Pronunciation of 'wy'

I’m doing the northern course (course 2, lesson 10 at the moment). There have been a few words that I’ve had trouble hearing right, most recently ‘yn llwyr’
When I look back, it seems that all the ones that give me trouble have this ‘wy’ in them.
yn hwyr, hwyl, llwyd, and now llwyr.

hwyl sounds to me like it rhymes with english ‘oil’
But llwyd sounds like it rhymes with english ‘fluid’
I can’t quite place whether ‘llwyr’ has a sound more like in ‘Lloegr’ or ‘siwr’ or someplace between them.

I suspect that the ‘ll’ is making it harder for me to hear the vowel part, but I just can’t be sure.

Hi Jeff. You’re pretty close to the mark - you’re obviously hearing well, but what is throwing you a bit is that you don;t have the “wy” sound in English.

It is indeed abouit half way between oil and fluid. The nest way I can describe it is that is is a very fast, one syllable oo-ee.

So llwyr = lloo-eer
hwyl = hoo-eel
etc

It’s important to remember, though, that if you say hwyr to “rhyme” with fluid, or oil, you will be fully understood, so don’t wtress about it, and just let the sound gradually come ass you use it more and more.

I’d say someplace between them. It’s kind of like the ‘ui’ in ‘fluid’, except that it’s just one syllable rather than being oo-ee as separate syllables.

However, I’ve noticed that in some people’s (native) accents it sounds closer to ‘oi’ than in others, so it’s probably not worth worrying about much. :slight_smile:

(Edit: snap! :))

Thanks much to both Iestyn and Ifan for the responses. I’ll keep listening and speaking and I’m sure it will become more and more natural. When I first encountered ‘arall’ I thought I’d never be able to say it, but now I don’t know what the fuss was about.

Jeff Anderson: When I first encountered ‘arall’ I thought I’d never be able to say it, but now I don’t know what the fuss was about.

This is what it’s all about. Da iawn!