Learn the Dutch consonant sounds you'll need to know to sound like an eloquent and polished speaker of the Dutch language
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.
| Jacob: Ik heet Jacob, Im Jacob |
| Mies: Mies here! Welcome to DutchPod101.com. This is Pronunciation, Lesson 3: The Pronunciation of Consonants in Dutch. |
| This lesson will give you an insight into how the Dutch language uses single and double consonants and how to pronounce them. |
| Jacob: Okay, let's start with the single consonants sounds. |
| Mies: Yes, and in this lesson we mean the way the consonant sounds in the word, not when you would just say it as a single alphabet letter. |
| Jacob: So we have 20 or 21 consonants. The letter Y can be either a vowel or consonant. |
| Mies: The good news is that most of the single consonants sound the same as in English. |
| Jacob: Wonderful, so we can skip them! |
| Mies: So this leaves us 3 consonants that do sound different, the letters G, J and R |
| Jacob: Let’s see, we will start with the letter G |
| Mies. The letter G has a sound you will not easily forget. |
| Jacob: ggggggg |
| Mies: Yes it is a sound you will hear a lot in Dutch but never really in English. |
| Jacob: You do hear it in German in a word like “doch” |
| Mies: Yes or in Spanish, as in 'I have a friend named Julio.' |
| Jacob: Well in Scotland they have that monster living in the lake, right? |
| Mies: Yeah, Loch Ness |
| Jacob: The sound really comes from the back of your throat. |
| Mies: This is a voiceless sound, your vocal chords are not supposed to vibrate |
| Jacob: The Dutch 'G' is a "fricative", meaning that the air is moving past a partly constricted opening in your mouth. |
| Mies: It all sounds a bit difficult but I think I have another good tip |
| Jacob: What’s that? |
| Mies: Gargling! |
| Jacob: What!? |
| Mies; Well, to pronounce the 'G' like a native Dutch speaker, you should try make a sound as if you were gargling. |
| Jacob: It sound kind of gross, but you're right! That is what it sounds like! |
| Mies: Let's practice a bit. Ok Jacob? |
| Jacob: Goed! |
| Mies: (laughs) yes that is a good example. In English, “good” or “OK” |
| Jacob: Goed |
| Mies: One more; 'Yellow' |
| Jacob: Geel, geel |
| Mies: Yes this sound is not a usual sound in English, so practice it a lot and you will get used to it after a while. |
| Jacob: Is the next letter gonna be this difficult too? |
| Mies: No, don’t worry the letter J is not too hard. It sounds a bit like the letter Y in the word 'May' |
| Jacob: Yay! |
| Mies: Ok let's see it in a word. 'Yes' in Dutch would be |
| Jacob: Ja, ja |
| Mies: Hey, I just realized right now …. Your name. |
| Jacob: Jacob |
| Mies; In English it would be Jacob (a pronounced as in ay in “way”), in Dutch Jacob |
| Jacob: the last letter you mentioned was the letter R |
| Mies: Yes it sounds a bid different from the English R |
| Jacob: The Dutch R makes your tongue vibrate. |
| Mies: Yes, it's pronounced more in the front of the mouth. |
| Jacob: The Dutch R sounds more like the Spanish R |
| Mies: Have you been to that promenade in Barcelona? |
| Jacob: Las Ramblas? |
| Mies: Yeah, lets practice with the letter R please repeat after Jacob; 'Rotterdam' |
| Jacob: Rotterdam |
| Mies: 'Red' |
| Jacob: Rood |
| DOUBLE CONSONANTS WITH ONE SOUND |
| Mies: Next , let’s move to double consonants that have a singe sound; NG, CH, DT, TD and SJ |
| Jacob: Five combos. |
| Mies: So let's start with NG. It sounds like the NG in the word English word 'thing' |
| Jacob: Yes, not like the NG in the English word 'stranger' |
| Mies: So to take that English word, “thing”, what would it be in Dutch? |
| Jacob: Ding, ding |
| Mies: Easy, right? The next one is CH and this one can produce different sounds again. |
| Jacob: How many sounds? |
| Mies: 3, the first one is that lovely sound we practiced before - the Dutch G sound |
| Jacob; gggggg I am gargling! |
| Mies: Lets see it in a word: the Dutch for 'Light' would be: |
| Jacob: Licht, licht |
| Mies: The second way the CH can sound is the S sound |
| Jacob: Repeat after me, “chef”, “champignon”, “douche” |
| Mies: Great! Yeah they are all words borrowed from the French language. |
| Jacob: And the last sound? |
| Mies: the CH can sound like K, we only see this in names though |
| Jacob. Like “Christus”, or “Christien”. |
| Mies: Next is DT. |
| Jacob: You see this combo in the middle and at the end of a word |
| Mies: Yes and in both cases it is pronounced as a T. Can you say “it burns" |
| Jacob: Het brandt |
| Mies: if you turn them around, TD in the middle of the word will sound like a D, can you say 'overwhelmed?' |
| Jacob: ontdaan |
| Mies: This gets us to the last combo, SJ, which sounds like the SH in Ship, |
| Jacob: “Shhh” or when you want someone to be quiet |
| Mies: Yeah but we don’t want you guys to be quiet. Please repeat after Jacob. 'Scarf'. |
| Jacob: Sjaal, sjaal |
| SEPARATE SOUNDS |
| Mies: Ok this gets us to some consonant combos that create separate sounds, SCH, NK, KN and PS. |
| Jacob: Ok let's start with SCH. |
| Mies: Yes we get back to that guttural sound again, the Dutch G sound. The SCH is basically the S sound plus the Dutch G sound |
| Jacob: Give me an example please |
| Mies: 'Sheep' in Dutch would be? |
| Jacob: Schaap, Schaap |
| Mies: Okay the next one is easy – it sounds like in English, NK like the NK in Link |
| Jacob: Okay I know one; Ik ben een bink |
| Mies: Ha ha “ bink” means “hunk”, so you said, “I am a hunk”. |
| Jacob: Yes, “ik ben een bink”. |
| Mies: Next is KN, you will hear both sounds separately. Please say 'button' in Dutch |
| Jacob: Knoop, knoop |
| Mies: And the last one is PS |
| Jacob: Also used at the end of the letter. |
| Mies: Haha! Yes, but we will use it in a word. And pronounce the P and S separately please |
| Jacob: Okay, I will try... |
| Mies: Let's see 'psychologist' in Dutch |
| Jacob: psycholoog |
| Mies: Great! That's it for this lesson! My mouth hurts from all the pronouncing! |
| Jacob: Thanks for listening and have a nice day. |
| Mies: Premium members, use the review track to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Jacob: Available in the premium section of the website, |
| Mies: and through iTunes via the premium feed, |
| Jacob: the learning center |
| Mies: the Review Track gives you vocabulary and phrases followed by a short pause so you can repeat the words aloud. |
| Jacob: The best way to get good fast! |
| Mies: Okay, that's it for this lesson. |
| Jacob: Dag! |
| Mies: Bye! |
Comments
Hide