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The Norwegian "u" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| couragepiece93 Groupie United States Joined 5770 days ago 77 posts - 78 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, Latin | Message 1 of 11 09 April 2009 at 12:04am | IP Logged |
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I'm having trouble pronouncing the Norwegian long "u". It sounds to me like the "oo" sound in English (IPA: u) but according to IPA, it is a seperate sound. I've heard that it is a rounded version of the russian "ы" (which I also can't pronounce, aha). Can a speaker help me out with this?
Takk =) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6911 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 11 09 April 2009 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
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I've never thought of it as a rounded ы, if anything it's a "close central rounded" vowel: /ʉ/, /u/ (even "close front extra rounded" according to Wikipedia). Listen carefully, practice yourself, listen again, practice, listen...
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| AnneNedjma Newbie Norway Joined 5701 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 11 29 April 2009 at 10:37am | IP Logged |
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couragepiece93 Have a look at the Dutch Alphabet on YouTube, they pronounce the letter U just like we do in Norwegian.
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5911 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 11 04 May 2009 at 2:05am | IP Logged |
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Are you familiar with Scottish English at all? I had a Scottish English teacher once who pronounced words like do and dew, with almost exactly the same sound as the Norwegian U.
It varies between dialects and individual words, as most other Norwegian vowels do. I think if you put every Norwegian dialect together we'd probably have an almost continuous spectrum of vowels... People don't expect you to pronounce it perfectly though, so just try to listen and practice and you'll at least be heading in the right general direction. Then you can adjust things with further exposure. All you really have to do to make sure you eventually get it, is do your best and then make sure you don't settle into a way of doing it, so try to update your attempts as you hear more and listen more closely for the nuances as you become more able to pick up on them, and you'll get there just fine. Liz 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| couragepiece93 Groupie United States Joined 5770 days ago 77 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, Latin | Message 5 of 11 05 May 2009 at 2:46am | IP Logged |
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I can't seem to distinguish between the two u-ish sounds. For example, hos and hus sound exactly the same to me =/
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5911 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 6 of 11 05 May 2009 at 3:56pm | IP Logged |
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With those two specific words it might be because 'hos' tends to be pronounced rather quickly (and the vowel is short to begin with) and 'lean' onto the following word - - sometimes you will only really hear the S! So people don't enunciate that vowel as much. If they did you could probably tell the difference. The U in 'hus' is long, btw, and can't really be shortened much.
Some of the differences are subtle but in general O and U are quite different, just practice listening to anything you can get your hands on and try to make out the words, and things will start to make more sense as you learn what things we tend to cut out or shorten - happens a lot - and how you can tell what's been done and the meaning behind it. I know it can be tricky :-) I have issues myself sometimes and I'm a native speaker! And with the dialect differences it takes a pretty good ear and knowledge of grammar to make out what's being said, but seriously, it's quite learnable. Just takes practice. Liz 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| WFU03 Groupie Norway Joined 6677 days ago 62 posts - 70 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, French | Message 7 of 11 05 May 2009 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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Perhaps it is an American English thing, but I also find some of the vowels in Norwegian very difficult. I agree that it is very hard to distinguish between "o" and "u". They are on either side of the English "oo" in the spectrum of sounds and English doesn't have a sound quite like either of them.
Similarly, I find distinguishing between an "a" and an "e" at the end of words very tough. Again, they straddle an English sound (the schwa), but neither is quite that sound. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5911 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 8 of 11 05 May 2009 at 5:44pm | IP Logged |
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Yeah, things blend together. Schwas everywhere.
Practice makes perfect though :-) I've known Americans who have learned things pretty well, the only ones that fail at it are the ones that settle for something that's 'close enough' or 'not awful' and lets people understand them, then 20 years later they still sound utterly American. If you just keep trying to fix it you're bound to get it spot on right eventually... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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