Pronunciation

Vowels

Vowels, spoken by English spoken people, are a problem, because many of the the vowels as spoken in Southern England, North America and Australia are diphtongs (tweeklanken)- a blend of two different sounds. For example the a in made constitutes of the combination between the e as in free and the e in get. Another example: the o in vote this is in fact an o followed by an oo as in too. Most other European countries however tend to use ‘singular’ vowels, and Dutch is no exception.

Not entirely correct however. Dutch vowels certainly are more singular than in English, but also different from a number of typical European vowels found in languages such as French, German or Italian. Hyphen are added to illustrate how words can be cut in syllables. In the explanations I will attempt to mimick the sound to English standards, so bear with me.

Short vowels a - the short a, found in words as kat (cat), man (man), be-dankt (thanks), Am-ster-dam, kan (can), van (of), should be pronounced rather like the English o in words such as hot, not and omelette. e - the short e, found in words like pet (cap), rek (rack), zet-ten (to place) and nest (nest). Dutch speakers are ready to confuse the English short a with their short e, and when the Dutch ‘borrow’ English words like tram, flat or manager from English (which is a typical Dutch tendency) they pronounce the a’s according to the short e. i - short i, found in words like dit (this), zit-ten (to sit), lik-ken (to lick) is like the English short i, in fit, miss, etc. No problems here. o - short o, found in ords like hok (cot), nok (ridge), God . Attention! How tempting it will be to pronounce the short o like the English short o as in hot, not and omelette. But as illustrated at ‘short a’, this is not correct. The Dutch word vol (full) sounds rather like fall, but shorter. This sound does not exist in English! u - short u, found in words like muf (musty), put (pit), kul (nonsense) may form some difficulty since it sounds much like English words like butter (which to the Dutch ear sounds like the short a) or a word like word which comes closer to the Dutch short u. short vowels before the r In contrary to what English speakers are used to, short vowels stays short when put before an r. So, nar (fool) shouldn’t be pronounced like the English far but stays short. The same goes for the short e: ver (far) stays rather like the first syllables in English ferry. In order to confuse you even more, the Dutch slang word nor (slammer/jail) should not be pronounced like the English nor.

Long vowels aa -, found in words like vaak (often), raaf (raven), maar (but) [but also pronounced likewise in words like a-vond (evening), na-me-lijk (namely)]. The way to pronounce this is extending the English a-sound ahaaaaa! ee -, found in words like zee (sea), le-zen (to read), ne-men (to take). Sound similar to Ennglish pronunciation in words like to take, way and to play. Dutch slang in western parts of the Netherlands tends to make a diphtong of the long ee making it sound even more like the -ay sound. oo -, basically the European o sound that’s heard in words like beau (beautiful, French). Sounds similar to Englsih go and so. Western Dutch slang tends to make a diphtong of this sound as well, making it sound like English as in vote. Dutch words: ko-men (to come), o-ver (over), ook (too), mooi (beautiful). uu -, found in words like duur (expensive), muur (wall), bu-ren (neighbours). Basically the same as in French ‘jus’ or German ‘überhaupt’. This sound does not exist in English! remember the vowel before the ‘r’!!!! Also with long vowels this will not change: so daar (there) will not sound like far, Noor (Norwegian) will not sound like nor etc.

Two letter diphtongs (harder, yet to comprehend, grin) eu -, sounds superficially similar like German ö as in hören or French eu as in peu. However the sound differs: it actually starts off with this sound, but ends with a short uu (that short, that it is hardly distinguishable). Examples: deuk (dent), keus (choice), keu-ken (kitchen). As a matter of fact, it is even more complicated: words origining from Greek are pronounced with the eu, should be pronounced like ui (later), e.g. Zeus (Zuis), eu-ca-lyp-tus (uicalyptus) The difference is not great, and you will not be misunderstood by getting this wrong; many Dutch fail to pronounce it correctly as well (me, among others in some occasions). Eu before an r complicates further: the sound of eu shifts towards the o sound in word. ie -, actually rather easy: it should be pronounced as word that describes it: easy. ij/ei -, hurray! Two spellings for exactly the same sound. Western Dutch slang pronuonces the ij/ei like the y in words as by or why (keep that in mind), but the true sound is somewhere in between the a in made and the y in by. Examples: ei (egg), ei-gen (own), stijl (style), bijl (axe), ter-wijl (while). oe -, quite similar to the oe in shoe, sometimes shorter than the oo as in book. Examples: boek (book), koek (cookie), broek (pants). ou/au - Why oh why can’t the Dutch keep to one spelling? Again two spellings for the same sound. A sound description of the sound would be short Dutch a followed by Dutch oe. Examples: koud (cold), bout (bolt), ha-ver-mout (oatmeal), rauw (raw). ui -, inscrutable! At first sight (sight, yes?) it appears to sound like English ou because words like uit, bruin, huis correspond to English out, brown and house. But, the correct sound lies somewhere in between English ou and English oy (as in toy). Examples: bui-ten (outside), ui (onion), vis-kuit (spawn). uw -, Dutch u followed by very short Dutch oe. Distinction of the oe part can be very hard to hear in rapid speech. Examples: luw (sheltered), ruw (rough), duw (push). ai -, (not from Dutch originally). Mostly found adjectival ending -air: mi-li-tair (military), mo-ne-tair (monetary), par-le-men-tair (parliamentary). All such words come from French (occupation by Napoleon). oi -, again words coming from French are spelled this way and sound like French trottoir, abattoir and boudoir and meaning the same as in French (mind Golden Earring song: Ce soir). Exceptions there got to be: sometimes words with oi will be pronounced as a long Dutch o, some Dutch cities: Oir-schot, Goir-le, Ois-ter-wijk.

three- or four-letter diphtongs (the torment continues) aai - (caress) like the y in why. eeuw -, at the end of words: eeuw (century), leeuw (lion), spreeuw (starling), or before a consonant (in-ge-sneeuwd = snowed in). Pronounced like Dutch ee followed by Dutch oe (a-ou). But before a vowel the oe sound disappears and the words sound like Dutch ee (leeuw-en, sneeuw-en). ieuw - a rarity, even in Dutch, only one word contains this namely nieuw (new). From this one word a couple of other words with similar meanings have been derived. Dutch ie followed by Dutch oe. oei - Dutch oe followed by Dutch ie, as in phooey! ooi - A long Dutch oo followed by Dutch ie, almost similar to toy or boy. Example: mooi (beautiful).

Consonants

Compared to vowels rather easy. See also the alphabet. Exceptions are: G and ch - originally different sounds (where as the ch sounded softer): rather like the ch in Scottish loch. Making it too guttural like many western Dutch tend to do, isn’t necessary at all (rasping and harsh like scraping your throat). In the Southern parts of the Netherlands people tend more towards a soft g sound. Still, Dutch g makes Dutch stand out from many other languages. Similar kinds of sounds can be found in Arab and Hebrew. Dutch r - basically in two forms: a rolling, Scottish-like, r, and the so-called gargled r, as found in French. The first mostly found in the guttural areas of Holland (west), and the second in the in South. The loose English r can only be found in certain ‘posh’ areas like Bussum, Hilversum and the city of Leiden. V and W - differ quite in Dutch. One can actually get away by sustaining with pronouncing the v as an f and w as an English v. V is a voiced version of f, which means tongue and lips are in exactly the same posotion as for f, but the vocal cords are made to sound in addition.

Alphabet

CHAR. Sounds like CHAR. Sounds like

A A-a, as in ultrA N N, see English B B-ay, as in bay O O, see English C S-ay, as in say P P-ay, as in pAY D D-ay, as in day Q K-u, as in Utrecht (hard) E Ay, as in dAYl R A-r, as in bEd (Scottish rrr) F E-F, as in bEd S S, see English G G-ay, but like T T-ay, as in TAmes scraping the throat H H-a, as in ultrA U U, as in Utrecht (hard) I E, as in EEl V V-ay, as in VAcant J J-ay, as in yAEger W W-ay, as in WAY but start with top front teeth on lower lip K K-a, as in ultrA X X, as in fIX L L, as in AL Y E-i, as in you sweet thAng M M, see English Z Z-ed,