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What makes your native language unique? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6157 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 73 of 86 23 July 2009 at 1:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A friend of mine was visiting recently from Sweden, and I ended up having a long conversation with his Swedish partner about the language. I think the Swedish sj is unique to Swedish, and doesn't exist in Russian. The Russian Х is close, but more like the 'ch' in Scottish loch and j in Spanish jamon. The Swedish sj sounds like a heavily breathed h, while the latter comes from deeper in the throat.
What also sounded unique to Swedish was the pronunciation of 'r'. She said it could be either trilled, flat or not pronounced, and that depended on where in Sweden you were from. Is this true ? Edited by DaraghM on 23 July 2009 at 1:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6085 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 74 of 86 23 July 2009 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
It's similar in Norwegian, words are pronounced or written the same, for instance: Bønder, bønner, bønner - "farmers, beans, prayers" Så, så, så - "Sow, so, saw" Not all are given a different stress though, so I reckon it's not exactly the same. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5844 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 75 of 86 23 July 2009 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
Quick summary and comparison: There are lots and lots of Swedish words (can't remember the situation with other Scandinavian languages) that are have this sound. The sound is either "SH" from English, or more or less like "CH" from German. (I don't think there are any very strick rules about how to pronounce them, more or less anything goes. All pronounced the same, or some with "ch" and other with "sh") So far as I know, it's personal preference, family habits and perhaps some regional variations.) All these words actually begin with this sound. Only the spelling differs: ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- Sjö (lake) Tjäle (permafrost) Skära (cut) Skjuta (shoot) Stjärna (star) Generalisera (generalise) Chans Shorts Kyrka (church) Some words also have "sch" in the middle. And I probably forgot some variation! Russian makes a very clear difference between these sounds and has individual letters for each. Very convenient, and helps keep spelling clear, and reduce the length of words. As for the "R" sound ------------------------ It is pronounced at the back of the throat in the far Southern part of Sweden, because of influences from Denmark most likely. However by far the majority of the country uses rolling "R", same as Finnish, Russian. Edited by cordelia0507 on 24 July 2009 at 5:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5930 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 76 of 86 24 July 2009 at 12:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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This thread has taken a very interesting turn. These last few posts are very helpful, as I've been wondering if I was hearing the Swedish "sj" sound correctly. Edited by mick33 on 24 July 2009 at 12:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5844 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 77 of 86 24 July 2009 at 2:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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Glad to help. You can visit the Swedish or Scandinavian thread if you have questions.
I forgot to say above that this sound is pronounced quite differently in Finland by Swedish speakers there. They pronounce the sound as it is actually written, which sounds very cool. So you can see that anything goes for this sound. The challenge is spelling it really, not pronouncing it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6900 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 78 of 86 24 July 2009 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
Sorry to nitpick but this one seems to have ended up on this list by mistake. Do you really pronounce tjäle with an sj-sound ? The tj-sound would be normal for me. In Finland-Swedish the sj-sound is usually pronounced very similar to sh (as in she) in English, and the tj-sound similar to ch (as in cheat) in English. In addition some of the ones beginning with k are pronounced with a k-sound, eg. I pronounce kilo with k. My grandfather used to pronounce kyrka with k too (except he had some other dialect variations in it as well and it came out as "körkon"). Some of us also pronounce the d in djup and djur, where in Sweden you just hear the j. Edited by Hencke on 24 July 2009 at 4:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| KidsWannaRock Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5610 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 79 of 86 24 July 2009 at 4:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree that the pronounciation isn't the most important thing, but it feels good to know that I can pronounce a sound that is very unique. ;)
Spelling is maybe a little more important. An example: Själ = Soul Stjäl = Steal Skäl = Reason I pronounce all of them the same! :P 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| KidsWannaRock Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5610 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 80 of 86 24 July 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would pronounce it like SH in SHE, but to be honest I've never heard the word before. But every word that begins with TJ is pronounced like SH in SHE for me. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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