Your Ultimate Swedish Pronunciation Guide

Swedish Pronunciation

When you learn a foreign language, you might find that it has some difficult sounds that you are not used to making. Fortunately, Swedish is a relatively easy language to pronounce. While there might be a few hard sounds, the vast majority of them are found in the English language. To further help you, Swedish pronunciation mirrors the intonation patterns we’re accustomed to in English. What this all boils down to is that if you’re learning to speak Swedish, you will have an easier time than you might with some other languages.

When you begin to study Swedish pronunciation, you should start with the alphabet. After all, when you first learned the mechanics and written form of English, you started with the alphabet! Swedish has the same twenty-six letters that English does, with an additional three—å, ä, and ö. These are added to the list of vowels, along with y, making a total of nine vowels.

“A” is pronounced differently depending upon whether it is long or short. When long, it is pronounced like the “a” in far. If short, it sounds like the “a” in the Spanish word casa.

• E – is pronounced like the “e” in deck, even when long. It never sounds like the “e” in deep. In Swedish pronunciation, another vowel takes that job.
• I – is pronounced like the “e” in the words be or deep.
• O – can be pronounced two different ways, generally depending on context. It can sound like the “oo” in too, or it can be pronounced like the “o” in the word for.
• U – is a trickier vowel since there is no sound in English exactly like it. The closest example would be the long “o” sounds in the English words two and you. However, the sound is created more from the front of your mouth, with the tip of your tongue touching your teeth.

It is important to really practice these vowels, along with the following ones and the consonants that sound a bit different. Swedes will not be able to understand you if you cannot grasp Swedish pronunciation.

• Å – as the “o” in the word for.
• Ä – as the “ai” in the English word fair
• Ö – as the “ea” in the word earn.
• Y – like the “y” at the end of names such as Terry.

Consonants are mostly the same, but there are a few differences.

• J – sounds like the “y” in yes.
• K – sounds like the “k” in keep or the “sh” in sheep.
• R – is rolled, just as in Spanish but not as forcefully.
• S – like the “s” in summer; never like “zz”.

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

SwedishPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your Swedish pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native Swedish speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce Swedish vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our SwedishPod101 dictionary!

Use the Swedish dictionary provided by SwedishPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to often listen to Swedish music and recorded books, and watch plenty of Swedish movies and/or TV shows in Swedish. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice…

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native Swedish speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in Swedish! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your Swedish teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native Swedish speakers, consider investing in SwedishPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native Swedish teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Send recordings of yourself speaking Swedish and get feedback from your Swedish teacher.