How to read and say Afrikaans

Vowels

a

as in sun

e

as in met but sometimes as in meet or angel

ê

as in apple

ë

usually pronounced the same as 'e', but when it is accented due to grammar, such as in words like 'geëet' which means 'to have eaten', it can be pronounced three other ways: meet, fear or wet

i

as in bit

o

as in fort or mood or boy

ô

as in cauldron

u

as in u in hut with rounded lips

y

as in ay in say, which is the Dutch equivalent ij,

'n

in 'a' as in 'a dog' or 'a song'. This is the article; it is never capitalised even if used at the start of a sentence: the word that follows is capitalised.

Note that Afrikaans pronunciation is extremely difficult and can be a challenge, even for Dutch speakers.

Consonants

b

as in bat

c

as in king (uncommon, usually proper nouns e.g. 'Coetzee'

d

as in dance but pronounced as English 't' at the end of words

f

as in fan

g

similarly to the 'ch' in bach, but a lot harder and more glottal - a bit like hawking up phlegm :-).

h

as in hat

j

as in yak

k

as in king

l

as in lamp

m

as in man

n

as in nap

p

as in pet

r

as in rant, but the sound is rolled

s

as in set

t

as in tale

v

same as the English 'f'

w

pronounced the same as the English 'v' as in vet

x

as in fix but extremely rare, usually found in scientific terms or loanwords.

z

as in blitz

In some loan words, 'g', 'v' and 'w' may be pronounced the same as their English equivalents, but this is uncommon.

Digraphs and trigraphs

aa

as in father

ae

two sounds, one after another, quite quickly. Starts as 'aa' and is quickly finished off with the Afrikaans 'a' as in dust

ch

can be pronounced in three ways: loch or shine or king

kk

as in cane

nn

as in man

sj

as in machine

ee

as in fear

eë

as in fear but pronounced as two separate sounds. Sounds almost like 'ee-ye'

ië

same as eë

ei

as is sale

eu

pronounced two ways: as in ear or as in mew

gh

same as English 'gh'. For example: ghost

ll

as in lamp

mm

as in mend

ie

pronounced either as long 'ee' like in breed or as 'i' in sick

kn

as in pick 'n pay

ng

as in sing

nk

as in think

oe

pronounced either as the long 'oo' as in loot or as a short 'oo' as in foot

oë

as in English doer

oo

same as German "ü", make your lips into the position of "o" but say "ee" instead.

ou

as in coat

rs

like farse, but the 'r' is rolled

tj

as in chunk

tj

combined with ie as in kid

ui

also a unique sound. Sounds like play but with pouted lips. The name shane is the closest English equivalent

uu

similar to German über but pronounced with more emphasis and much longer. Identical to the final 'yy' sound

aai

like the 'y' in shy, but a pronounced a lot longer.

eeu

A unique trigraph. The closest English equivalent is the English word ewe. Try blending the sounds 'ew' and 'oo'

oei

similar to phooey but pronounced with a rapid 'w' in it

ooi

similar to oil but pronounced with a rapid 'w' in it

uie

similar to player but pronounced much longer

Note on Afrikaans

Like English, double consonants in Afrikaans are pronounced as a single sound, and not two separate sounds, unless occurring at a syllabary break: 'wekker': 'vack-er' (alarm clock) but 'melkkoei': 'melk-koo-ee' (milking cow).

Note that although Afrikaans digraphs and trigraphs contain mostly vowels and sound as though they contain many syllables, they in fact are seen as a single syllable.

For example, the word 'Goeie' sounds as if it contains 3 syllables, but in fact contains only two: 'goei' and 'e' are the 2 syllables.

From this, you can see Afrikaans pronunciation, like English for a foreigner, can be rather irregular. Pronunciation can be hard and the accent is extremely difficult to master, but when spoken correctly, Afrikaans is the most melodic Germanic language.

However, one should not be daunted. Afrikaans grammar is really quite simple and is more similar to English than to any other Germanic language. Verbs are even simpler than English: there is no am or are or were but only is and was.

One who is learning Afrikaans will probably catch onto it rather quickly and will have no problem with speaking Dutch or understanding German.