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| INTRODUCTION |
| Filip: Norwegian pronunciation series, lesson 1. The Pronunciation of Consonants in Norwegian. |
| Jack: Welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com, I'm Jack. |
| Filip: Hvordan går det? My name is Filip. |
| Jack: And welcome to our Pronunciation series. In this lesson, we are going to start with the basics and slowly work our way up. |
| Filip: That’s right. First, we will talk about what Norwegian sounds are made of. |
| Jack: Now Norwegian has almost as many sounds as English meaning a lot of different sounds. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Filip: There are all in all 31 consonant sounds, 9 vowels and 4 diphthongs that usually constitute the base of the language. |
| Jack: Right and with that many sounds, there are some sounds that don’t exist in English as well. |
| Filip: For example, the KJ sound [kj] sound. One word that has it is [kjøtt] which means meat. |
| Jack: So there is no actual identical sound in the English language. |
| Filip: But it could sound something like ch in the tire producer Michelin. The next sound SJ [sj] is slightly thicker though like sjel which means [soul] |
| Jack: This one doesn’t exist in English either but it might be easier to pronounce than kj. Sj sounds more like [sh] in shoe and the [ch] in Michelin put together. Once more |
| Filip: Sjel. Okay next one K followed by an I [ki] like in [kino]. It sounds similar to its English meaning cinema. |
| Jack: Lastly we’ve got the skj [skj] like in skjære, that would be [crow] or to cut in English. |
| Filip: Yes more on the homonyms another time. The skj sound is like a thick [sh] in shoe or shore. This one should be the easiest one to pronounce for foreigners. |
| Jack: Anyway, shouldn’t we get on with the main part of this lesson mainly the alphabet? |
| Filip: Sounds like a good idea, but remember, we are only going over the native consonants right now. We will go over vowels and diphthongs in the later lesson. |
| Jack: That’s right. Let’s get into it. First we have B which is pronounced much like the B in English [bear] |
| Filip: Next we have D which sounds like an English D as well. |
| Jack: Then we have F like in four or five. Really no problem there either. |
| Filip: Next G as in English get. |
| Jack: Then a slightly hard one gj. Try to pronounce [yell] with a sharp [ye] |
| Filip: Next we have gn like in English Minum, you know the gun. |
| Jack: All right an easy one, H like in high or hole. Simple. |
| Filip: Then K like in like or clock. As it happens Norwegian has a lot of double consonant words. Words where there is a double k would be like ck in English. |
| Jack: Right kk is like the ck in bucket for example. |
| Filip: Next we have the hard one kj. Try to remember Michelin. |
| Jack: Then L as in lamp, fairly easy. |
| Filip: Then we have M which is the same as English m, mom, mobile. |
| Jack: Next n as in nun, any. Most of the Norwegian sounds are the same as their English siblings. |
| Filip: Correct. That’s what makes Norwegian easy to learn. All right, next we have [ng] like in [sung] or ringing. |
| Jack: P as in perspire. |
| Filip: Q is pronounced like a softer K. There are hardly any words I know that have the Q sound however. |
| Jack: Next we have the R which is pronounced [err]. It causes trouble for some. You only roll it slightly with a short repetition [err]. |
| Filip: Following that we have RD which sounds like American English barred. Don’t be too heavy on it though. |
| Jack: Then following that RL like in English curl. Don’t be too heavy on this one either. |
| Filip: Correct. Next RN like barn. Don’t pronounce the R strongly like in American English. The last [r] combination is [RT] as in English barter. Don’t put as much stress on the R as you do in English though. |
| Jack: Hmm I think I am seeing an end soon. On to number 22, S as in son. |
| Filip: Yes not many left now. Let’s see if we can be more efficient. Sj, Sk, and Skj as we went over, all variations of the English [sh] sound ranging from thin to thick pronunciation. [Shoe, shoe, shoe] |
| Jack: Next T as in T. Motels. |
| Filip: Great. Now comes a sound even I have a hard time struggling with, tj as in [Michael]. Now the sound doesn’t exist in English. Try to pronounce the word chef. |
| Jack: Hmm, not at all easy. The sound is a really thin sh sound, starting with a T. |
| Filip: Well try to remember Michael or maybe a Norwegian word [tjern]. |
| Jack: Moving on, V as in vain. I suspect the remaining four of these will go by [breeze]. |
| Filip: Yes the last one's are easy W like in V just a bit thicker. |
| Jack: X which is like the lost sound of socks. |
| Filip: And finally we have |
| Jack: Z which sounds almost like the TS in let’s. |
| Filip: Yes. And that concludes the list of consonant sounds in the Norwegian language. |
Outro |
| Jack: Oh and remember, this has nothing to do with a written alphabet as the Norwegian alphabet only consists of 29 letters. |
| Filip: Only? |
| Jack: Well there are 3 more letters than the English alphabet but still it can’t compare with all the sounds that languages contain. |
| Filip: Right but certainly a matter of practice any way. |
| Jack: Yes so make sure to practice these over and over until you really get the hang of them. The best way to improve your pronunciation is through practice. |
| Filip: So keep practicing. |
| Jack: And see you next time at NorwegianClass101.com |
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