#11 Perfection your Norwegian "u" sound and avoid misunderstandings [pronunciation] [uttale]

Struggling with Norwegian pronunciation? You're not alone! The letter U presents a unique challenge for English speakers, requiring tongue positioning that feels unfamiliar and awkward at first. 

This episode breaks down the mechanics of the Norwegian U sound with practical exercises to help you master it. The secret lies in understanding that while your lips form a circle (similar to saying "ooo"), your tongue needs to stay in the position you use when saying "ee" as in "eagle."

Transcript

Introduction to Norwegian U sound

Speaker 1 0:13

Hello , how are you ? Today we're pronouncing the letter U , which in Norwegian is not pronounced U . It's pronounced U U like in du" , and some languages have this sound . French has it already U In English .

Speaker 1 0:36

You don't have that sound isolated , but there is a similar sound which I already pronounced , which is you , you . So when you say you , or when you say you , for instance , then you're already saying the you sound . You just added a sound in the beginning , you just added you in the beginning . So if you're able to take that you away , then it's , then you have it , then it's there . But that might not be so easy , because when you isolate it since you're not used to isolating that sound it might come out more as a ooo instead , because you're not necessarily aware of how that sound is pronounced . So I will explain that to you .

Speaker 1 1:29

The reason why it's easier to say you is exactly because of the ye sound you have in the beginning when you say ye or ee . If you say that right now , try to say , whether out loud or silently , just shape your lips and your tongue the way you need to in order to say Okay and notice how your tongue

Proper tongue positioning technique

Speaker 1 1:57

is placed , because that's where you have to focus . When you want to say , you have to have the tongue at the right place , because if you want to say the letter in Norwegian , it's On the outside . It looks exactly like the way we pronounce the O , so those two sounds look exactly the same on the outside . Your lips will be shaped as a circle , so the only way to differentiate them is by focusing on the tongue positioning . So what you want to do when you say y is that you place the tongue at the same place in your mouth as when you say e , e , like eagle or irresponsible , okay . So e e the tip of your tongue .

Speaker 1 3:01

Of course , everybody's different . You might not have exactly the same place of your tongue as I do , and that's fine as long as it's not too far away from it . But when I say E , the tip of my tongue is touching the lower teeth , back of the lower teeth , and it is arching up to the palate , which is the higher part of your mouth . So I , I . And another way to be really aware of this is by trying to pronounce u , u , so u is like the same sound , as you would say in the beginning of what , what , what . You have to do that . You have to feel it in order to notice how your tongue is placed differently . And so when you do that , you go back to E .

Speaker 1 4:16

First you can say what ? Notice how your tongue is laying more flat . It's arching , but in the back of your mouth and that is where the air is blocked a little bit in the back of your mouth . What ? But the tongue is laying flat apart from that , whereas when you say it's arching up , it's touching the palate almost all the way until the front of your mouth and that's where you want the tongue to be . So keep that positioning , just keep it . And then you change the shape of your mouth . So you want to shape it as when you say what you want , that same circle round mouth .

Speaker 1 5:14

So start with ee . Then you change the way you shape your lips ee . You can even go back and forth between those two sounds without changing your tongue positioning , just changing how your lips are shaped . That can be a really good exercise in order to be aware of how the tongue is and getting used to having your tongue in that place , even when the sound is isolated . So ee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee , and I try to say it without starting with ee . That might be tricky , but try and see how it goes Y , y , y ,

Practicing the long U sound

Speaker 1 6:10

y . If you get unsure , or if you notice that it's not exactly that , your tongue maybe wants to go in the back , where it's comfortable being , because it's used to being in the back For many people . It wants to go back because it wants to say o instead . So you have to remind yourself about the tongue positioning by saying I again . Okay , so you can practice that back and forth , going from I to u , I , u , I , u , and then trying to say u by itself , saying words starting with u like ut , ut , ut , ule ,u le , ule , which means to owl like a wolf ule , ule , uke , uke , uke , y , uke .

Speaker 1 7:27

We're going to continue with the long U sound and now having some words not starting with U , so that this will be a little bit harder . If you're still struggling with the ones starting with U , then continue with them first until you feel that you're comfortable with them and then you can come back here . So words not starting with U could be Hus , hus , hus , mus , mus , mus , lun , lun , lun , lun , lun means warm varm it's another way for varm . Okay , that was it for the long

Short U sound variations

Speaker 1 8:37

u sounds .

Speaker 1 8:37

Let's do some shorter ones . And in order to get this , what you have to think about is that you're trying to make a more dynamic sound . It's just like the difference between hit and hit . Same logic , just different vowel Hit , hit . We'll start with the short one in the beginning . So , ull , wall , ull , ull , wall , yeah , and a word we say a lot when we're to say like , oh , that's a pity , you can say uff , uff , uff , uff . Okay , let's move on to the ones not starting with U , oh .

Speaker 1 9:49

And one thing I wanted to comment on is that when you make shorter vowels and this doesn't only apply for Y , it applies for all the vowels the vowel will open up a little bit . This is not something you have to think about , it will happen , naturally . But it's good to know because when you hear the sound , you might not always recognize it Because , yeah , it sounds more open . So the shorter vowels can be a little bit more difficult to differentiate from each other . Okay , so now let's do one or two where we don't start with U . Okay , with U , okay , tull , tull , tull , tull means joke or nonsense .

Speaker 1 11:03

Full , full , full , full , full . Full means full , full , not as in you've had enough to eat Just something that has been filled up , or it means drunk . So it's a false friend . Don't say that you're full . To say that you're full , because it's not the same . Okay , I hope that went well .

Speaker 1 11:33

If you're still struggling , go through these again and remember you can always go back to E , where your tongue positioning will be right , if you ever feel that you don't know where to put your tongue anymore .

Speaker 1 11:47

And you need to practice a lot in order for this to become automatic , because your muscle memory has to change . Your mouth is not used to pronouncing this sound , so it will not come naturally in the beginning , but the more you practice and the more you use it , the easier it will become , and in the end you will not even

Encouragement and final practice tips

Speaker 1 12:10

think about it . So just keep practicing and it will be easier and easier with time . And another thing that I wanted you to be aware of is that maybe now you don't really hear the difference between U and O . It's a very subtle difference , but when you get used to pronouncing it correctly , it will also be easier for you to hear the difference . I think that's super fascinating . So just yeah , because then you know how it's pronounced . You can almost feel in your mouth how the sound is made when you hear it , so that's why it will be easier for you later to also to understand what people are saying . So lykke til og vi høres !