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Lesson Transcript

Eric: Welcome back to AfrikaansPod101.com. This is Pronunciation Lesson 2, Double Your Fun with Afrikaans Vowels. Eric here.
Pieter: Hallo my naam is Pieter. I’m Pieter.
Eric: Pieter, what are we looking at in this lesson?
Pieter: We’ll be working on the pronunciation of vowel diphthongs.
Eric: Let's start by revisiting the vowels we learned last lesson.
Pieter: Afrikaans has a total of six vowels. They are A, E, I, O, U, Y
Eric: In this lesson, we’ll have a look at what we call double vowels, also known as diphthongs.
Pieter: Basically, these are two vowels put together to make a common sound.
Eric: In most languages, when you do this, the two sounds get blended together.
Pieter: In Afrikaans, though, there are certain double-vowel combinations that do not blend as you might expect.
Eric: So how many diphthongs are there?
Pieter: There are seven in all.
Eric: And how are they different from normal vowels?
Pieter: They’re pronounced as one sound that sometimes can't be pronounced using just one vowel.
Eric: Okay, that’s enough explanation – let's get right into it!
Eric: The first diphthong is "AI"
Pieter: This is -A and -I put together to pronounce the sound like the English “I”
Eric: Let's practice with the Afrikaans word for "many”
Pieter:...which is baie.
Eric: This sound also shows up in many words taken from Malay and indigenous African languages. Let’s move on to the next diphthong.
Pieter: Next we have OU, which consists of "-O” and "-U”
Eric: It sounds like the “OH” sound in the English word “Show. Let's hear it in a word. Pieter, what’s the Afrikaans for “old”?
Pieter:… It’s ou
Eric: and the Afrikaans for 'wood'?
Pieter: It’s hout.
Eric: Pretty easy, right? Let's move on.
Pieter: EI is a combination of the letters “E” and “I”
Eric: It sounds exactly like Y, which we talked about in the previous lesson.
Pieter: Here are two combinations with the same sound. Klein and vleis
Eric: It's very close to the English “i” in “ice”, but is pronounced with a slightly more closed mouth. The best thing you can do is just listen to Pieter and repeat after him. So, “small” in Afrikaans is
Pieter: Klein, klein (slow)
Eric: And “meat” in Afrikaans is
Pieter: Vleis, vleis (slow)
Eric: The next diphthong sound doesn’t exist in English either
Pieter: It’s EU. The combination of the letters “E” and “U” together sounds like eu.
Eric: Wait a minute! That might sound like something people say in American English.
Pieter: It’s a bit like “ewwwwww” in American English [pronounce exaggerated US]
Eric: Ok, but not everyone listening will speak with an American accent, so let’s listen to some more examples. Pieter what is “door” in Afrikaans?
Pieter: Deur
Eric: and “fragrance”?
Pieter: geur
Eric: And the last one is “son”
Pieter: In Afrikaans, that’s seun.
Eric: Okay, with the next diphthong, we return to some more familiar sounds.
Pieter: Next we have IE, which is a combination of “I” and “E”
Eric: Right, the Afrikaans “I” and “E” combo sounds like the English double “EE”. An example can be found in the Afrikaans word for “ant”, which is...
Pieter: Mier
Eric: and another example is "song"
Pieter: Which is lied
Eric: not too difficult, right? This next one isn’t too hard either.
Pieter: It’s OE, which is O and E together. OE - It sounds a bit spooky, right?
Eric: It does! Let’s look at some of these spooky words. What’s the verb “have to” in Afrikaans?
Pieter: moet
Eric: or the word “sweet” in Afrikaans?
Pieter: That’s soet
Eric: Now we come to our last diphthong, which unfortunately is a bit of an odd one again.
Pieter: It’s UI, made up of U and I together. As Eric said, it’s a bit of a difficult sound, so listen well and repeat it a few times.
Eric: Alright, the Afrikaans for “house” is-
Pieter: Huis
Eric: and for “mouse”
Pieter: Muis
Eric: Ok, great! We’ve finished our diphthongs!
Pieter: Are there any other vowel combos we should know about, Eric?
Eric: Well, actually, there are!
Pieter: Bring them on!
Eric: In addition to double vowels, Afrikaans also can have triple vowel combinations.
Pieter: We have AAI, OEI, OOI and EEU
Eric: Do these vowels also blend together into one sound ?
Pieter: No, not completely, for example AAI or “double A plus I”, sounds like a combination of AA and IE. Like lawaai
Eric: which means “noisy”.
Pieter: Correct! And OEI or “O, E, I” will sound like a combo of OE and IE. For example...Groei
Eric: Great example! That is Afrikaans for “to grow”.
Pieter: And OOI is a combination of oo and ie, which we find in the word for “beautiful”, which is Mooi.
Eric: What’s our last one, Pieter?
Pieter: The last one, EEU, or “E, E, U”, is a combo of the sounds EE and OE
Eric: This can be found in the word for “lion” in Afrikaans...
Pieter: Which is Leeu.
Eric: Very good! Alright everybody, that’s all for this lesson. Be sure to check out the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Pieter: Totsiens!

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