A PHONETIC RAILWAY SIGN FOR Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I posted here about a Welsh weather forecaster pronouncing the village name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (the audio is at the link to Facebook). The weatherman says it very rapidly so I took note when I saw
a photograph of a railway sign for the village with the English pronunciation under the village name. (The photograph was illustrating a review by Henry Hitchings in the Wall Street Journal (December 5-6) of LINGO by Gaston Dorren.)
The approximate pronunciation in English orthography is given on the railway sign as: Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-chwurn-drob-ooll-llantus-ilio-gogo-goch.
This wikipedia entry translates the name as: St. Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near to the Rapid Whirlpool of Llantysilio of the Red Cave. The entry also has a helpful phrase by phrase translation: “Parish [church] of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [in] Hollow (pwll) of the White Hazel [township] (gwyn gyll) near (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the parish [church] of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo[f] goch)”.
The entry says: “The name is also shortened to Llanfair PG, which is sufficient to distinguish it from the many other Welsh villages with Llanfair in their names.