Thread: Eesti keel

[quote]Skinka" (Ham) is pronounced "shinka". and my favourite" Stj

I've heard it pronounced something between 'sh' and 'hh' or a very soft 'sh'. A stronger 'sh' should be written 'tj' or 'kj' for example.
If you know German then 'stj' and 'sj' sound a bit like in words 'mich' or 'Chemie'.

I'm also from Estonia

Clarification about Scandinavia and the Baltic States:
Nordic Countries = (officially) Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, (Greenland).
Scandinavia = Finland, Norway, Sweden.

However: These terms are strictly geographical. All these countries consider themselves to belong together as a group of Northern countries. We all feel very positive about the neighbours. It's like a club... almost like we are the same nationality.

Finland is a bit different because it has a different language, that the other countries cannot understand. However, they make the effort in Finland to learn Swedish, and because of that they can participate in the Scandinavian unity.

The Baltic countries are not CURRENTLY considered to be part of this area, but there are many strong ties and a lot of sympathy for the Balts: History with Sweden, language (Estonian is similar to Finnish) and religion. Lately also strong economic ties. Plus lots of Baltic people live in Sweden and Finland. Most Swedes and Finns have visited that area at some point.

There don't seem to be a lot of Baltic people on this forum. Perhaps in order to welcome those who visit there ought to be a Baltic Room too?

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

Skinka" (Ham) is pronounced "shinka". and my favourite" Stjärna" still pronounced "Shärna"
In the "lj" beginnings the "L" is not pronounced like, "Ljus" (Light) just "Jus" (long swedish "u" sound of course)
(Swedish is famous for it's many "sh, ch" sounds, and odd spellings of them. )

I was once told by a Swede from Göteborg that if you said "shairna" for stjärna you'd be considered gay in his city, real men should say "hhhhairna". When I went to Sweden, I noticed some people indeed used "hhhhh" in place of "sh". So which one is better?

Yes, this sound is very complicated in Swedish. Swedish would really benefit from using the Cyrillic letters for this sound. The latin spelling is completely random. It has to be individually memorised, including the pronounciation.

It's true that MEN should probably not say use "Ш" sound for these sounds. It sounds a bit too feminine. It's better for men to use "X" sound in most cases.

So for "Star" from the example:
In cyrillic letters, "хэрна" or "шэрна"
In Swedish: Stjärna....

There are a hundred or so words like that.

Since I am a woman I vary my pronounciation depending on what I feel like on that particular day....