Icelandic Pronunciation: M, N

Learn about the Icelandic letters "m" and "n," as well as their elusive voiceless counterparts.

[@1234Daan4321]

Icelandic is that language where you can have an entire course just to pronounce the letters.

[@wingedhussar1117]

M and N are the easiest sounds no matter which language you learn, because these two sounds are so universal that they occur in practically every human language and are pronounced exactly the same way in each language. Only Icelandic is the big exception :)

[@Stas_poznyakov]

I've studying and and learning a lot of languages from Asia and Europe, but definetly I have to declare the Icelandic language the harder and most difficult in all around the world as well. I love it!

[@jochum334]

I had no idea I was doing this and was getting ready to call bullshit. then I rested my hand beneath my nose and sure enough I'm doing it all

[@firenzo_]

I'm very glad that I found your channel, I love Icelandic language and its cultural heritage, you are really good at teaching it, my learning is flowing fast with your lessons. Hope someday I could master it, greetings from Lima - Peru.

[@robertofranciscomonsalvesp8080]

Those are tricky sounds , but bit by bit I will beat them. Hopefully. Thanks a lot for your wonderful way of teaching this fantastic language.

[@WingChunMindForce]

That was a revelation! I've been totally unaware of these subtleties.

[@icelandicforforeigners]

It's a revelation to most! Very difficult for foreigners to notice until someone takes them by the shoulders and says it to their face :)

[@WingChunMindForce]

@@icelandicforforeigners thats so true, I am hearing it everywhere now😀

[@svetlanaphilippova1036]

Thank you. Your videos are very helpful 👍

[@hrafnagu9243]

Knowing old Norse, Icelandic phonology is very strange. It's still a lovely language, but how do you go from a geminated 'll' as in old Norse 'fjall' [fjɑlː] to a 'tl' as in modern Icelandic 'fjall' [fjɑtɬ]?

[@jeremyverret9030]

This would be a good video to see your face as you give these n examples

[@richardnagele5877]

Great stuff

[@Ondrus21]

I'm starting to get used to it. Rules in Icelandic pronunciation are clearly set and there are very few exceptions. French pronunciation, for instance, seems more complicated to me.

[@poomppp1967]

Have you mastered the icelandic language yet

[@Ondrus21]

@@poomppp1967 By no means yet. No matter how easy the icelandic pronunciation may seem to be, the whole language is quite complicated.

[@poomppp1967]

I think the verbs are even harder than the pronunciation u kno the aði and ði ti di verbs and the information sources are very limited

[@Ondrus21]

@@poomppp1967 Not to mention the vowel conversions like ú --> ý; ó (búa --> ég bý; ég bjó), ó --> ý; au (bjóða --> ég býð; ég bauð). Easy to make a mistake.

[@studentinnhilda1717]

no one talking about how hard it is to pronounce ¨auðn¨

[@asdfjkl7430]

Hi. I am wondering if you could make a M,N pronunciation video where you show your mouth pronouncing the letters in their aspirated aspects. I understand breathing out my nose, but I don't know what my lips and tongue are supposed to be doing while breathing out my nose, and a visual demonstration would be most helpful. Thanks.

[@icelandicforforeigners]

Thanks for the suggestion, it makes sense that seeing it would be helpful. In this case your mouth should be making the same shape as when you pronounce regular M and N 🙂

[@user-mrfrog]

Takk kærlega eins og venjulega og gleðilegt nýtt ár frá svæðinu Montréal!

[@icelandicforforeigners]

Gleðilegt nýtt ár et bonne année!

[@sebastianwang670]

Ð & Þ: ‘ez pz, i'm a native English-speaker, i got this’ voiceless L: ‘okay, it's kind of a weird sound, but nothing i can't handle’ G: ‘this is starting to get pretty tricky, i don't know if-’ voiceless M & N: ‘ok fuck this language’

[@icelandicforforeigners]

Don't give up! These sounds are bizarre when you first hear them but once someone points them out you'll notice them everywhere!

[@gmoloyola2751]

what if i dont make the voiceless sounds? will an icelander understand me? i mean voiceless m, n, l. i can do the voiceless r pretty well but these others...

[@icelandicforforeigners]

Good question Guillermo. My experience is that the voiceless L is the only one that might confuse Icelanders if you don't use it, but you'll likely still be understood. With most of these pronunciation principles, it is simply a matter of accent. You will sound less like a foreigner and more like an Icelander the better you can master them :)

[@AlexanderRemus]

Voiceless n,m, ng, l, r are hard to master for most foreigners, because these sounds don´t exist in most languages. Because they ´re as natural for a antive speaker, as they´re unnatural for others, average speakers are often unable to really help you exercising. In most cases natives speaker will still understand you, when you replace the sounds by their voiced counterparts, but this should never tempt you to drop the training. My own experience as an non- native is, that you even have to exercise to perceive these sounds, when you hear a native speaking! Mainly unvoiced "n" at the end of words. In other words: You might not be able to recognise words as "vatn" "steinn" "grænn".

[@dlscholten]

Question about IPA: I see you render lón as [ˈlɔuːn] but, for example, the Wiktionary gives [ˈlouːn]. This is really a general question about IPA, as I think I´ve seen other discrepancies (e.g. k vs c in rendering kenna). I suppose I really want to ask whether there are controversies with the IPA and also, how should a relative newbie handle them?

[@icelandicforforeigners]

Thanks for the comment! There's a lot to this question. Yes, there are controversies, but they are minor. I have seen ó transcribed ɔu and ou, and one may technically be more accurate than the other, but they're really only helpful to the extent that they help YOU (the individual learner) make the sound. The best way to learn the vowels correctly is to use the IPA as a general guide and use native-speaker feedback to zero in. As far as kʲ versus c, these both represent the same sound, and using one or the other just depends on the phonological model you're basing your analysis on. Like I said, I think the discrepancies are minor and ultimately of little consequence because native feedback is such a big part of acquiring good pronunciation. My personal belief is that a learner doesn't need an in-depth understanding of IPA to benefit from it when learning a language. It's clear you have a decent understanding of how it works and I think that's all you need. Does that answer your question?

[@dlscholten]

@@icelandicforforeigners Yes, that's perfect. Thank you. And by the way, I'm loving these materials!

[@itaylavi2556]

You know it's a messed up language when they start talking from their nose. I mean, why? Great video btw👌🏾

[@filipinojalapeno1527]

would the nn after au be pronounced like a geminate or like tn

[@icelandicforforeigners]

I'm having a hard time thinking of any examples with aunn...so I'm not entirely sure. If you have one in mind, let me know!

[@filipinojalapeno1527]

@@icelandicforforeigners i found daunn on wiktionary and it says its pronounced /tøytn/

[@icelandicforforeigners]

@@filipinojalapeno1527 Well there you go! I learn something new everyday.