Hi my name is Mike and I’m a Welshaholic. Lol. Sorry. This is my first real post. Just thought I should introduce myself.
Anyway, I’m simply writing to vent.
I’m on (Northern) lesson eight and here to say that I hate “bought the milk”!
I can’t wrap my American ear, or tongue, around those two words.
[I haven’t begun to attempt to read or write, so please excuse this phonetic spew…] Is it crunny? Brunny? Prunny? Easter bunny? Heck if I know.
And don’t get me started on the bloody milk. If I make one more f-rt sound trying push air past an L-shaped tongue I’m quitting! Not really, but good Lord. I hear “L’s” in the beginning. Then it sounds like “sh”. Then “sch”. Then “schl”. And what’s that bit in the middle? F? V? Th? Stupid schllefvrith.
Ok. I’m done. Thank you for letting me share.
(
I think it is definitely Easter bunny. You’ve hit the nail on the head, lol.
To buy is spelled “prynu,” so “prunny” is a good way of pronouncing it. When mutated, as in “I bought the milk,” it would be pronounced like “brunny.”
My big ol’ American issue is rolling my r’s. I can’t do it for the life of me!
And this ^? This has me cracking up right now. I can completely relate, as I have at times interpreted/mistaken ll for “ch”, “sch,” “hl,” and “cl.”
Hey, Mike, just relax. No seriously, try relaxing everything, lips/jaw/throat/neck, as much as possible. I tried and tried to force the ‘ll’, ‘ch’, and the rolling r’s out for a while, to no avail. It sounded nothing like what I was hearing. Then one night after a glass of red wine I was practising vocabulary by making up sentences. Totally relaxed and being silly (alright, it was a very healthy glass of wine). Suddenly I sounded a lot more like Cat and Iestyn (our fearless leaders for the Southern courses). I worked on relaxing whilst not under the influence and now (for the most part) everything comes out sounding pretty good. So, as usual, Aran’s mantra of “don’t worry about it” is spot on because the more you worry, the more you’ll tense up. Hopefully this helps you and soon you’ll be happy as a cat lapping llefrith (or llaeth, as we say in the South)!
Me either! It’s the same for even some native speakers as well…
If it makes you feel any better my wife, who is a native Welsh speaker laughs every time I say ‘‘Muy’’ (which means more) I pronounce it ‘‘mooey’’.
I think I have tried to copy how she pronouces it about a hundred times - but to no avail - and she still laughs at me.
Mae hi’n chwerthin hyd yn hin (or something like that - I’m also phonic only at the moment).
Ha! And thanks! That helps. I don’t know where I got a “cr” sound from.
Hilarious! Well, methinks it’ll be a good minute before I’m purring over my pronounciations, but I will try to lighten up. Thanks!
That does make me feel a bit better, actually. Lol.
My wife speaks southern (US) country redneck, which is practically a different language, and I must admit that I do enjoy poking fun at it.
Mike, I’m American too, and from north Alabama although you can’t tell it from my accent, unfortunately. Anyhow, I totally cannot roll my R’s, and it turns out not to be a problem at all. As for LL, it’ll come. Just remember to practice without anyone or anything that you don’t mind spitting on in front of you. 
Oh, and you were right, that’s a V sound in the middle of the word for ‘milk.’ See? You speak Welsh.
Thank you for the encouragement!
I’m right next door to you over in Georgia. I guess if you can form an Ll then there must be hope for me as well.
I’ll (oh look, I just used ll) keep at it!
A very warm welcome to the forum, Mike 
Sounds as though you’re off to a great start - enjoy the growing pains…
Haha! Diolch, Aran.
I’m (mostly) enjoying it so far.
I’m really enjoying it, actually.
I’m 42 and haven’t attempted (non-work related) learning in, well, longer than I realized. It feels good to get the old grey matter up top sparking and firing again. Soo glad I stumbled upon your app (first), your site and then this forum.
Grand so It’ll be doing you boatloads of good in neurological terms, so fingers crossed we can get you addicted enough to carry on with some other languages once you’ve finished off Welsh…
Oh, yes. Most definitely is. I grew up speaking the Southern Illinois version of Redneck. California people sometimes have no idea what I’m saying when I speak it.
Counter intuitive though it might seem, it might be easier to practice rolling “r”'s by imitating the speech of a person with a strong Scottish accent, e.g. Neil Oliver from the “Coast” series:
I say that partly because Scottish accents are not that uncommon here in England, but mainly because the words being used will be familiar English words - you just have to learn to pronounce them with a nice rolled “r”.
I can’t guarantee that the Welsh rolled “r” is the same, but I’d say it’s close.
(Paradoxically, I don’t think people speaking English with a natural Welsh accent roll "r"s to the same extent that Welsh speakers speaking Welsh do (that’s been my perception anyway).
More Scottish accents, but just for fun:
Oh lawd! Baby steps.
Lol.
Perhaps.
(
That’s awesome.
Actually, my wife speaks the Queen"s English compared to her sister. The first time I met my sister-in-law I thought she was joking or exaggerating, her poor draw was so bad.
Oh my god I haven’t laughed out loud that loud in forever. Thank you for that. That skit is priceless. Loved it!!
My rolling R’s aren’t as bad as that cursed double L. The old “Rrruffles have rrridges” chips commercials got me practicing that trick decades ago. Perhaps they should put out a “Lllays are lllovely” promo and I’ll get the knack of llefrith.