I have problems with pronouncing nasal vowels in Eu Portuguese. Are there any tricks like position of the tongue, special excercises or etc? I have watched some videos in YouTube explaning the phonetics but still it does not work with me.
Hi!
I think that is a common problem. I speak several languages and am learning Portuguese.
All languages have their own funny little quirks in pronunciation. I have looked at videos and explanations. They are worthless for me. The pronunciation exercises on this website run the gamut from totally useless to very good. Sometimes I will say something in Portuguese and the result is ONE PERCENT. The next time I get ONE HUNDRED! Over all it says my pronunciation is good. We shall see when I have to use it in person later this year!
Yeah, this isn’t easy to learn. It helps if you think of the ‘ng’ sound in English, as in ‘hung’ or ‘sung’, which is also nasal. Except that for a nasal vowel in Portuguese, you wouldn’t close off the sound at the end (so, the tongue won’t reach the top of the mouth). For example, to say ‘pão’ (bread), you can think of an open-ended ‘pung’, maybe. This is hard to explain in words, hah!
Not all Portuguese pronounce things the same, either! You have several voices on this site that say things quite differently! A avo, for instance, is quite different from the male voices.The radio voices also are different. One lead I looked at yesterday is VERY different in how she pronounces certain words. I will just suffer through it, and pick it up when I can. Many Americans are terrible at foreign pronunciations. I have it easier, being European. But I still have to pick up more in Portuguese! Thanks for helping!
Oh yes, people have different influences in their speech, plus the regional accents. But that’s normal in any language and any country. Unfortunately, it also makes things harder when you’re trying to pick up the language!
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