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How To Pronounce Norwegian Words
How To Pronounce Norwegian Words
Although it looks complex to the newcomer, written Norwegian has simple rules that
make correct pronunciation easy.
Although it is linguistically similar to the other Germanic languages, Norwegian has its
own pronunciation system that can trip up the unwary. However, the rules for
pronouncing Norwegian Bokml words are few and easy to remember with a little
practice.
Pronouncing Norwegian Vowels
Like in English, Norwegian vowels come in long and short forms. In general, vowels are
long at the end of a word or when followed by a single consonant, and short when
followed by a double consonant.
Although it is not always the case, it can be useful to remember that where written
English would use a double vowel, spoken Norwegian will generally use a long vowel.
There are nine vowels in Norwegian, pronounced as:
o long: like the extended oo sound in book, and short: like the or in
horse.
u long: like the u sound in true, and short: like the u in full.
y in both long and short form, like is most like an ee sound in English.
Norwegian also splits vowels into hard and soft, which can change the pronunciation of
a following consonant.
Hard vowels: a, o, u,
Soft vowels: e, i, y, ,
sl pronounced shl.
As a general rule of thumb for these consonant combinations, drop the g and say sh
where there's an s.
Silent Letters in Norwegian
Finally, there are five occasions where a letter will be silent in Norwegian. This mostly
occurs at the end of a word.
A t is silent at the end of a definite neuter noun (e.g. skjrtet, meaning the
skirt) and in det (it); and