Reading Dutch sentences

[darkestknight]

Hello there,

Anyone from Nederlands/Belgium?

Got myself some "Learn Dutch" tapes and books in a cheap flea-market nearby.

Need to make sure whether I spelt and pronounced these words correctly.

doos (box? crate?), boot (boat), the "oo" sounds like "oa" in "soap", or "os" in "dose"?

raam (window), where the "aa" sounds like "ah"?

huis/huys (house), sounds like "ow" in "house" exactly?

and groene (green - ...) sounds like "hhgroone", with the "oe" sounds like "oo" (long 'u' in English)?

Thanks for the help.

[olides84]

Aaargh Dutch! Pronunciation can be so difficult!

So I can give you a perspective of someone who lives in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, but doesn't speak the language fluently. Don't over-think the pronunciation of Dutch vowels! I can put 5 Belgians around a table and ask them to pronounce the word "plein" (square) and I will hear 3 to 4 slightly different vowel sounds.

With your examples, you've got the English sounds right. So the best advice I can give is to elongate saying the double vowels (like "oo", "aa", "uu", "ee", "ei", "ui", "ij", "oe") to where they are almost (but not quite) like two syllables rather than one, and make the noise more to the front of your mouth rather than a monotone English sound from the back. So "groen" might be "GREW-in" and "huis" would be "HOW-is". Note that these examples might reflect the softer Belgian (Flemish) sound than the harsher accent of the Netherlands. Hopefully a fluent Dutch speaker will post here!