Some Swedish pronunciation questions.?

Question

There are some things I am wanting to clear up with Swedish. Firstly - the 'sj' sound. Now, I know 'k' followed by a soft vowel is 'ch' (as in 'church'), but is the 'sj' sound more or less like 'hw' or 'khw' (a hard 'h' like the German 'ch' followed by a short 'u')?

Secondly, is it acceptable to use an English 'r' exclusively in Swedish (or will I by eaten alive by a flock of raven for using such an atroscity?)

Any help appreciated,

Tack så mycket :P

Answer 1

Being a complete nut job, I once took it upon myself to really get to the bottom of that rule about k's and soft vowels and see how much truth there is to it. I used the SAOL, which is considered THE authority when it comes to Swedish words.

What I found was that the rule really should be that "k" before a hard vowel is is pronounced "k", because that's 100% correct.

With soft vowels it's not.

With "kä", it's 97.4% correct. (I found only one word where the "k" was pronounced as "k" and that word I have never heard used. Can you find it? :)

With "kö" it's 81% correct. (One good example is "kör", which can be pronounced in both ways.)

With "ky" it's 73.7% correct. (There are no common exceptions.)

With "ki" it's 61.8% correct. (There are many exceptions: kick, kidnappa, kille, kilt, kimono, kiss, kisse, kiwi, and so on.)

With "ke" the rule is actually only 37.5% correct. (You can eat "kebab" with "ketchup" wearing a "keps" on your way to a "kennel" owned by a "kenyan", and so on.)

My goal was to prove that the word "kex" is pronounced with a "k", so I think I did pretty well. Here's the link by the way: http://rymden.nu/blog/?type=1&item=15

As for the pronunciation of the "sj" sound, I think it's the "tj" sound you mean. ("sj" is in "sju", "stjärna" and so on.) "tj" can be pronounced like in fish or machine. But I think the german word "ich" is a good guide if you know German.

And you should practice your r's. Otherwise people will be like "It's the raven flock for you, English-r-boy!" Just kidding. But as someone said, it can sound a little amusing. But hey, our own do it too after a few years in Hollywood. ;)

Varsågod!

Answer 2

As in all European countries they all speak English. If you make an effort to speak their language they will love you for it. I did learn Swedish many years ago (compulsory) but have long forgotten it. Check about pronunciation when you get there, take it from the wolf's mouth. You will be ok.

Answer 3

K followed by a soft vowel is actually more like 'sh' in 'fish'.

Kina (China) "shee-nuh"

(Like Björn mentions below this isn't always the case)

Sj sound is pronounced differently in various parts of Sweden...some pronounce it close to the 'ch' sound in German - ich, mich, dich. Some pronounce it as 'sh' in fish again, however the 'ch' sound is more common.

You can hear the different variations here:

http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/9-86.wav

She is pronouncing 'sju' (seven) in the two different versions.

An English 'r' is perfectly fine. We hear it all the time, and also find it a bit amusing, so don't worry if people smile when you speak.