{"id":656,"date":"2012-08-30T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=656"},"modified":"2012-08-30T17:09:36","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T17:09:36","slug":"danish-vowels-o-to-aa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2012\/08\/30\/danish-vowels-o-to-aa\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish Vowels: O to \u00c5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0trip through\u00a0the Danish vowels continues\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

O<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 Many foreigners think this is a U<\/strong>, as the two sounds are really close in Danish. The basic O<\/strong> is just a hair\u2019s breadth more open than the basic U<\/strong>: to<\/strong> (two, pronounced somewhere in the middle of too<\/em>\u00a0and \u201dtuh\u201d<\/em>), skole<\/strong> (school). When short, however, most O<\/strong>\u2019s open up, becoming rather like the English o<\/em> of colony<\/em>: at hoppe<\/strong> (to jump), chok<\/strong>\u00a0[shok] (shock).<\/p>\n

U<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 When long, the Danish U<\/strong> sounds like oo<\/em> of English tool<\/em>: uge<\/strong> [OO\u2019eh] (week), hule<\/strong>\u00a0[HOOLeh] (cave). When short, it often sounds like the u<\/em> of English put<\/em>: lup<\/strong> (magnifying glass), buttet<\/strong> (chubby). Now and then the short U<\/strong> sounds like a shortened version of the long \u00c5<\/strong> \u2013 that is, like the single\u00a0aw<\/em>\u00a0sound of English\u00a0awful<\/em>, only a bit shorter: bukser<\/strong>\u00a0[B\u1d43\u02b7Ksor] (trousers), ung<\/strong>\u00a0[\u1d43\u02b7ng] (young).<\/p>\n

Y<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 The Y<\/strong> sound does not exist in English. The Danish Y<\/strong> is basically the same as the French u<\/em> in lune<\/em> or the German \u00fc<\/em> in M\u00fcnchen<\/em>. To attain it, keep a steady \u201dee\u201d sound, then carefully round your lips without changing the position of your teeth or tongue: lys<\/strong> (light), tyve<\/strong> (twenty). The short Y<\/strong> often (but not always) gets an \u00d8<\/strong> quality. The two words lykke<\/strong> (happiness) and l\u00f8kke<\/strong> (loop) sound just the same!<\/p>\n

\u00c6 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00c6<\/strong> sounds like the e<\/em> of English bet<\/em>: \u00e6sel<\/strong> (donkey), v\u00e6k<\/strong> (away, gone).<\/p>\n

\u00d8<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 The \u00d8<\/strong> sound does not exist in English. The Danish \u00d8<\/strong> is basically the same as the French eu<\/em> in bleu<\/em> or the German \u00f6<\/em> in D\u00f6ner<\/em>. To attain it, keep a steady \u201deh\u201d sound (as in well<\/em>), then carefully round your lips without changing the position of your teeth or tongue: \u00f8l<\/strong> (beer), at k\u00f8be<\/strong> (to buy). There\u2019s a lot of variation in the Danish \u00d8<\/strong>\u2019s; for example the \u00d8<\/strong> of s\u00f8d<\/strong> (sweet) is tighter than the \u00d8<\/strong> of h\u00f8ne<\/strong> (hen), which, in its turn, is tighter than the very open \u00d8<\/strong> of b\u00f8rn<\/strong> (children). (But don\u2019t spend too much time pondering this!)<\/p>\n

\u00c5<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00c5<\/strong> sounds like aw<\/em> in awesome<\/em>: \u00e5l<\/strong>\u00a0[awl] (eel). When it\u2019s short, it\u2019s closer to o<\/em> in on<\/em>: h\u00e5nd<\/strong>\u00a0[hon] (hand).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uXBm9p0AF2Y<\/a><\/p>\n

Pay attention to the Danish O <\/strong>sound in this classic, S\u00f8ren Kragh Jacobsen\u2019s \u201dKender du det?\u201d\u00a0(Do you know that?) The girl the singer\u2019s in love with is called Mona<\/strong>, Mona<\/strong>, Mona<\/strong>\u2026 (Close to, but not<\/em>\u00a0the same as \u201dMoona, Moona, Moona\u2026\u201d \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Yesterday\u2019s\u00a0trip through\u00a0the Danish vowels continues\u2026 O\u00a0 \u00a0 Many foreigners think this is a U, as the two sounds are really close in Danish. The basic O is just a hair\u2019s breadth more open than the basic U: to (two, pronounced somewhere in the middle of too\u00a0and \u201dtuh\u201d), skole (school). When short, however, most O\u2019s open…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,33041,287,935,238024,151676,238023,238020,3056,238021],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a","tag-ae","tag-french","tag-german","tag-mona","tag-o","tag-soren-kragh-jacobsen","tag-u","tag-vowels","tag-y"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t