44 Comments
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well according to the link you provide, DL pronounced it wrong here. It sounds like "hoo-ta" in stead of "shoo-ta".
It's actually pronounced (in standard southern Swedish, at least) /x/. h/sh is just a approximation for English speakers because English doesn't have an equivalent sound. It's basically a Spanish j, where you take your tongue, put it into the "sh" position, but instead, moving your tongue up to the roof of your mouth and pushing air through the channel at the top of your tongue. But, most of those sounds are what is called "labialized," where basically you round your lips as you make the basic consonant, I hope that helps. :-)
In his description, he's right. And technically, he's still right as to what I'm going to correct him. Yes, the [x] sound is the standard in Southern Sweden HOWEVER, his description is the standard in Central Sweden which is the [ɧ] sound. The [x] sound is simple a Spanish j. But yeah, he's technically correct, for the most part.
Thank you very much! I was trying to emulate the sound from different sources and instructions, but suggesting the Spanish "j" sound makes it much easier for me.
Can anyone confirm that this is, indeed, how the sound sounds?
It's common in southern Sweden and used a lot by immigrants. But the standard Swedish sound is different. Compare:
(You can find an example to the right)
I would use the Spanish j as a starting point and try to soften it so it doesn't sound as harsh.
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I agree with Hashmush. The speaker in the video has a very pronounced accent in Swedish, I would assume that Spanish is his native language. Try to listen to someone whose native language is Swedish instead.
Is pronunciation is actually quite off in that video. He only shows two of the possible versions of sj, but doesn't even mention the standard Swedish one.
I would not recommend watching his videos if it's pronunciation you're trying to learn.
Thanks. I found a video that makes it clear, I think. It's like a Spanish "j" sound in "jinete" but I thought it sounded harsher, not the other way around.
This one (I think he refers to it as the southern sound): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehvUR2pCPms
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I understand there are different dialects where each of these pronunciations is used.
The comments section in the mobile apps is broken. "Hidden" links only work in a browser -- https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5892805
No, flera doesn't mean many. To say "lots of shirts" you'd say "många skjortor".
Flera doesn't mean many? But when I hover over the word, the translation says "many"? :/
Flera is more like "several". In it's very essence, it means "more than one".
In 2.0 would there be room to add a little description somewhere of when to use flera vs. många vs några ?
Is there a set rule into plural endings - ie, do ALL -a words become -or? Ankor, Myror, Skjorta, Strumpor?
All en-words that end with an a become -or.
Note that it doesn't hold for ett-words, e.g ett öga - två ögon (one eye - two eyes).
You can find some rules here (in Swedish).
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I'm a Finnish-speaking Finn; To me it sounds like Swedish-speaking Finns pronounce it "shoo-rta". Native Swedes that just happen to live in Finland, however, do not change their pronunciation to match the Swedish variety spoken in Finland, they just rather stick with their Rikssvenska pronunciation.
The world isn't fair. Im struggling to remember the words and there are people who know so much they're worried about pronunciation. I've got a lot of work to do.
I am struggling to remember these words and their correct spellings and there are some here worried about pronunciations. Seems I've got a lot of work to do.
