Pronunciation: “-lh,” “-ão,” “-em,” & “r” Posted by polyana on Aug 7, 2011 in Uncategorized
I bet you’re all on pins and needles waiting for this post on tough stuff to pronounce that I promised on Monday.
From what I saw in the comments, the hardest sounds tend to be: “-lh,” “-ão,” “-em,” “r,” & “ões” – So let’s see if I can help you all out, and once I’m through, please let me know if you still have any more doubts!
– LH – Just a couple of weeks ago, Adir posted a video on the “lh” sound. Did you guys get to check it out? “The Sound of LH”
– ÃO – This is the toughest one for non-native speakers. I feel like it’s the Portuguese version of getting back at English speakers for the “rl” sound. The only way I’ve ever been able to teach English speakers this is with using the “ooohhh” comparison. Pretend you’ve just learned something you’ve been trying to figure out for the longest time. You know that long “Oooohhh, that’s what it is!” that always comes out kind of nasaly? Not the “oooh shit,” or the De La Soul “Oooh.” It’s the “Oooh,” Ross from Friends would always use when he finally got something! Well, that’s the kind of nasal you need for “-ão.” Focus less on the fact there’s an “a” there, and more on the nasal.
– EM – This word ending is also one where you must neglect the actual letters it contains. You musn’t ever forget in Portuguese, that it is by no means a phonetic language. Pronouncing this, I always felt, sounds similar to a Canadain “Ay,” or “Eh,” or however you spell it.
Let’s use some examples:
– Massagem = Mah-sah-jay (smoothing out that “j”)
– Homem = Oh-may
– Comem = Coh-may
Get it?
– The “R” – A lot of people seem to have trouble with the Portuguese “r.” And all I have to say to that is – How the heck is that a problem?
Let me explain something about the Portuguese “r.” It can be pretty much pronounced however you wish because it is the sound or letter that most changes from state to state and country to country in the Portuguese language. Let’s try to say “Porta,” our most famous example, shall we?
I pronounce the mineiro “r” that sounds like an h or sometimes just a wind of breath. So I say pó-h-tá. It’s one of those sounds that’s almost like your blowing your breathe from the back of your throat.
Cariocas tend to extend their r’s a little further and say pó-hhhh-tá. The h is almost like the beginning of the word Chanukah where “You gotta huh when you say it.” (Rugrats Chanukah special. Anyone? Bueller?)
Then there are paulistanos, whose r’s are almost Spanish speaking where they roll it off their tongues like the t’s in the word “kitty” when said by an American.
Paulistas & Paranaenses make it easy for Americans to pronounce their Portuguese r’s because they say “porta” as an American English speaker would see it. Except maybe it’s more of a “pour-tá” sounding word.
See where I’m getting here? Don’t stick too much to your teacher’s, friends, or whoever your Portuguese influences’ accent if you think that’s what the problem is with your r’s. Take advantage of the fact that you can’t go wrong!
Hope this has helped you all! I know I didn’t touch upon some things in the comments from my previous post, but I have taken notes and will be sure to touch upon them in upcoming posts! Thanks for all your inquiries and let me know if you still have any questions for me regarding the above.
Beijos!
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Comments:
John Napper:
Porta is easy. Tell me how to say Cabeleireiro please.
Ed Hoos:
Obrigato. Still trying to get the breathy “r” sounds so my friend in Brasilia will agree that I can learn to talk without an accent. Just started learning but loving it!
polyana:
@john – trick question!! here you can you the “kitty” example for both r’s. “cá-bi-lay-rey-roh” but roll the r as if there were two t’s being said very quickly!!
@ed – it takes some getting used to without sounding silly, but it’s definitely tons of fun 🙂
silbley:
Very good question John.
All my life I’ve heard it sounding like
“cá-bi-li-rey-roh”. And I thought it was writen cabelereiro. Only today I learn the right word. It’s never too late to learn,
Tracy:
Oi Polyana,
Thanks! This was a great start. Maybe Adir can do some more videos with examples of native pronunciation for the -ao, -em, and -r sounds. And he can throw in a few fun words such as cabeleireiro. 😉
Molly:
Thank you so much! This was a great help– that’s the best way that anyone has explained the -ao sound to me. Any videos on that would be super helpful as well!
polyana:
@Molly – I looked for some videos but couldn’t find any =/ but as soon as i do, it’ll be a post!
@Tracy – that’s a great idea, I’ll talk to Adir! 🙂
Dia:
Muito obrigada por este post. I have a problem pronouncing -am at the end of words. Examples: falaram, gostaram, etc. I listen to the Word of the Day, and it sounds like “ang” or even “own”. It doesn’t seem as straightforward as the other endings; I just can’t seem to approximate it.
polyana:
@Dia hey! i like to think it sounds like “um” – falár-um, góstár-um… try that!
Dia:
Thank you. That helps a lot!
Andy:
Eu entendo que vocês, Americanos, têm certos problemas com a nossa pronúncia, mas falar “porta” é muito fácil, cara! E, bem, cabelereiro nem eu sei dizer direito, não se preocupem. Bem útil o post.
Beijos
lucas feitosa:
Hello , I’m a portuguese native speaker and i guess the many of these words are so difficult for You all coz many and something that he’s said for y’all it’s almost right but You have to make sure that You are speaking right , so lemme explain You how to say these words
ÃO – You say something like /an mm
LH – You say something like /leea but quickly
EM – You say exactly this /enm
R – You say in words such as porta You can say normally but in words like “cabelereiro” You have to shake your tongue it is not like your “r” it’s a lil bit different but if You say with your “r’s” sound there’s no problem we’ll understand You
so it’s just it that i wanted to say
so i have a big difficult to pronounce the “TH” sound who can help me with it search for me on Facebook or whatsapp
fb: Lukas sant’anna
whatsapp: 558988133287
lucas feitosa:
Hello , I’m a portuguese native speaker and i guess that many of these words are so difficult for You all coz somethings that he’s said for y’all it’s “almost” right but You have to make sure that You are speaking right , so lemme explain You how to say these words
ÃO – You say something like /an mm
LH – You say something like /leea but quickly
EM – You say exactly this /enm
R – You say in words such as porta You can say normally but in words like “cabelereiro” You have to shake your tongue it is not like your “r” it’s a lil bit different but if You say with your “r’s” sound there’s no problem we’ll understand You
so it’s just it that i wanted to say
so i have a big difficult to pronounce the “TH” sound who can help me with it search for me on Facebook or whatsapp
fb: Lukas sant’anna
whatsapp: 558988133287
lucas feitosa:
try to say it
pão(bread) – panm
Guilherme:
Help me explain an american friend how to say my name. He can’t get the LH sound right. Thanks 😀
Ana Luíza:
Hi, Polyana. I’m Brazilian, and sometimes it’s hard to explain to my American friends how to pronounce some words and sounds. I really liked your post, it was very helpful for them. But I think that the ‘mem’, is usually pronounced as ‘main’, not ‘may’. Thanks again for the post,
Aninha ^*^