Say Hello Bristol - an interactive pronunciation map for British Place Names

Tap a place, street, landmark or neighbourhood to hear exactly how it's said. You can see and hear the phonetic spelling, and get a plain-English tip on the tricky part of each name.

Click below to try it, or go to the Say Hello Bristol website to use it more easily on your device.

Every place on the map gives you:

• A real human-voice pronunciation recording (not AI)

• The phonetic spelling (IPA) - you never have to guess how to say these place names, because every word has audio for the individual phonemes, in sequence

• A record-and-compare feature to practise your own pronunciation until you're more confident with how you sound

• A short teaching tip explaining what makes each name tricky

Say Hello Bristol makes it easier to connect written IPA to real, natural speech - and to actually be understood!

In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the primary stress mark is written as ˈ and is placed before the stressed syllable in a word.

For example:

• /rɪˈspɒn.sə.bəl/ (responsible, stress on syllable 2)

• /ˈbrɪs.təl/ (Bristol, stress on syllable 1)

The primary stress mark shows which syllable is stressed most strongly. Once you can spot it you'll start noticing it everywhere, including in place names.

Here's a pattern you can use to improve your pronunciation: in English, we usually stress the last word in names like Gloucester ROAD or Millennium SQUARE, but the first word in names like PARK Street or OXFORD Street.

Try saying both out loud, using these stress patterns - and listen out for native speakers using them too.

Pronunciation of the word 'the' changes depending on what sound follows it.

In 'the River Avon', the ends in a schwa - 'thuh' - because the following sound is a consonant. But in 'the Avon Gorge', the has a long 'ee sound - 'thee' - because Avon starts with a vowel sound.

This is a general rule in spoken English: 'thuh next train', but 'thee old man'. Bristol's place names are full of small, real-life examples like this.

I'm Jenny Dance, an English Coach and Pronunciation Specialist with over 20 years’ experience helping learners improve their spoken English.

I built Say Hello Bristol after noticing how often even confident English speakers hesitate over local place names. This interactive map and pronunciation guide is a practical, memorable way to connect real pronunciation with the IPA - whether you live in Bristol, you're visiting, or you're just curious to understand how British place names sound.