Die Zeit heilt nicht die Wunden.: anywherebutsweden: epicwinsauce: I was having trouble saying the...

anywherebutsweden:

epicwinsauce:

I was having trouble saying the Swedish word själv until it dawned on me that it totally sounds like the English word “self.” then I looked it up and it turns out that that’s what it means, too.

Almost. ‘Själv’ should be pronounced like this: ɧɛ:lv,…

Oh I forgot, ‘sk’ isn’t always pronounced like ‘ɧ’, it depends on the vowel after. So, in this case ‘skulle’ is pronounced with a normal ‘s’ (it’s like saying the word ‘scar’) =D

Anyway, back to ‘ɧ’. If you google it, they explain the sound as a mix of ‘x’ and ‘ʃ”. In other words, you have to make to sounds sound like one. The air should be coming directly from your throat (I think it should be somewhere from the glottal area, if I feel it right) and your tongue mustn’t touch anything, but instead be somewhere in the middle. When pushing the air out, the back of the tongue (post-dorsal) should feel tense, and also your lips, creating a small opening, where the air comes out.
Try to put your hand on your throat, to make sure that you can feel air coming through. The throat should also feel a bit tense.

Another way to explain the sound, is to make an imitation of that special sound that Darth Vader does, except this time without any help from random things. Try to imagine what he would sound like, only using your mouth, and then you should be able to create a sound that’s pretty familiar to ‘ɧ’.