Swedish pronunciation: I sound

Рет қаралды 14,835

5 жыл бұрын

Many languages have similar/same sounds for the vowel 'i' as Swedish, but some differ. It's not the most important letter to get 100% right, but as you'll hear in the video, to get the 'Y' right, it helps to get the 'I' right, and this is what you'll learn in this video.
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Пікірлер: 92

@L0oNSTER 5 ай бұрын

omg i can't believe i finally found someone who can explain properly how to make that damn sound..

@gayzer1020 5 ай бұрын

I almost popped a vein trying to understand this as a native Turkish speaker before I found this, thanks a lot!

@revanthenub Жыл бұрын

BRO, im american and learning swedish. This helped SOOOO much. I thought it was in the throat. I was always like "how the FAN do I do a throaty 'i' in the middle of a word. NOW I GET IT

@swedishlinguist3083 Жыл бұрын

Jag är glad att det var hjälpsamt! And I like how you use Swedish swearwords already ;)

@wengiew34 2 жыл бұрын

The advice with the letter ы was very helpful for me as a Russian speaker. Thank you!

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

I'm happy about that :D

@jefforymitchell5697 Жыл бұрын

I found my way here after googling "swedish i sound" while watching a video on languages. I'm learning Russian currently and this totally blew my mind. I was trying and struggling to figure out how they made this sound. As soon as I saw the "i" as a "ы" I absolutely nailed the pronunciation. Languages are crazy lol.

@lafritegaming7713 3 жыл бұрын

Finally got it right 😉 I'm french and speak English and german I love using the swedish i in english now lol so funny

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Haha you're gonna sound like a Swede

@kristinasoderberg386 4 жыл бұрын

The close-ups are super helpful because now I can actually see how to make the sound whereas before it was a mystery. Thank you for doing that despite it being awkward for you 🙂 I just found your podcast and its so great to listen to on days in between my Swedish classes because it keeps the language fresh in my head and it makes me think. But I also like your videos so pleeeease keep making them if you feel inclined. They are really valuable to my language learning journey because I can see how your mouth moves (sorry if thats a weird thing to say!) thanks for the help!

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

Hej! Tack för din kommentar, jag är glad att det är hjälpsamt :) Jag försöker göra en video per vecka, men oftast har jag bara tid för 1-2 per månad.. Menar du specifikt videor om uttal?

@jeffreymason7049 2 жыл бұрын

This is perfect - as a native English, but fluent Russian speaker, your explanation helped (and I had a feeling there was a correlation before this)

@amazonpolyglot 4 жыл бұрын

great! i had to zoom in on this fun and fascinating detail as a means of finally polishing up my swedish. everyone who learn swedish will have to be fully aware ir this. thank vou pal!

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

Jag är glad att videon är hjälpsam för dig!

@esdet105 3 жыл бұрын

I also have the impression there is also some nasality going on. And the k is palatalised, it has an added 'j', 'fikja'

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah it's because it's pronounced very far to the front of the mouth in a quite small space. The K almost turns into a T. Sometimes K and T are even the same sound, and that's why you can hear Swedes say "egenkligen" when it's supposed to be "egentligen". So the palatalised K is because of the preceding I. If you say "baka" it's a bit different!

@strawberrysky4890 5 ай бұрын

this was sooo helpful. the close-ups made the "i" pronunciation make sense to me for the first time ever, after maybe a year or so of trying to learn swedish from various apps/podcasts/tv shows etc!! thank you!!!

@swedishlinguist3083 4 ай бұрын

Kul att höra!

@abingl6609 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for efforts! So much useful and helpful!!!

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

Kul att du tycker det är användbart!

@vswild7005 6 ай бұрын

Thank you!! This really helps. I always felt the sound was very nasally before, like in a super cool way but could NOT figure out how to do it. Now I come a bit closer at least. Thank you so much for those close ups, amazing 👍

@bhv9819 3 ай бұрын

THIS WAS NEEDED! THANKS FOR THE CLOSE UPS SIR!

@_sonnik 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you a lot!!! You have done really good explanation! I can pronounce it 'I' now

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Det glädjer mig!

@magi7401 2 жыл бұрын

this is real good logopedic work :)

@oxyjen11 2 жыл бұрын

The 'I' sound was driving me crazy, I just couldn't figure it out. This video helped so much, thank you! (Not that I don't have to practice it...)

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

I'm happy to hear!:)

@sweco92 3 жыл бұрын

Hello Fredrik, would you explain how to pronounce the _Lidingö-i_ or _Viby-i_ please. Like the shape of your mouth and tongue positioning; I’ve been trying to pronounce it based on what I hear although I haven’t been able to accomplish it.

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Hej! You gotta go and ask someone from Stockholm :D But maybe you can try to make a Z sound, and just open it slightly. That's pretty much it.

@elsanavarro4386 3 жыл бұрын

@theswedishlinguist. Thank you for the video. But it seems you used the easy words with "i" . I recognize in for example the word " bina" you guys have this very particular i sound its like a nasal i ... and i dont know linguistics to point out exactly what is called or what pronunciation rule it is... maybe you even have a video about it. Would help me tons to know what that is called and how to make that sound. Thank you

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Not sure what you're referring to, but maybe you're talking about the "Viby-i"? That's a very particular way of pronouncing the "i" which is only used in certain areas, but since those areas are usually rich, it's becoming more popular. But most Swedes don't like it that much, so if that's what you're referring to, you don't need to pay attention to it :D

@sogolaliabadi8413 4 жыл бұрын

Can you possibly explain in a very technical way how to bring the “I” sound to the front of your mouth? And also what you mean by the sound is made between the tongue and the “pallet”? Is you’re entire tongue touching the roof of your mouth? Thanks!

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

Hi! The palate is like the roof of your mouth. All vowels are created in the space between the tongue and the palate, so if your tongue is covering the whole palate you can't do any vowel and you'll end up with an N or NG sound. In general English, the "i" (or "ee") is pronounced further back than in Swedish, so you want to move it forward. It's a bit hard to really understand what it means to "move the sound forward", but maybe if you say (preferably in the British way) first "are", then "air", "beer" and then "ee" while noticing how your tongue moves, you'd get an idea. The space in which the sound is made is moved forward, and for the Swedish "i" you'd just have to move it a little bit more forward. Hope it helps:)

@tlilvanilla1845 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, tack så mycket! There's also a component of the long /I:/ sound not often mentioned, there seems to be a slight /j/ (like y in English) sound that's made by Swedes when an 'i' is long, such as in words 'vi', 'ni' etc so that they actually sound almost like 'veey', 'neey', although this /j/ (English 'y') sound is very subtle and non-natives have problem hearing and pronouncing it. As a begginer learner of Swedish I find that intriguing and also would be very grateful for a comment and/or video with an explanation of this phenomenon. Thanks!

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

I haven't heard or thought about this before. You mean that "vi" actually sounds more like "vij"?

@tlilvanilla1845 2 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 It's easier to explain if I showed you where I have found this explanation: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nuCJdNWLu7qoZKc.html at 05:40, about the /i:/ sound. Indeed I do hear that little /j/ sound at the end of each /I:/ sound any Swedish native pronounces. Similar to the way a subtle schwa sound is heard at the end of certain sounds when pronouncing some alphabet letters, by themselves, like /e:/ or /d/ sounds for example.

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

@@tlilvanilla1845 I haven't listened to this as closely before, but it's true! It's a bit of a slight diphthong, starting on /i/ and ending on /j/ (or in reality ⟨ʝ⟩), and the same happens with Y. And it's true that other Swedish vowels are also pronounced with a bit of a slide towards other vowels, like E ("eeä") and Å ("ååa"), and even O is a bit like "oow".

@tlilvanilla1845 2 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 I often hear that especially when the sentence stress falls down on words carrying these sounds. For example, 'gå' alone will often be pronounced as 'gåa' as you mentioned ( like in "jag ska gå" ) but does that diphthong sound become pure short"o" (the British English nOt sound) when speaking fast, in connected speech? Like in "jag ska gå på bio" for example?

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

@@tlilvanilla1845 Yes, I'd say most vowels differ a bit depending on if they're stressed or not. They don't change completely though, so I wouldn't say it's like the O in "not", which I think sounds more like Swedish long A.

@liloolo 3 жыл бұрын

Can you explain the position of the tongue? I can't really understand even with the close up (which was pretty funny). So the tongue is connected to both upper and lower teeth? (I mean more in the middle of the mouth, rather than lower part which is in English i). Thanks! Also as someone else wrote in the comments, I always hear it very more dampened when women say it, like they have something stuck in the throat, I don't really know how to explain it...

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

It's pretty hard to explain, haha! Maybe if you make the sound "ayayay" and notice how the tongue shifts back and forth. And then just push it a bit more forward than you'd normally do. Does that make sense?

@Anna-uj1in 4 жыл бұрын

TACK SÅ MYCKET

@SolarLingua 4 жыл бұрын

Very interesting - I am a German native and we also have vowel reduction. Our "i"-difference is [i:]/[ɪ]. (really easy to reproduce in English: meet / middle) - What I find strange is that Wikipedia's Swedish phonology also says [i:], although I can clearly produce your "i" and it doesn't sound like ours at all. I also hear a big difference between the Russian "ы" [ɨ] and your "i". Do you know the IPA-Symbol for your "i" sound?

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

I'm not an expert in phonology, but I do have a pretty good ear for it, and I would say that Swedish has the same [i] as German. What I'm not sure about is the [ɪ]. It says on Wikipedia that we have this for the short version, but to me it just sounds like a short [i]. Also, both I sounds definitely differ from English even though they use the same IPA symbols, but I think that's simply because there are not enough IPA symbols to cover all the possible vowel sounds.

@Aurora-oe2qp 10 ай бұрын

I'd probably transcribe it narrowly as [ɨᶻː], centralised and also fricated. This at least seems true of the so-called viby-i. I'm still fairly certain that most Swedish dialects fricate the I to some degree, even if not as much as the ones up in the rich areas of Stockholm do. Maybe a more typical pronunciation would be [i̠ᶞː]? Ie, slightly retracted from front [i], but not quite central, and also with dental instead of alveolar fricativisation. Tho, really, I don't fucking know.

@anaemicroyalty0504 3 жыл бұрын

In my mother tongue we have almost every sound in existence, but I could never pronounce this sound. Now I can. Thanks.

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Good to hear!

@greenneko 3 жыл бұрын

Heeej, it's me again xD! After watching your video I googled and learned that the "i" in English is different from the Spanish "i" (my native språk). Do you have any feeling of how different is the Spanish "i" from the Swedish "i"? I don't think I put my tongue that close to the teeth as you but according to the Internet, it's also not as far back as the English one?

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure about the Spanish one, I think it's closer to the Swedish 'i'. When I speak Spanish I don't feel like there's any difference. But that might also be because there are no long vowels in Spanish. The long 'i' in Swedish is slightly more frontal than the short one.

@greenneko 3 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 I see, thanks for answering (again) ^_^!

@juliusgabriel741 4 жыл бұрын

Hey! I‘m a native speaker of German. Would you say there‘s a difference between the German and the Swedish „i“ sound?

@swedishlinguist3083 4 жыл бұрын

I can't be sure, but I don't think there's a big difference

@rynnely1574 3 жыл бұрын

...when i read the "Fika", I laughed a lot.😂 I'm from Hungary and, this word is quite funny in Hungarian.xD ^^

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

What does it mean in Hungarian?:D

@rynnely1574 3 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 "snot" the means in english.😂

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

@@rynnely1574 Haha, 'snor' alltså

@quellochesento 3 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 If you knew what it means in Italian... LOL That's why there are no Fika Bars in IKEA in Italy hahaha

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

@@quellochesento I've heard :D

@Simplethoughtsfromabasedlady 3 жыл бұрын

Your videos are awesomeness

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

Tack!

@VioletButterfly78 3 жыл бұрын

graet. finally i understood the difference, thanks. that's why it sounds like "thiiii"

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

I'm happy about that! Although I don't know what you mean with "thiiii" ? :D

@VioletButterfly78 3 жыл бұрын

@@swedishlinguist3083 "thiiii" is that mysterious sound which some swedes pronounce instead of "i". It seems like very swedish pronunciation

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

@@VioletButterfly78 Do you mean the Lidingö-i that is common in Stockholm? :)

@vpo2paglione727 3 жыл бұрын

Sounds like i in Brasilien portuguese

@Iamornot_Lundy 10 ай бұрын

My point: Awww nice teeth XD

@articsebas 2 жыл бұрын

If you still have problems with this, think about Stitch

@DeniseNeves1988 8 ай бұрын

Hej, I didn't learn anything because you are too cute and sweety boy 😅 kidding. Takk skal du ha for videoen.

@Marysedits 4 жыл бұрын

Me pronouncing i like the English i and imagining it's the swedish i😂

@herrbonk3635 3 жыл бұрын

It's simply like the i in "in", "live", "sin", "fin", etc. (Your letter I sounds like "aj" ("ay") for us.)

@Marysedits 3 жыл бұрын

@@herrbonk3635 oh thank u !

@noorlita Жыл бұрын

Some Lebanese speakers naturally pronounce the "i" like this, though it's not actually a feature of the Lebanese dialect. I bet it came from the french

@swedishlinguist3083 Жыл бұрын

Would make sense if it came from French!

@calbackk 2 жыл бұрын

Sen finns det ju "Liijdingö" i, som ju är ganska vanligt i kvinnligt tal.

@swedishlinguist3083 2 жыл бұрын

Det finns i både manligt och kvinnligt tal, men ja, det kanske är vanligare bland kvinnor. Det är lite som mellan ett i och ett z. Nästan som att säga "Lzdingö" :D

@faabriciosoares 3 жыл бұрын

In English words like "machine", "police", "unique" and "ski" have the same "i" sound as in Swedish.

@swedishlinguist3083 3 жыл бұрын

I would say it's different, and it's one of the main cues for recognizing a Swede speaking English, since it's something we don't think about. Listen to a Swede saying the word 'Swedish', and you'll hear the difference.