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Alphabet and pronunciation

Norwegian is, like many other languages, written in the Latin alphabet, though with some few letters of its own. I am listing them up here in alphabetic order; you will probably recognise almost, if not, all of them, but the pronunciation differs of course. The letters are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Æ (æ), Ø (ø), Å (å). I'm going (at least try) to describe the pronunciation of them. Note that this is how the letters are spoken in Standard Østnorsk; the pronunciation differs greatly between the dialects (and there are a lot of those!). The "names" of the letters are written in italics.

- A – a (a):pronounced like the “a” in "father”; also like the Russian letter "а", and the Japanese "あ"-sign.

- C – c: (ce) This letter is only used in loanwords, like “service”, “café”, “campus”, “cello”, “corner”, “ciabatta”, " and so on. It is also used in names, like Michael (my own), Carl and others. When placed in front of vowels as the first letter in a word, it becomes a "k" (as in Caroline or Carl).

- D - d: (de) same as in English; also same as the Russian letter "д", and the Japanese "で"-sign.

- E – e: (e) similar to the "e" in "mEn", "lEtter", "gEt"; also same as the Russian letter "э", and the Japanese "え"-sign. (also pronounced like "æ", this usually happen when "e" is followed by "r" in words - example: "her" = "hær")

- F - f: (eff) same as in English; also same as the Russian letter "ф". Note: the ph-variant is never used (except in names).

- G - g: (ge) same as "g" in "Get"; also same as the Russian letter "г", and the Japanese "げ"-sign (but in words and sentences the consonant won't necessarily be followed by a vowel). Note: When placed in front of "i", "j" and "ei" it is pronounced as "j" (examples: "gi"ji (give), "begynne"bejynne (begin) or "geit"jæit (goat), and in the word ending "ig" you don't pronounce "g" at all (Example: "farlig" = dangerous, would sound like farli with just a slightly pronounciation of "r")

- H - h: (hå) same as in English words like "hammer", "hat", "hit"; also as the Japanese "は"-sign. When placed first in front of a consonant, it is silent/not pronounced (called "stum h" (mute h) in Norwegian), as in "hvordan" vordan = how, "hvem" vem = who or "hver" vær = each.

- I - i (ee): same as "ee" in English; also same as the Russian letter "и", and the Japanese "い"-sign. But it's absolutely never pronounced as the "i" in "eye".

- J – j: (yådd/ye) when used in words, this letter is always pronounced like the letter “y” in the Englishs words “yeah”, "you", "year"; also same as the Russian letter "е" (when pronounced by itself or as a part of the alphabet - in words/sentences it sounds like "й", and similar to the Japanese "いぇ"-signs.

- K - k: (kå) same as in English; also same as the Russian letter "к", and the Japanese "こ"-sign (again, the vowel won't necasserily be pronounced when used in words) Note: the combination "kj" is pronounced the same way as the last part of the German word "ich" (when pronouncing "kj" the location of your tongue is the same as when pronouncing "k", but the movement will appear as in "j") - when "k" proceeds "i" and "y" the pronounciation will be "kj" (example: "kirke" kjirke = church and "kyss" kjyss = kiss) Note: "kj and ki" is pronounced as "sh", exept that one presses the tongue upwards while curling the tip downwards (this sound is actually losing ground among the younger generations in, but it vary from different places how common this is - and it's not accepted as "correct speech"). "skj" however is identical to English "sh" (as in "SHeep); also the same as the Russian letter "ш", and similar to the Japanese "し"-sign.

- M - m: (em) same as in English

- N - n: (n) same as in English

- O – o: (oo) sometimes like the o in "zoo", and sometimes like the "o" in "boat" (NOT the "oa"-sound).

- P - p: (pe) same as in English, note that the "f-sound" is never written as "ph".

- Q - q: (ku) same as K, only used in names and loanwords

- R – r: (er) varies between dialects, in some areas it is spoken as an uvular R (like the famous and much parodied French R) while in Østnorsk it is a rolling R, meaning that you roll your tongue against the roof of the mouth when saying it (try saying "rrrrrrrrr ..." while rolling your tongue as described). The way "r" ("р" in Russian) is pronounced in Russia is similar to the Norwegian pronounciation. Note: r is usually not rolled in within the combinations rt, rd, rl, and rn. Instead, both consonants are pronounced retroflexively (i.e., right behind the teeth on the roof of the mouth), similar to the way these consonant combinations are pronounced in American English (Example: "kart" (map), "ærlig" (honest), "barn" (child)

- S - s: (ess) same as in English, but "sj" (as in "sjel" - a soul) and "skj" (as in "skjære" - to cut/a magpie) is pronounced "sh".

- T - t: (te) same as in English, but the "th"-sounds is not used. "tj" (as in "tjue" - twenty) is pronounced the same as "kj" and "ki".

- U - u: (uu) similar to the "ou" in "you" (without the y-part)

- V - v: (ve) same as in English.

- W – w: (dobbeltve - "double-V") Like C, this letter is only used in loanwords, but even more seldom. It is pronounced exactly the same as the letter V, and so there is no distinction between W and V (but W is, as mentioned, rarely used). You can find it in names, and loanwords ore shortenings, like WC (Water Closet), which can be found on some public toilets

- X - x:(eks) same as in English, only used in names and loanwords

- Y - y: (yy) made by pouting while saying "ee"

- Z - z: (sett) same as in English, only used in names and loanwords

- Æ – æ: (ææ) This letter is actually an A and an E melted together and is pronounced either like the “a” in the English word “cat” or like a usual E (as in the name Vollebækk"). In some dialects this letter means “I” (as in “I am”) when standing alone.

- Ø – ø: (øø) The name of this letter is the same as the sound it represents in words, which is pretty much as the "e" in "sterling" or "stern". This letter is a conjunction of an O and an E.

- Å – å: (åå) Similar to the "o" in "boat" (NOT the oa-sound). As I’m sure you can see, this letter reminds of an A with a ring on top of it. “Aa/aa” is the old way of writing this letter, and you can still use it if your keyboard does not support Å. It also functions as an infinitive marker, like “to” in English: Å spise – to eat

For learning Norwegian Category Uncategorized Level Unspecified Second language English Created May 14, 2008 16:22 Views 2293 Share:

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