasu" pronounced key-mass... This word has four different meanings depending on how you say it...

To Cut, To Wear, To Come, and one other, which I can't remember at the moment...

Languages are hard...

[MaryE101]

Try Latin! Now that's hard! You miss one ending and instead of saying "the dog chaised the cat up a tree" you can end up saying the tree chased the dog up the cat!

Don't you love languages? Not that English is any better.....

Mary E

[Kitsune]

Sorry, all I could see for a moment there was this very confused tree despretely fleeing a dog and a very indiginant Cat ahead of the two, refuseing to be engaged in this embarressing spectacle.

[Ragnar]

The most amusing is hearing the WIERD interpretation that English speaking people have when trying to use German, because it's "cool" ( )

Über, for instance.

[Dark Waters]

Kitsune,

Thai is a very tonal language too, one lady I've been with, her nickname is "Orange" which in Thai is Som. Now depending on the inflection is can also mean fork or toilet. Since I;m tone deaf, guess which one I usually ended up saying

Ragnar,

The main deutch I try and say are danke {Thanks} which I say "don-ka" and the other which I won't even trry to spell I pronounce as "kom - in - ze - ear - beitter" which means come over here please if I'm not mistaken. Where I picked up the habit for those two phrases I'm not sure.

[Ragnar]

The main deutch I try and say are danke {Thanks} which I say "don-ka" and the other which I won't even trry to spell I pronounce as "kom - in - ze - ear - beitter" which means come over here please if I'm not mistaken. Where I picked up the habit for those two phrases I'm not sure.

Strangely you seem to have picked up a Swiss accent as well.

Interesting how you hear various things that you immediately reccognise, or feel at home with.

Places are my main one.

I knew my way around Berlin before I was ever here.

Evidence of past lives maybe?

[fatale]

I like all the books by Scott Cunningham. They are very basic and give you a good starting point.
Wicca for beginners is a book I still read frequently.

There are as many different ways in Wicca/Paganism as there are Wiccans/Pagans.

I don't even know what my path is called, it's best desribed in the Star Wars movies - the force!

[Sìle]

I was wondering if anyone could suggest some reading that might give me a better idea for the different types of pagan religions, beliefs, etc.

Try: "Pagan Paths: A Guide to Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, Shamanism and Other Pagan Practices" by Pete Jennings ~ A clear, accessible guide to the different paths within the flourishing modern Pagan movement.