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| Tiina: Welcome to FinnishPod101.com! I’m Tiina. |
| Reeta: Mitä kuuluu? My name is Reeta. |
| Tiina: And welcome to our Pronunciation Series. In this lesson we’re going to start with the basics and slowly work our way up! |
| Reeta: That’s right, first we’ll talk about what Finnish sounds are made of. |
| Tiina: Now, Finnish has slightly fewer sounds than English. |
| Reeta: There are, all in all, 19 consonant sounds, 9 vowels and various diphthongs that usually constitute the base of the language. |
| Tiina: Right, and with that many sounds, there are some sounds that don’t exist in English as well. |
| Reeta: For example… the"ä" sound. “äiti”... which means “mother”. |
| Tiina: There is actually a similar sound in the English language, for example in the word “that”. |
| Reeta: That’s true. The next sound is slightly thicker though, “ö.” Like “yö”, meaning “night”. |
| Tiina: This one doesn’t exist in English at all, and might be a little bit tougher to pronounce than “ä.” “ö” sounds little like “e” in “the” and the “o” in “word”. Can you say it once more. |
| Reeta: “löyly.” It means the “steam and heat in a sauna” in English. |
| Tiina: Yes, a common image of Finland, isn’t it? |
| Reeta: Certainly. Finns love the sauna, and actually sauna is maybe the only Finnish word that has spread around the world. However, don’t be so heavy on the pronunciation. |
| Tiina: Ok, thanks for your advice. |
| Tiina: Anyway, shouldn’t we get on with the main part of this lesson, namely the alphabet? |
| Reeta: Sounds like a good idea. But remember, we’re only going over the native consonants right now. We’ll go over vowels and diphthongs in a later lesson. |
| Tiina: That’s right. Let’s get into it. First, we have "-D," which is pronounced much like the "-D" in English. [D]. Sometimes Finns might pronounce it as T as well. A Finnish word that uses this sound is for example “syödä”, meaning “to eat”. |
| Reeta: Next we have "-H," which sounds like an English “H” as well. This is for example in Finnish word “huhtikuu”, meaning “April”. |
| Tiina: Then we have “-K” like in “kello” meaning clock or watch. K is pronounced like the ‘c’ in “clock” or the ‘k’ in “like”. As it happens, Finnish has a lot of double consonant words. Words where there is a double “-k” would be like “c-k” in English. |
| Reeta: Right, double “-k” is like the “c-k” in “bucket” for example. A good sample from Finnish is “kukka”, meaning “flower”. Next is “-L” as in the English “light.” A Finnish example is “lamppu”, meaning “lamp.” |
| Tiina: Then we have M like in the English “mother”. In Finnish this is “mustikka”, “blueberry.” |
| Reeta: Next is N like the English ‘N’ in “name”. In Finnish this is appears in the word “nimi” meaning “name.” |
| Tiina: Alright, next we have “ng” [ŋ], like in “sung” or “ringing” which is a little bit of a nasal sound, and is in the words “kengät” (“shoes”) or “langat” (meaning “threads”) in Finnish. |
| Tiina: Then there is "p” as in “perspire.”....a Finnish example is “pallo”, a “ball”. |
| Tiina: Next we have the “r.” Now, this causes trouble for some people. You roll it quite strongly in Finnish. “r”. For example “ruusu”, meaning “rose”. |
| Tiina: Hmm, I think I am seeing an end soon. “S” as in “sun”. in Finnish “sauna”. This one we understand. It means “sauna.” |
| Reeta: Great example! Next is quite an easy one – “t” like in... “tea” naturally?! in Finnish “tee” meaning “tea”. |
| Tiina: Moving on. “v” as in “vain.” a Finnish example is “valo”, meaning “light”. |
| Reeta: Yes!! And that concludes the list of consonant sounds in the Finnish language. |
| Tiina: Oh, and remember this has nothing to do with the written “alphabet” as the Finnish alphabet only consists of 27 letters. |
| Reeta: Only? |
| Tiina: Well there are three more letters than the English alphabet but still it can’t compare with all the sounds both languages contain. |
| Reeta: Right. Well, it’s only a matter of practice anyway. |
| Tiina: Yes, so make sure to practice these over and over until you really get the hang of them! The best way to improve pronunciation is through practice. |
| Reeta: So keep practicing! |
| Tiina: And see you next time at FinnishPod101.com! |
| Reeta: Hei hei! |
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