Learn Dutch - Pronunciation of W

If you're interested in Flemish:
http://www.youtube.com/flemishfordummies

Feel free to ask questions in the comments, or on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/DutchForN00bs

Best wishes!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• learn
• dutch
• lidewij
• pronunciation
• of
• the
• vs
• education
• lesson
• leer
• nederlands

[swartsaxon]

So is it the case that for those Dutch who pronounce 'v' as voiced, the only difference between 'w' and 'v' is that 'w' is an approximant, and 'v' is a fricative? I find that hard to believe, because the labiodental voiced approximant and the labiodental voiced fricative are so similar. It seems it would be very easy to confuse the two, it's such a subtle difference. I think that many Dutch devoice 'v' to an 'f' sound in order to make it more distinguishable from 'w'.

[dutchforn00bs]

@swartsaxon hey! You're right, it is a very subtle difference.. About the devoicing, though we don't just devoice the V. The same has been happening with z to s, so I doubt it's just W-related. On top of that - I have no problem telling the difference between Dutch v and w.. it's only hard if you didn't grow up with it :)

[dutchforn00bs]

@swartsaxon sorry. Missed a comma after the 'though' in the second line. Might be confusing.

[airmovies]

I speak quite good Dutch already for about 3 years and to this day all I could agree to is that the Dutch W is a V and the Dutch V is an F.

Dutch people will swear on their parent's graves that a W is not a V. But it is. :P haha

Anyway, mooie video. Gefeliciteerd :D

[dutchforn00bs]

@airmovies Thanks :) But you're wrong. They're definitely different. Did you.. not watch the video? ;D

[airmovies]

@dutchforn00bs I did. And I keep to what I said: Dutch people will swear it's different, but only they hear the difference. For the big majority of the world (except germany and other countries with a similar language), the Dutch W is a V that's a little softer than usual, while the V is an F. A real V (real for us, I mean) doesn't really exist on spoken language. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying you're right from a Dutch point of view.

[dutchforn00bs]

@airmovies Well, but you're acting like it's a cultural thing.. like we're -as a nation- refusing to acknowledge international V/W pronunciation rules or something ^_^. Pronunciation of letters varies per language, and when learning a new language you cannot just ignore the phonological rules and pronunciation of letters that that language has.. Our L is different from English, too, so are our vowels.. it's something you should try to learn, not something to be ignored/denied.

[BRIGHTDEY]

the angry Belgians part made me laugh

[lovernumber7]

Second I wanna ask PLEASE do not stop making them because you have no idea how AWESOME you are explaining and how CLEAR and understandalble your videos are!! I want to stress that some more SERIOUSLY!! Also they're really funny and I laugh a lot^^ Wich is VERY needed for the learning process!^^ Third I would like to ask some help and if it's not too much could you send me an e-mail or could I send you or whatever could we communicate? :D I'm having a hard time formulating phrases could you help?

[fgularte]

what happened with your hair? :-), it is nice now too!

[soil4u]

u deserve more than an award of a celebrity . I love ur teaching and the way u present your show . I will be so much happy to speak Dutch because i love the Language so much if not am an English native speaker the only language i keep falling in love with is dutch my ears loves it like piano sound

[tomisaravi]

@dutchforn00bs You're totally right, and it actually sounds different than a "v". By the way, the sounds "between" fricatives and vowels are called approximants. The Dutch "v" is one of them, [ʋ], and it's very, very similar to Spanish "v/b". I really like your videos and I want to learn Dutch!

[nenemmer]

for what it's worth, the Belgians use both the voiced and the voiceless "v". It depends on whether it's preceeded by a vowel, a voiced or a voiceless consonant. For example: Die vent(voiced) van(voiceless) mijn klas heeft zijn vinger(voiced) gebroken. (een stom voorbeeld, ma toch haha). The same rule applies for the sounds "g", "d", and "z".

[jeffkhc]

actually, appreciate it lots :)

[SomeCoolYoungMan]

Oh my god all the americans here think the english they speak is the best and only language thats not stupid. The ignorant stereotype is true?

[ariannabanane]

you totally just helped me say "waar" THANK YOU. lmao.

[18westphal]

in dutch G = R ? ;xx

[marcelosayeg]

Hey, thanks a million for your phonology explanations, they really do help a lot!!!

[lallarolle]

I love Netherlands!