Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Porter
type of dark, strong ale; London brewers Fuller's and Meantime both
brew contemporary versions
pint
both a measure of beer and a general term for having a drink; as in “do you
fancy going for a pint later?”
quid
one pound; “10 quid” or “a tenner” is £10
subway
pedestrian underpass; the underground railway is “the Tube”
How to Speak Welsh
To the novice, it's quite extraordinary just how
Welsh
Wales is. Signs, addresses, place
names, and menus are mostly in both Welsh and English, which can be baffling in
itself. Road signs are in both languages, which leads the unwary to suspect there are
two different towns ahead. And then sometimes there's a lone sign that's just Welsh,
making you think you've missed the road to Cardiff. Because, unlike many other
languages, there's rarely a translation obvious to the untrained eye. Pembrokeshire
becomes Dyfed while Cardigan comes in slightly closer as Cerdigion.
Llan
(which
seems to be the start of half the place names) means “church,” while
aber
(which
seems to start the other half) is “river mouth.”
Several words it is handy to know are
gwesty
(hotel),
siôp
(shop),
gorsaf
(station),
traeth
(beach),
ffordd
(road), and
cawl cennin
(leek soup).
And while we're on the subject we shouldn't forget the classic Llanfairpwllgwyn-
gyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the village in Anglesey, which (roughly)
is translated as: “The Church of St. Mary by the pool with the white hazel near the
rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's church and the red cave.” On the road signs you'll see
it as Llanfair PG, which isn't half as much fun.
aber
river mouth
afon
river
araf
slow
bach/fach
small
bont/pont
bridge
bwlch
gap, pass
carreg
stone
cefn
ridge
coed
wood
croes/groes
cross
cwm
valley
dim
no
dim mynediad
no entry
dinas
fort, city
dynion
gentlemen
eglwys
church
fawr/mawr
big
felin/melin
mill
2
ffordd
road
gorsaf
station
gwesty
hotel
heddlu
police
llan
church lands
llyn
lake
llwybr cyhoeddus
public footpath
lôn
lane
marched
ladies
mynydd
mountain
pen
top
rhyd
ford
siôp
shop
Swyddfa'r Post
Post Office
toiledau
toilets
traeth
beach
ysbyty
hospital
