pronunciation course

Stress in words

When you talk, some sounds stand out more than others. It is because we stress these sounds. Take a look at these English words: finally, student, Norway. The underlined syllables are stressed. In English we have some basic rules for where to put stress, but most of the times we need to learn the stress …

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Connected speech

In this lesson, we are going to talk about connected speech and in particular about intonation in sentences, flow, and omission of sounds. Intonation Intonation is the rise and fall of the voice while speaking. Unlike tones, intonation doesn’t distinguish between meanings of separate words, but expresses attitudes or emotions of a person. Intonation may …

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Norwegian vowels

In Norwegian, there are 9 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and y, å, ø, æ. Norwegian vowels can be long and short. In dictionaries with transcription, long vowels are marked with a colon, as in this example: /i/ – is a short vowel and /i:/ – is a long vowel. You may wonder how …

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Consonant H

In this lesson we are going to take a look at the consonant H. Consonant H Letter H is generally pronounced as English /h/ in “hair”, but with slightly stronger aspiration, that is – more use of air. It is pronounced as /h/ before vowels. Examples: hotell (hotel) hår (hair) håp (hope) humør (humour) Before letters v and j, H is silent: hjemme (home) hjerte (heart) hva (what) …

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G pronounced as /j/

G pronounced as /j/ When letter g is the first letter of a word and is followed by i, y, ei, we pronounce g as /j/. For example: Gi (give) Geilo Gifte (to marry) Geit (goat) Gyldig (valid) Some exceptions that do not follow this rule include loan words from other languages. In these words, …

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Consonant G

In this lesson we are going to take a look at the consonant G. Consonant G Sound /g/ in Norwegian is pronounced similarly to the English sound /g/ in “go” or “girl”. Here are some Norwegian words to practice: Gate (street) Gå (walk; go) Gave (present) God (good) Gang (time, as in “every time”)

Other ways to pronounce T

Other ways to pronounce T Letter combination -ment. Many words that end with -ment are not pronounced with /t/ at the end, but as /maŋ/ (like in French) The most common are:  Arrangement (event) Engasjement (engagement) Abonnement (subscription) Reglement (regulations) Departement (department) Kompliment (compliment) But we pronounce /ment/ in these words: argument, instrument, dokument, eksperiment, …

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Silent T

Silent T Sometimes in Norwegian we don’t pronounce certain consonants in words. Letter T can sometimes be silent. T is silent in the definite form of neuter nouns, like in the word “huset”. We write letter “t” at the end of it, but we don’t pronounce it. So, when a definite article is at the …

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Consonant T

In this lesson, we are going to learn more about consonant T. Consonant T Letter T makes the sound /t/. /t/ is a voiceless sound. To pronounce /t/, place the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth and release a puff of air: /t/. Pay attention to the differences between English and Norwegian pronunciation. …

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