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Finnish: Distinguishing a from ä

  Tags: Phonetics | Finnish
 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages Post Reply
14 messages over 2 pages: 1
sans-serif
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4560 days ago

298 posts - 470 votes 
Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Swedish
Studies: Danish

 
 Message 9 of 14
17 August 2013 at 5:41pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
However, in a word like "anteeksi", you'll find that it's much closer to the English vowel in words like "Under" or "blOnde" -- it's a low back a.

I'm slightly embarrassed that I've never noticed this. The assimilation appears to happen whenever an /a/ is followed by an /n/ or /m/ in a syllable. Very interesting.
1 person has voted this message useful



Henkkles
Triglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4254 days ago

544 posts - 1141 votes 
Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 10 of 14
21 August 2013 at 2:37pm | IP Logged 
The vowels are very different to native ears and you really have to pay attention to get them right, because they can change the meaning. An example:
Olet väärässä - You are wrong (lit. you are in wrong)
Olet vaarassa - You are in danger
Do pay attention to the vowel length too; it can also influence meaning (vara = wealth; vaara = danger).

Here is an exercise concerning both things;
I'm pronouncing sääli, saalis, sali and säle so that you can compare the long and short a/ä sounds and learn to distinguish them easier. I'm exaggerating these sounds very lightly.
5 persons have voted this message useful



Tahl
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4289 days ago

26 posts - 44 votes
Speaks: English*, Welsh
Studies: Spanish, Finnish

 
 Message 11 of 14
21 August 2013 at 3:43pm | IP Logged 
Kiitos, Henkkles. I hear the difference when you pronounce things! Now if I can only get
better at hearing the difference when Pimsleur introduces new words...
1 person has voted this message useful



maucca
Diglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4652 days ago

33 posts - 64 votes 
Speaks: Finnish*, English
Studies: French

 
 Message 12 of 14
21 August 2013 at 5:54pm | IP Logged 
Personally, I've always found vowel charts an indispensable aid when trying to learn the correct pronunciation of some elusive vowels in English and French. The most accurate Finnish vowel charts are probably found on this page of the Helsinki University web site. And they show that indeed, especially the unstressed variants of "a" and "ä" are not as far apart as one might imagine.

3 persons have voted this message useful



Verikukko
Diglot
Newbie
Finland
Joined 3974 days ago

8 posts - 12 votes
Speaks: Finnish*, English
Studies: Korean

 
 Message 13 of 14
30 January 2014 at 2:52pm | IP Logged 
Huh do they really sound similar? I think Ä sounds closer to E than A, and A & Ä don't
sound similar to me at all. Really interesting to hear. Also about the dialects regarding
D and T: I've never heard a Finn who doesn't distinguish between them. Finnish dialects
overall are dying I think, I haven't been to many cities though but the one's where I
have been nobody has used any dialect. You should definitely learn yleiskieli. Misusing
D:s and T:s isn't a big deal though, people will understand most things you say, but
mixing A:s and Ä:s will make you misunderstood a lot.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Henkkles
Triglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4254 days ago

544 posts - 1141 votes 
Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 14 of 14
31 January 2014 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
I don't know where you have been but I know people in their twenties who speak very distinct dialects. The stress patterns and the overall pitch and speech style of someone from Kuopio is entirely different to that of someone who is from Rauma. There even exists a different preterite marker in the southeastern dialects, a funny example I found was something like this; "Mää kääntysin kattoma niit poikki siäl sauna lautteil" and yes, I've heard people in their twenties speak like this. That "kääntysin" is not conditional but actually the same as "käännyin" here in the south or in the standard language. I also know people from Tampere who don't pronounce "d". To them it's always "r" as in "me lähretäännym meneen."


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