My Biggest Pronunciation Issues

When learning any language, correct pronunciation of words is crucial for clear communication and fluency. In Afrikaans, there are some sounds that we just don’t make in English!

The first one is the “r” trilling sound. This is also known as “rolling your r’s”. Yea, I definitely cannot do that. I have heard there are different accents in Afrikaans where the “r rolling” is more pronounced, but my conclusion has been that to be grammatically correct, you need to trill the r’s.

The second difficult sound is the “g” sound. It’s kind of a throaty, almost gargling noise when the letter “g” is in a word. It does seem that you do not always use this noise for a “g”, but I haven’t been able to figure out when you don’t, so I am going with you always do.

So the “r” rolling I have yet to master, although I have improved since I first began! The best and easiest thing I found to do was to say the word “butter” and “pot of tea” really, really quickly over and over again. I found this information somewhere in a google search months ago, so I don’t have the actual article or website that I got it from. But basically, the placement of your tongue on the roof of your mouth is where your tongue needs to be when you roll an “r”. I mostly did this exercise for a minute or two wherever I thought of it (so my car at a stop light, waiting in line, etc.). It has helped, but I still have a long way to go before I can just roll my “r’s” at people for the fun of it.

The “g” noise, on the other hand, I can make pretty well. Not always consistently and it does seem to dry my throat out when I am practicing a lot, but at least I know how to make it! Some of my first words and most often used words are “Goeie More/Middag/Nag” (Good Morning/Day/Night) and “Hoe gaan dit met jou?/ Hoe gaan dit?” (How are you doing?/How are you?). I have probably said each of these… at least once a day since I started… some days multiple times!

The bottom line: Practice makes perfect! Something my dad used to say about math problems is to “push the pencil”. In relation to math, “push the pencil” means do more math problems. Do so many math problems (by pushing the pencil across paper) that the methods, theories, and formulas get so ingrained in your brain that you cannot possible forget how to do them. The same concept applies to languages. Practice, practice, practice!