Learn Norwegian Part 4

This is a crazy idea but I am honestly thinking and seriously considering of spending my vacation leave someday in the Philippines and start Norwegian classes with a lesson plan designed for nurses! :) I must be aiming beyond my reach here but I actually see myself doing this... :) (OK, I am day dreaming again!)

Going back to today lesson, I´ll go back to basics...


Learning a new language always starts in mastering the Alphabet letters and their sounds. The Norwegian Alphabet is composed of the English alphabet plus 3 more letters, namely; Æ, Ø and Å.

When I started going into Norwegian classes (this was in Manila), most of us in the class had really a hard time pronouncing the three special characters correctly.  To top that, the sound of the remaining letters in the alphabet it not the usual english pronunciation. We thought it was silly hearing ourselves enunciate the letters one by one (being the snobs and english literate we were). Quoting my then teacher, he said when we speak Norwegian, we should adapt the Bisaya pronunciation. :) We were like, HUH? Anyway, long story short, we did and it went smoothly and surprisingly, easier. :)
And when I got here and took Norwegian classes again, our pronunciation was constantly corrected.

The three special characters are very tricky sometimes. But practice until you get it right. :)

Æ - is pronounced like the "A" in /bat/ and /cat/. Pronounce the long A in each word so you can get it  correctly.

PRACTICE WORDS:

BÆR - berry
NÆR - near
VÆR - weather

Ø - It is similar to the sound of "U" in the word /urgent/, the "I" in the word /sir/ and the "O" in /word/. This sound is the most difficult to get, in my opinion. 
What is the difference with "O" in Norwegian alphabet? There is no english sound equivalent for it. But if you must, watch this video by thenorwegianschool for the pronunciation of "O".

PRACTICE WORDS:

HØRE - to hear
ØRE- ear
ØL - beer

Å- The sound of the "A" in /awe/, /law/ and /paw/. 

PRACTICE WORDS:

LÅN - loan
BÅT - boat
ÅPEN - open

I hope you learned something here. Until my next Learn Norwegian post! :)