Hallo, welkom bij no-nonsense Nederlands. Welcome to no-nonsense Dutch!
This is a podcast to help you practice your Dutch. You get to translate and repeat after me, to help you get familiar with the language. I speak Flemish Dutch, and try to use the Flemish way of saying things, but Dutch learners who live in the Netherlands can definitely practice here as well.
You can find the transcript on my hosting platform Buzzsprout, they’re available for free, and so is all the content. The podcast is also ad free for now. If you’d like to support, you’re very welcome at buymeacoffee.com/nononsense4 .
Today we’re going to practice pronounciation! We’ll focus on two difficult sounds, the ou/au and the ui. Now these two sounds are not easy to do, and it depends a bit on what your own primary language is on how difficult it is for you.
I also have to say that, well I live in Flanders, and if you live here as well, there is quite some variation in the way people pronounce it. In the area where I grew up, in the centre of Flanders, we tend to pronounce it in a very flat sort of way, like it’s just one sounds, ui and ou. Like buik, koud.
But you need to try and make it two sounds, ui and ou, like buik and koud.
Of course, when you’re just learning, you can just try and make a sounds that passes for it, and people will understand you, no worries.
So, today you’ll practice pronounciation, and ofcourse your general Dutch skills by translating and repeating. Because our focus is on pronounciation, I’ll just work with loose sentences today, no dialogue or text. And they will be quite short.
So let’s try. I’ll give you a sentence in English, and give you some time to translate. There will be words with ui and ou in the sentence, so that can be your clue. Pause your device if you need more time. Try to say the sentence out loud.
Then I’ll give you my translation, which can be a little bit different ofcourse, and then you repeat, twice. Remember, you need to repeat out loud! It helps your brain automatize the sounds and structures. Here we go!
Outside it’s cold.
Buiten is het koud.
The leaves are golden brown.
De bladeren zijn goudbruin.
The house smells like brown sugar.
Het huis ruikt naar bruine suiker.
That old woman is a loyal customer.
Die oude vrouw is een trouwe klant.
I need a new sweater and two pairs of blue socks.
Ik heb een nieuwe trui en twee paar blauwe kousen nodig.
My stomach hurts from all the fruit.
Ik heb buikpijn van al het fruit.
I trust that you will use this well.
Ik vertrouw erop dat je dit goed gebruikt.
Take an onion, fresh herbs, salt, Brussels sprouts and a piece of cod.
Neem een ajuin, verse kruiden, zout, spruitjes en een stuk kabeljauw.
This sauce matches well with raw fish.
Deze saus past goed bij rauwe vis.
I can barely remember your mistakes.
Ik kan jouw fouten nauwelijks onthouden.
He blows his nose, he has a cold.
Hij snuit zijn neus, hij is verkouden.
Ze kwam uit de sauna en nam een duik in het ijskoude buitenbad.
Allright, good work. These sounds might feel really unnatural for you to do, but with practice they’ll come to feel more comfortable.