Learn the two major Norwegian diphthongs, along with the five other Norwegian vowels
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Filip: Norwegian pronunciation series, lesson 2. The Pronunciation of Vowels in Norwegian. |
| Jack: Hi everyone and welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com |
| Filip: Listeners, did you practice the sounds from lesson 1? |
| Jack: We have a few more sounds for you this time, nine vowels and four diphthongs. |
| Filip: And these are very easy. |
| Jack: Yes they are not that different from English sounds actually. Okay shall we get started? |
| Filip: All right. |
| Jack: Now if you’ve got the lesson notes, it’s probably a good idea to read them as you listen so that you can see what sounds we are talking about. |
| Filip: The first thing to remember is that there are nine different vowels in Norwegian. Yes nine. |
| Jack: There are again some tricky vowels and diphthongs in Norwegian. |
| Filip: So make sure to practice and remember them well. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jack: What we will do is compare them to sounds in English. Okay the first one is the letter A. |
| Filip: [A] |
| Jack: A is pronounced like the [a] in father. Next is the letter E. |
| Filip: [E] |
| Jack: E is pronounced like the [e] in best. Next is the letter I. |
| Filip: [I] |
| Jack: It’s pronounced like the I in shit. Next is the letter O. |
| Filip: [O] |
| Jack: It’s pronounced like the [oo] in school. Now don’t make the [oo] sound here. We just want a round O. Next letter is U. |
| Filip: [U] |
| Jack: This is pronounced like the [u] in duke. It can also be like the [o] in book. The next letter is Y. |
| Filip: [Y] |
| Jack: This is pronounced like the [y] in syrup. Make the sound a bit stretched. Next letter. |
| Filip: All right here is where Norwegian gets a bit tricky with the letters. There are basically 3 letters you most likely haven’t encountered before. |
| Jack: Oh the [Æ], [Ø] and [Å] right? |
| Filip: Yes don’t worry though. These sounds do exist in the English language. |
| Jack: Great. So shall we go on then. So a certain vowel is [Æ] |
| Filip: [Æ] |
| Jack: This is pronounced like the [æ] in sad or band. Easy right. Next letter [Ø] |
| Filip: [Ø] |
| Jack: This is pronounced like the [ø] in burn. Next letter is [Å] |
| Filip: [Å] |
| Jack: This is pronounced like the O in bone or song and that constitutes Norwegian vowel sounds. Remember these are not the same as the alphabet letters. However each letter corresponds to the sound and some letters can take on other sounds. |
| Filip: But let’s use another lesson to explain that. Now let’s talk about Norwegian diphthongs. What is a diphthong you might be asking? |
| Jack: Well a diphthong is when you have two vowel sounds acting as a single vowel. |
| Filip: And Norwegian has four diphthongs in particular. |
| Jack: These are ai and au, ei, øy. Let’s begin with the first one, Ai. How is this pronounced? |
| Filip: It’s like the I in Kaiser, ai. An example of this is in the word [kai] which means harbor. |
| Jack: And an au, how is this pronounced? |
| Filip: This is like the au as in sauerkraut au. An example of this is in the word [maur] which refers to ants. |
| Jack: And then ei. Let’s hear how it’s pronounced. |
| Filip: It sounds almost like the I in time, ei. As for an example of this in the word, meg which means me is a good one. |
| Jack: And finally we have [øy]. Let’s hear it. |
| Filip: It sounds almost like the [ui] in ruin. [øy] a very common Norwegian word that contains it is [øy] Yes the diphthong itself. |
Outro |
| Jack: Right. I guess this basically covers all the sounds that exists in Norwegian. |
| Filip: Yes that’s right. That's about all the time we have for this lesson. Thanks for joining us everyone. |
| Jack: Keep practicing that pronunciation and we'll see you next time. |
| Filip: Hade, hade. |
Comments
Hide