Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, I’m Becky, and welcome back DanishClass101.com. This is Lesson 4 - Basic Danish Pronunciation. In this lesson, we'll show you how easy it is to start speaking Danish! |
| Anna: That's because we will be focusing on pronunciation. Hi everyone, I’m Anna! |
| Becky: Danish may seem quite similar to English, but to perfect your pronunciation, you should learn a little more about the distinct Danish phonology. Now, before we have a closer look, let’s review the Danish alphabet. How many letters are there in the alphabet again, Anna? |
| Anna: There are 29 letters in total, including 26 letters that are also used in English, and 3 additional vowel letters. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: Right! And one more thing, out of 29 letters, there are 20 consonants and 9 vowels. |
| Anna: Exactly. |
| Becky: For more on how these sounds are pronounced, please be sure to check out the Pronunciation series. In this lesson, we’ll be focusing on the phonology found in Danish, since it’s a very important part of pronunciation. |
| Anna: Yes. Most Danish consonants are pronounced the same as in English, but there are a few exceptions. D, for example, is pronounced like the “d” in “door” or the “th” in “the.” G is pronounced like the “g” in “go” or the “sh” in “shy” when used in loan words. J is pronounced like the “y” in “you” or the “j” in “job” when used in loan words. |
| Becky: The most distinct pronunciation is of the letter r. It is pronounced as a uvular trill or uvular approximant. |
| Anna: But in general, the pronunciation of the Danish “r” is like the “r” in the German word “reisen” meaning “to travel.” The best way for beginners to practice these pronunciations is to listen to a native speaker. |
| Becky: The pronunciation of some Danish vowels also differs from English. |
| Anna: For example, i is pronounced like the “e” in “e-mail.” but it’s the letter “i” like at the start of “igloo”. O is pronounced like the “o” in the word “over”. U is pronounced like the “oo” in “hooligan.” And y is pronounced like the “u” … |
| Becky: ...ah! like in the French word “duchesse” meaning “duchess.” Most important are the pronunciations of the additional 3 vowel letters. |
| Anna: Æ is pronounced like the first “e” in “energy.” Ø is pronounced like the “eu” in the French word “deux” meaning “two.” And å is pronounced like the “o” in “oh no.” |
| Becky: Of course, there are many more consonant and vowel phonemes as well as allophones, but they will be covered later in another lesson. |
| Anna: We would like to teach you about two other key parts to speaking Danish: the stress on words and the stød. |
| Becky: Yes, the stress helps distinguish between words that would sound the same if it wasn’t for the emphasis of certain syllables in a word. |
| Anna: Exactly, and the stød is a suprasegmental feature also used to keep words apart like the stress, making it phonemic. Whether or not there is a stød is unpredictable, so it’s one of those things that just has to be learned. |
| Becky: Okay, everyone, how did you do? We’ll leave it there for this lesson. I hope you all found it fun learning about Danish pronunciation! |
| Anna: Keep in mind that listening and repeating is the real key to improving your pronunciation. |
| Becky: Listen to and copy native speakers as much as you can. |
| Anna: Please join us next time when we take a closer look at some must-know Danish phrases. |
Outro |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Anna: Hej hej! |
Comments
HideHello Listeners! Let's practice Danish Pronunciation, please post a comment if you have any question.
Hej Luca P. Gentile,
We do! 😇
Our staff always tries their best to answer our students' comments as soon as possible. However, I don't see any question here from you. If you have a question about our materials or site, please never hesitate to contact us either here in the comment section, which we are regularly checking and answering, or at our email address contactus@DanishClass101.com.
Kind regards,
Levente
Team DanishClass101.com
So it seems that there is no one from the staff answering comments anymore
Hi Nina,
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We are always working on improving our materials, and your opinion is highly valuable!
Please check out our Danish dictionary. It has new words' writing, meaning and pronunciation as well (normal & slow speed) so you can learn and practice Danish vocabulary:
https://www.danishclass101.com/danish-dictionary/
Looking forward to seeing you often here. :)
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team DanishClass101.com
I think it would be better with danish words examples and also an audio of the pronounciation of the word.. because it's not so clare with the english words examples.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for commenting!
Knowing German will definitely give you an advantage when learning Danish.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Thank you!
Amalie
Team DanishClass101.com
ig sounds like the same in german.
Hi Ricardo,
Thank you for your comment.
As for songs, I'd recommend listening to Mads Langer, Shaka Loveless, Panamah, and Marie Key. They are all very popular at the moment and they sing both slow and fast songs.
As for movies, I'd recommend "En Kongelig Affære" ("A Royal Affair") featuring Mads Mikkelsen, because it also gives you a bit of insight in Danish history. And I'd also recommend "Blinkende Lygter" ("Flickering Lights"), which is a favorite among most Danes, too.
If you have any other questions or need more recommendations, please let us know.
Thank you!
Amalie
Team DanishClass101.com
Well I don't know any danish native speaker, I'd like to speak with someone
I'm trying to watch movies and listen to music
what songs or movies do you people recommend?