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Lesson Transcript

Jasmine: Welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com! I'm Jasmine and this is All About, Lesson 4: Basic Norwegian Pronunciation. In this lesson, we'll show you how easy it is to start speaking Norwegian.
Filip: That's because we will be focusing on pronunciation.
Jasmine: Believe it or not, pronunciation is one of the easiest aspects of Norwegian.
Filip: Today we'll show you just how easy it is and give you tips on how to perfect
your pronunciation.
Jasmine: Norwegian, compared to many other languages, is a relatively easy language to speak.
Filip: There are a few sounds that might be difficult but almost every sound in Norwegian is used every day in English.
Jasmine: That means you already know how to say it!
Filip: Norwegian also follows many of the same intonation patterns as English although it might sound like singing.
Jasmine: So, let's recap the writing system quickly just as an introduction to the pronunciation.
Filip: The Norwegian alphabet is almost the same as the English alphabet. It has twenty-nine letters with eight vowels, three which are not in English – "-A," "-E," "-I," "-O," "-U," and "-Æ," "-Ø," "-Å."
Jasmine: Let's take a closer look at the vowels.
The eight vowels
Jasmine: So here is what we want you to do. No matter where you are, no matter if you're at home, on the subway, in your car, wherever…we want you to talk to yourself.
Filip: You might get some weird looks but don't worry. It's for a good cause!
Jasmine: You're going to repeat after the vowels that Filip will say. Sound good?
Filip: Okay. The Norwegian letter "-a" is pronounced like the [a] in…
Jasmine: "Car."
Filip: The word for "bar" is "bar" , the word for "good" is "bra."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-e" is pronounced like the [e] in…
Jasmine: "Get."
Filip: The word for "see" is "se" , the word for "read" is "lese."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-i" is pronounced like the [i] in…
Jasmine: "Ski" or "machine."
Filip: The word for "list" is "liste" and the word for "life" is "liv."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-o" is pronounced like the [oo] in…
Jasmine: "School."
Filip: The word for "sun" is "sol" , and the word for "shoe" is "sko."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-u" is pronounced like the [u] in…
Jasmine: "Flu" or "rule."
Filip: The word for "sour" is "sur" , and "cage" is "bur" .
Filip: Now for the new vowels, the Norwegian letter "-æ" is pronounced like the [a] in…
Jasmine: "Sad" or "bad."
Filip: The word for "teacher" is "lærer" , and the word for "berries" is "bær."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-ø" is pronounced like the [u] in…
Jasmine: "Burn." Or the [ea] in "learn."
Filip: The word for "south" is "sør" , and the word for "bread" is "brød."
Filip: The Norwegian letter "-å" is pronounced like the [o] in…
Jasmine: "Born" or "score."
Filip: The word for "stand" is "stå" , and the word for "wound" is "sår."
Consonants
Jasmine: How about the consonants next?
Filip: All the consonants?
Jasmine: No, just some of the more unique ones. We go through all the consonants in our pronunciation series.
Filip: It's designed to help you master Norwegian pronunciation in just five lessons.
Jasmine: But for now, let's just look at the "-skj's," the "-ng," and the "-r."
SKJ
Filip: Okay. The "-skj," "kj," "ki," "sj," or "tj" sounds in Norwegian are unique.
Jasmine: They sure are. In fact, some of them do not even exist in English. However, you should not worry about that just now.
Filip: True! The "-ki" sounds like this, [kitt]. However, for now you can suffice by using the English [Sh] for all those sounds collectively.
Jasmine: Even you tend to do so right, Filip?
Filip: Yes, well I am not so good with remembering to differentiate between all of them.
Jasmine: So for some examples.
Filip: "Dress" is pronounced "kjole" (pause). "Skirt" is pronounced "skjørt" (pause), and "tar" is "tjære."
Jasmine: Hear how all these sound different? Don't worry though, for now use [sh] for all of them. We'll go deeper into detail in our pronunciation lessons.
NG
Jasmine: How about the "-ng"?
Filip: The "-ng" or "-nd" is an interesting sound. Similar, or rather, it is the "-d" becomes silent and it's as if you are stifling a Spanish "-ñ."
Jasmine: The main thing to remember is that the "-d" is not pronounced. Let's see some examples of it.
Filip: Sure. "Land" (pause) means "land," and "sang" (pause) means "song."
R
Jasmine: To finish things off, how about the "-r"?
Filip: This one is a bit more complicated.
Jasmine: This letter can change quite a bit depending on the accent.
Filip: Most usually though you are likely to hear the rolling "-r."
Jasmine: Your tongue taps the roof of your mouth several times to create a rolling sound.
Filip: Yes, it is very similar to the Spanish "-r," if you are familiar with it.
Jasmine: Could you give us some examples?
Filip: Sure. The word for "roll" is "rulle" (pause), and "green" is "grønn" (pause).
Jasmine: There is another way of pronouncing "-r" though, for those of you who have a hard time rolling it.
Filip: Right. Which is?
Jasmine: The gargling type. You know the one the French uses.
Filip: That's right. Could you give us some examples?
Jasmine: With my horrible Norwegian? Sure. The word for "rat" is "rotte" (pause) spelled "-r-o-tt-e."
Filip: That wasn't so bad. Another example is "tre" (pause), which means "tree" or "three."
Jasmine: And the word for "weird," which is "rar." (pause)
Jasmine: Well, that's everything for today!
Filip: Keep in mind that listening and repeating is really the key to improving your pronunciation.
Jasmine: Listen to and copy native speakers as much as you can.
Filip: Please join us again when we take a closer look at Norwegian.
Jasmine: Thanks and see you later!

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