Is “correct” pronunciation important? Is there even such thing as “correct” pronunciation? In this blog I will question both, and I'll dive deeper into some important pronunciation rules in Dutch. Keep reading until the end - with 5 great tips to help you master your Dutch pronunciation. Enjoy!
A little bit about language acquisition in general…
When learning a new language, four aspects are needed for full acquisition: the ability to listen and comprehend the language, the ability to speak and make yourself understood, and the ability to read and write. Listening and speaking often go hand in hand (as part of verbal communication), just as reading and writing do (= written communication).
Grammar, rules, and structures are often a big part of language lessons. Although not 100% necessary, it's often very useful if you understand the underlying 'mathematics'. For a lot of us, this is how we learn well and how we have been taught to learn well. There are others who learn better intuitively, simply by practicing a lot. When it comes to pronunciation, it can be acquired by learning the sounds and letter combination rules. But in my experience, it often develops naturally with lots of exposure to listening and through regular speaking practice.
How important is pronunciation?
How important is “correct” pronunciation? What does “correct” pronunciation even mean? It is one thing to pronounce a word so that we are correctly understood. It is another thing to sound exactly like a native speaker. Within a single country, there are always different variations of sounds and dialects. Even among people in the same area! You could argue that every person has a slightly different way of pronouncing words and sounding overall...
Sometimes students express to me feeling insecure about their pronunciation. I always tell them not to worry too much about that - having a bit of an accent is natural and part of the process. Especially if your native language sounds very different, you'll likely always have an accent. Besides that, after a certain age, achieving native-like fluency is nearly impossible, and that's okay! Even in the Netherlands, Dutch is spoken in many variations - and all of them are still Dutch. In my opinion, the most important thing is that people can understand you.
Variations in the Netherlands
Have you travelled by train through the Netherlands? Maybe from Amsterdam to Groningen, or from Utrecht to Limburg? You will encounter some interesting differences in the way people sound! As you can see on the map below, there are many different dialects in the Netherlands with many small different variations. I am choosing to stick it to three major ones for now, the vowel sound variations, the [g]-sound and the [r]-sound.
Vowel sounds variations - For example, the word schaap (sheep) has multiple regional pronunciations: scheep, schiep, scheup, schoap and schaep. The same goes for the colour green: groen, gruun, greun, gruin, grien en green. And there are many more words with vowel sound variations.
The [g] sound - This is most commonly pronounced as a hard sound in the back of the throat (with extreme hard sound in cities like The Hague and Rotterdam), but in the southern provinces of the Netherlands and in Belgium you'll find a softer sound, with sometimes an even almost disappearing [g]-sound in Limburg.
The [r] sound - The pronunciation of r varies significantly. The three main variations are:
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The rolling ‘r’ - Like in Spanisch (perro). It is most commonly found in the northern provinces (Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe) and parts of Brabant and Limburg.
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The guttural ‘r’ - Similar to the French rouge, pronounced further back in the throat. It is often spoken in Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant, and cities like The Hague and Rotterdam.
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The “Gooische r” - like the English red, found mainly in the Randstad (Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht).
As with all letters, the pronunciation of r also varies depending on where it appears in a word (beginning, middle, or end) and the surrounding sounds/letters. If you dive deep into the mechanics of language, it can get quite complex!
On the Sprekende kaart: https://projecten.meertens.knaw.nl//sprekende_kaart/svg/ you can see and explore different dialects in the Netherlands and from cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem, Rotterdam en Nijmegen! You can listen to short audios at each dot. Maybe don't try to understand what they're actually talking about, even I didn't understand it very well most of the time!
Dutch pronunciation rules
So how about Dutch? What is most important in sounding like a Dutchie? I will be referring here to some characteristics that apply to Standard Dutch - the Dutch used in the media, by authorities and how it's taught in schools. Again, it is not really possible to give a complete closed system when it comes to pronunciation rules in Dutch. Even among the Standard Dutch there are slight variations. Nevertheless, I am happy to give you 8 important and interesting aspects when it comes to “correct” Dutch pronunciation:
1. The five diphthongs: eu; ei/ij; oe; ui; au/ou. These are vowel pairs that together form distinct sounds and are very characteristic of Standard Dutch.
- Some examples: neus (nose), meisje (girl), ijs (ice), boek (book), buiten (outside), auto (car) and vrouw (woman). Keep in mind that those sounds might vary slightly according to the region or dialect.
2. Long vs. Short vowels - In Standard Dutch, each vowel has a long/open sounding version and a short/closed sounding version. This applies to all the vowels: a, e, i, o and u.
For example: zoon-zonen (son-sons) vs zon-zonnen (sun-suns). The words zoon-zonen are pronounced with a long/open sounding /o/ (in singular form as well as in plural form). The words zon-zonnen are pronounced with a short/closed sounding /o/. As you can see, if mispronounced, you might end up saying something completely different (although context will help understanding).
Other examples that might cause confusion when pronounced incorrectly (with each example the first words having the short/closed sounding vowel and the second the long/open sounding vowel):
- Bom-bommen (bomb-bombs) vs. boom-bomen (tree-trees)
- Vis (fish) and vies (dirty)
- Man-mannen (man-men) vs. maan-manen (moon-moons)
- Pen-pennen (pen-pens) and peen-penen (carrot - carrots) (wortel also means carrot)
- Mand-manden (basket-baskets) and maand-maanden (month-months)
-Schol-schollen (plaice-plaices) and school-scholen (school-schools)
3. The schwa sound - This is an uh-like sound, usually the letter e, and often found in e endings.
- Examples (the schwa sound is underlined): lekker, gezellig, studenten, je, we, ze, biertje etcetera. The schwa sound is always unemphasized.
4. The nasal [ng] sound - Found in words like: koning, longen, jongen, zangeres, langzaam. This is exactly the same sound as the English ng in king.
5. Foreign words - Borrowed from either English (weekend, email, manager, feedback, team), French (aubergine, horloge, bureau, crème) and German (föhn, überhaupt, schnitzel). They keep their original pronunciation.
6. Consonant clusters [sch] and [schr] - They sound like /sg/ and /sr/ and are found in words like: school, geschikt, schoonmaken and schrijven, geschrokken.
7. The different pronunciations of “ch” - The ch combination can be pronounced in multiple ways:
-Like a hard /g/: licht, chemie, chaos.
-Like /sj/: chef, chirurg, chocolade, parachute.
-Like /tsj/: coach, sandwich, chillen, chipkaart.
-Like /k/: Christelijk, latte machiato.
8. The silent n at the end of words - In many verb and noun endings, the final n is barely pronounced after a schwa sound.
- Examples: lopen, eten, kunnen, rennen, winkelen, studenten.
In formal speech (of the king and queen for example) words are generally more clearly articulated, including the 'n' at the end of words.
Tips for practice
Are you learning Dutch and want to perfect your pronunciation? Great!
Here are 5 tips that might help:
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Focus on the most important sounds: the diphthongs and the long/short sounding vowels (nr. 1 & 2 in the list above). See how this Klaplied covers both in a funny way.
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Watch videos on Youtube:
- These short videos give you excellent practice per sound/letter: Uitspraak van het Nederlands by University of Groningen Language Centre.
-These longer series in English on Dutch Pronunciation by Fluent Forever are also great. -
Practice active listening. When you listen to audio, or people, practice active listening. This means actively paying attention to the speech and sounds, and maybe even repeating it (softly) to yourself - you can do this very well in the online classroom while muted.
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Use apps with AI that help you correct your pronunciation, for example Talkpal.
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Study Dutch with this book: Beter Nederlands Spreken that has its main focus on speaking. It covers pronunciation, vocabulary and also some grammar.
I hope you found this information interesting and useful! There's much more to explore when it comes to Dutch pronunciation, sounds and speech. For example, where to place emphasis in a word or sentence, and how some words put together sound like one. I might expand on any of these topics in more detail in a future blog. Stay tuned!