How many vowels are there in your mother tongue? The number of vowels in each language system varies. There are 9 vowels in Swedish language unlike 5 in English langauge (a, e, i, o, u): They are: A, Å, Ä, I, E, Y, O, Ö, U.
The 9 vowels in Swedish are further classed into short vowels and long vowels based on their pronunciation in a word. The vowels determine how they are pronounced, and pronunciation (uttal) is key to the Swedish language.
You will come across words that have the same spelling in Swedish and English but have completely different pronunciation: as you discover each word’s pronunciation you shall discover the joy of learning a language and the diversity of sounds such as information, station, nostalgia …
The following are some of the words that give an indication to the pronunciation:
Man, Män = MAN / ONE, MEN
Å, Ån = OH / SMALL RIVER, THE STREAM OR RIVER
Har, Här, Hår = HAS / HAVE, HERE, HAIR
Swedish is a tonal language: you will feel or notice the rhythm, melody, tune, tone, intonation and notation as you hear or listen the language.
Swedish basically uses the same alphabet as English, with the addition of three letters: å, ä and ö. In alphabetical order, these are at the end of the alphabet, in that order.
Some words are almost spelt same but pronounced or spoken differently: gratis, gratis,
By the time you learn to pronounce information, station, skickat, sju, sjutton, sjuttiosju, sjukköterska, Jenny and Johan you will know who much Swedish you have assimilated.The more you hear and listen, and practice talking or conversing you shall get better and better. The pace of mastering your pronunciation depends upon your attention and practice.
Ingmar Bergman (1915-1982) also took lessons in speech when she desired to become the greatest actor the Hollywood has ever seen.
