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Good songs here. All in Swedish. You're welcome! biggrin

I'll do the recording now.

If you don't like my voice, then too bad for you. I know it sounds kinda boring, but hopefully it'll get better when I actually speak. razz

I also updated the alphabet post with an audio file.

Consonants

This is also a bit tricky. Like I said, consonants can be short or long. When a consonant is doubled, it's pronounced longer. In most Germanic languages, this is only a way to shorten the preceding vowel, but Swedish actually lengthens the consonants. I guess we got that from Finnish. razz Example:

masa - {mAsa}
massa - {maSa}

Compare this with Italian. When the vowel is long, the following consonant is short. When the vowel is short, the consonant is long. Capito? razz Lookit:

long vowel - short consonant
short vowel - long consonant

There is some kind of balance there, if you know what I mean. When a vowel or a consonant is lengthened, I will write it in a capital letter, so you will know when it's long.

Simple Consonants
b - {b} - IPA: [b ]
c - {k} - As in "car". - IPA: [k]
d - {d} - IPA: [d]
f - {f} - IPA: [f]
g - {g} - IPA: [g]
h - {h} - IPA: [h]
j - {j} - As in "you", never as in "jungle" - IPA: [ʝ]
k - {k} - IPA: [k]
l - {l} - IPA: [l]
m - {m} - IPA: [m]
n - {n} - IPA: [n]
p - {p} - IPA: [p]
(q - {k}) - Never used, but pronounced as in "car". Always followed by u. - IPA: [k]
s - {s} - IPA: - Never as in "zoo". - IPA: []
t - {t} - IPA: [t]
v - {v} - IPA: [v]
w - {w/v} - As in "we" or "vehicle", doesn't matter. - IPA: [w/v]
x - {ks} - As in "ax". - IPA: [ks]
(z - {s}) - As in "sea", never as in "zoo". - IPA:


Digraphs And Trigraphs

c + e/i/y - {s} - IPA:

-gn- - {ŋn} - As in "sing now". - IPA: [ŋn]

dj-, g + e/i/y/ä/ö, gj-, hj-, lj- - {j} - Same as j. - IPA: [ʝ]

k + e/i/y/ä/ö, kj-, tj- - {ş} - It's called the tje-sound. Sounds almost as in "sheep". - IPA: [ɕ]

-ng(-), n(k) - {ŋ} - As in "sing". - IPA: [ŋ]

sj-, sk + e/i/y/ä/ö, skj-, ch-, stj- - {ħ} - This one is called the sje-sound. Hard to explain, listen to the sound file. It's almost like the ch in Scottish "loch" or as in German "Bach", but softer. - IPA: [ɧ]


Different "R" Sounds

r- - {ŕ} - Like Russian ж. - IPA: [ʐ]
-r- - {r} - Like the tt in American "butter" or Spanish single r. - IPA: [ɾ]

When d, n, s or t is preceeded by r, they sound differently. They get a harder sound, so called retroflexes. These are also found in Hindi and Norwegian. You pronounce them with your tongue behind your palate or something, can't really explain it... Hindi or Norwegian speakers, help? sweatdrop

r + d - {đ} - IPA: [ɖ]
r + n - {ń} - IPA: [ɳ]
r + s - {ś} - IPA: [ʂ]
r + t - {ŧ} - IPA: [ʈ]

This morphing can occur not only inside words, but also between words. The words "går nu" are, instead of {gOr nU}, pronounced {gO ńU}. But you can pronounce them separately as well, both inside and between words, and people will understand perfectly. It's just that Swedish people tend to get kinda lazy when speaking, so morphing letters together is easier than pronounce them one by one. smile At least in my dialect. There are dialects which always pronounce them separately.



That's all for now, next lesson will be about TONES! twisted And as always, ask questions! smile

Stay tuned at Radio Svenska, the thread for all language geeks!

I now, its realy good! Swedish tend to do that when speaking English. >.<

For the record, Swedish has a retroflex l as well! I can barely tell the difference between that l and the normal l, but perhaps I say it without realizing it. And we use a retorflex tap too! But those are not important to know, only when speaking a really heavy dialect. razz

Exercises would be nice. biggrin

The country itself was really beautiful, I loved the blue sea. smile But the people... They weren't very nice, the atmosphere was like "tourists, go home!". And I don't know about the language, because they only talked to us in German or English.