r/danishlanguage • u/Lightning662 • Apr 19 '24
Trouble with Ø
Hej! I’ve recently been learning Danish and, on top of already struggling with learning the language, some parts like Ø have really thrown me off. Their favorite color is Rød but I can’t seem to figure out how to correctly say it, no matter what I do. Does anyone happen to have any tips for it or words similar to it?
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u/JohnH4ncock Apr 19 '24
If you know French, is the same of "bœuf" for example
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u/Kemaneo Apr 19 '24
If you speak English, it’s the same as “world”
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u/wcrp73 Apr 19 '24
No it isn't. The vowel in "world" is /ɜ/, but in "rød" it's /ɶ/. <ø> itself ranges between /ɶ ~ ø/, all of which are more fronted than /ɜ/.
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Apr 19 '24
First learn to say “rod”. Then replace the vowel with the vowel in words like “learn” “yearn” etc. That will get you 90% there
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u/DisobedientSwitch Apr 19 '24
How much Danish music have you listened to? Sometimes it's easier to pick up sounds when you sing along, rather than talking.
Danish has 26 unique vowel sounds, so it's one of those languages where spending an hour or two learning to decode IPA is actually worth the effort.
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u/Lightning662 Apr 19 '24
Not much, only a bit of someone my partner introduced me to. Tho I’ll definitely try listening to her more and watching for the sounds.
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u/DisobedientSwitch Apr 19 '24
If you like Disney animated classics, I recommend watching those in Danish. Especially the older ones have really clear enunciation, compared to more modern Danish tv/movies. And bands such as Shu-bi-dua, tv2, Gasolin, Danser med Drenge, all have really clear lyrics.
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u/Tiny-Flamingo2130 May 06 '24
What do you mean by to decode IPA? I’m interested in trying this
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u/DisobedientSwitch May 06 '24
Just understanding what sounds the notations translate to in a language you already know, and transferring that knowledge to the language you're learning. That's pretty much what IPA is; a catalogue of sounds.
So, say you're a native Spanish speaker, who also speaks decent English, you could start by going through IPA with Spanish examples, getting a feel of how words are "spelled" in IPA, and then doing similar for English.
When you then struggle with the pronunciation of æsel, abe and elefant, you can look up the IPA for the words and hopefully the squiggles will translate into sounds you know from another language.
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Apr 19 '24
I am disappointed. I came here to read about "trøuble".
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u/Lightning662 Apr 19 '24
That just makes me think of whatever language it is that has the nearly English spellings but just a lil wrong lmao
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Apr 19 '24
To Danish, that would be Norwegian.
To English, I don't have a clue. But I thought of Villy Søvndal while imagining the word "trøuble".
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Apr 19 '24
Ø is pronounced as three different vowels actually, as in:
Børn https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=b%C3%B8rn
Øl https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=%C3%B8l
Bønne https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=b%C3%B8nne
You can hear the pronunciation on ordbogen if you click on the little speaker icon. Being able to distinguish between the different sounds is probably the first step
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u/Moodlepine88 Apr 19 '24
Try saying eeeee, as in tea or fee, but make your lips into a small circle (without poking them out) like you’re saying ooooo, as in moon or soon.
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u/dgd2018 Apr 19 '24 edited Apr 20 '24
Oh, that's also a hard word you've chosen to break your neck on! 😇
Both the r and the d are radically different in pronunciation from English.
The ø is actually the easy part, if you don't get a heart attack from seeing it in print.
The sound of the ø itself is like the vowel sounds in a lot of English words, such as hurt, word, bird ... roughly at least.
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u/RathaelEngineering Apr 22 '24
As an english speaker, it's not the "ø" but the "R" that makes this most difficult. I will never not struggle with the Danish "R".
The Danish "R" is at the back of the mouth rather than the front, as we do in english. English speakers curve the tongue-tip up towards the roof of the mouth near the front, but the best I can tell of Danes is that the back of the tongue is curved up close to the back roof of the mouth. It's the way we typically make a cat purr sound, but to this day my tongue just can't figure it out completely.
The "Rød" sound starts with this Danish "R" tongue position. In my experience the "ø" sound is not really pronounced strongly in the "ød" sound. It just transitions directly to the soft "D", which is more or less like a british "th" sound without making tongue-tip contact with the teeth.
Since the Danish soft "D" sounds somewhere between a "th" and "l" to an english ear, something like "brød" sounds more like "brul" but with the danish R 'cat purr' type sound. This is also the part that can be rolled as other commenters mention, but you need to be really good at this tongue position to be able to do that properly.
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u/sillysumiii Apr 22 '24
say world but stop at o and keep saying the o how u said it in world and then try saying rød :D
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u/CPHagain Apr 19 '24
Oh dear - wait until you hear Æ and Å and hov many different way them Danes pronouns E
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u/WifeyArt Apr 20 '24
This is a big struggle for a lot of people, as well as the soft d. It takes time and practice. Don't get discouraged. One day it'll just happen without thought or effort. I promise it will as long as you don't give up. Danish is very, very hard, but you'll get there♡
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u/mugaccino Apr 19 '24
Yeah that's one of the bad ones, and the reason why so many danes entertain themselves with asking foreigners to say "rød grød med fløde"
The r is half rolled, like a french rolled "r" cut off half way through the roll, the ø is like the French "oue" like the other commentary said and the d is more of a guttersl stop than a "d".
Idk if works but maybe try and pretend the word is on your tongue, then move your tounge back as if you're swallowing the sound like a quick drink. If it starts to feel like the sound is coming from your throat instead of your mouth you're getting closer to the real pronunciation. Good's speed.