Learn 10 hardest words to pronounce
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
| Hello, everyone, and welcome to today’s lesson. I am Stella and today, we are going to learn how to pronounce the 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce in Dutch. |
| Let’s start with one of the hardest numbers to pronounce. |
| 1. achtentachtig "eighty-eight" |
| Mijn opa is 88 jaar oud. "My grandfather is 88 years old." |
| It’s usually that weird raspy /g/ that trips foreigners up. I was in France one day talking to my sister in Dutch and the shop clerk literally burst out laughing and started mocking our Gs. Lovely. |
| 2. afstandsbediening "remote control" |
| Heb je de afstandsbediening gezien? "Have you seen the remote control?" |
| This word can be easily split up into two parts. afstands, which means “distance” and bediening, which means “controller.” So literally it’s “distance controller” like remote control. |
| 3. angstschreeuw "cry of distress" |
| Ik hoorde een angstschreeuw. "I heard a cry of fear." |
| So this is a really great one for playing Hangman because it has eight consonants in a row. Don’t worry if you don’t get this right. It’s not a common word and as you probably could hear, it’s not my favorite word to pronounce either. |
| 4. duivenvoer "pigeon food" |
| Daar kun je duivenvoer kopen "You can buy food for pigeons there." |
| Now, I am not really sure why this is such a hard word for foreigners. I think it probably has something to do with the /o/ sound. So let me know in the comments where you are having trouble. |
| 5. gevarendriehoek "warning triangle" |
| Een gevarendriehoek hoort in een auto. "A warning triangle belongs in a car." |
| So apart from that first sound, it’s not such a difficult word. Just get over that first bit and then it’s smooth sailing. |
| 6. goochelaar "magician" |
| De goochelaar en een konijn. "The magician and a rabbit." |
| So this one has that nasty /g/ sound at the beginning and at the end of the first syllable. So just keep practicing, I suppose. |
| 7. grafiek "graph" |
| Dat is een moeilijke grafiek, "That is a difficult chart." |
| So keep in mind that the Dutch say their A's differently from the English A. It’s much more Aah. So it’s grafiek. |
| 8. reünie "reunion" |
| Morgen hebben we een reünie van school. "We have a reunion at school tomorrow." |
| Now, don’t confuse this with ruïne, which looks similar but it means a ruin. So you have reünie and ruïne. |
| 9. schatje "cutie" |
| Wat een schatje! "What a cutie!" |
| So you can also say schatje to your boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s not just for small things like pets or babies. |
| 10. schoenpoetsborsteltje "shoe polish brush" |
| A great example sentence. |
| Schoenpoetsborsteltje is een lang woord. "Shoe polishing brush" is a long word." |
| And this is the imaginative phrase. |
Comments
Hide