Wales is popular for loads of things, from its rugged coastlines and rolling hills to its buzzing nightlife. And crucial to all that is the Welsh language. After all, how can you properly get to grips with Welsh culture without few words of the local lingo? And Welsh is certainly on the up, with the past year being a breakthrough for Welsh-language music.
Wales is also, however, full of places that can be a little tough for non-Welsh speakers to get their chops around. Take the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, for instance, which is the longest word on any map in Europe. Try and pronounce it properly and there’s a decent chance you’ll end up seriously embarrassing yourself.
Before attempting Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, however, we’ve got something that could massively help out. Currently doing the rounds on social media is an online map called MapLlais, which is designed to teach people how to correctly pronounce the names of places in Wales.
Featuring voice-recorded pronunciations of lots of Welsh cities, counties and towns, MapLlais is a fabulous travel tool. To use it, all you have to do is click on the dots, with the map then playing the recording back to you.
If you’re notorious for butchering Welsh place names, this is the map for you. So, before you head off to Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, check out MapLlais here.
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