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Showing posts with label Serbian pronunciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serbian pronunciation. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2016

How to Pronounce Serbian R?

How to Pronounce Serbian R?


If you patiently listen to Nada Zeković until the very end of the video below, you'll find out what is the secret of the accurate pronunciation of the Serbian "r". Verovali ili ne,  the secret is in its vibration :) Watch, listen, repeat and practice!




  • The position of the tip of the tongue is upfront, behind the upper front  teeth.
  • Besides, there's a slight vibration. (Listen to Nada comparing Spanish and Serbian name "Oskar" )

Advice on How to Pronounce Serbian R?



According to Nada, the best way is to practice by :
  • simply running round the house saying the vibrant "rrrrr" :)
  • focusing on sound clusters such as "pr" (pravo, prvi, pre, preko, prošlo...), and later on other words with this sound!
Best of luck!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Serbian Pronunciation Practice with Đ and DŽ

If you started learning Serbian and you are confused as to what might be the difference between DŽ and Đ sounds, let me help you by taking you through these five steps:

Step 1
Which of these two sounds is softer to your ear ? 
Dž/dž (or Џ џ  in Cyrillic)

or 

Đ / đ (or in Cyrillic script: Ђ ђ)?

Step 2: If you don't hear ANY difference, let me tell you that the sound Đ is much softer than DŽ.
*You'll get this sound to be softer, i.e. produce Đ, by pressing the tongue onto the lower teeth. Repeat "đ" several times and feel the tongue low, behind the teeth, touching them.

*To get the harsh "DŽ" curl your tongue behind the upper teeth, slightly above them. You'll notice that the sound becomes less soft as you raise your tongue upwards. (even curling it backwards). Now repeat it several times.

Step 3: Try to contrast the soft Đ with harsh DŽ, paying attention to the tongue position and listening to yourself. Can you hear the difference ?

Now it's time to practise with minimal pairs and not-so-minimal pairs, because there aren't that many words with Đ and DŽ:

Step 4:
Listen and repeat:
  • đak              džak
  • leđa             odžak
  • đinđuva       dživdžan
  • ceđenje        karakondžula
  • đubre           dželat
  • đurđevak     džanarika
  • đakonije      džangrizalo
  • đavo            džem
  • đevrek         džemper

Step 5:
Encircle the word you hear me say:
  1. đubre     džak        đak           odžak
  2. đevrek   džaba       đavo         džem
  3. džoker   đon          džomba     đozluci
  4. džudo    đevrek     džukela     đuveč
  5. ceđenje  dživdžan  đinđuva    dželat  
For more pronunciation practice visit the previous blog posts tagged "pronunciation in Serbian"

Monday, September 16, 2013

How to Pronounce Serbian "LJ" ?

For learners of Serbian as a foreign language often times it's difficult to pronounce the Serbian sound "LJ" or "Љ" correctly. That's because some students tend to pronounce "L" and then "J" separately. If you'd like to make your pronunciation of "lj" perfect, follow these steps:

  1. Try to say "L", as in English word "love". Where is your tongue ? Up or down ?
  2. Try to say "J", as in English word "yes". Where is your tongue ? Up or down ?
  3. Right, so you noticed that in "L" the tongue is up, just behind your upper  teeth, while with "J", the tongue is down. If you want to say "lj" correctly, the tongue mustn't move from the upward position downwards, because it's one sound.
  4. Now, keep your  tongue as if you want to pronounce "J" as in "yes", because it's the right tongue position for the perfect "lj", and at the same time try to pronounce "L", WITHOUT raising your tongue upwards. What happens ? Did you hear your first "lj" ? Now keep practising !
Keep your tongue low, as if you want to pronounce "J" (as in "yes") sound, but say "L" (as in "love")

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Learn Serbian 365 Days with Songs and Poems - Branko Miljković

If you are at upper-intermediate or advanced level of Serbian, I'm sure you'll fall in love with this poem at first sight/hearing :) Zaljubićete se u ovu pesmu Branka Miljkovića na prvi pogled / prvo slušanje :)



If you are not sure about the words and the meanings, you'll  find it on this lyricstranslation.com page.
For all those who'd like to practise the Genitive case after the preposition "zbog" = because of, here is the exercise based on this magnificient poem.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Serbian Pronunciation - Lj and Nj

Let's practise pronunciation of the Serbian letters "lj" and "nj". In the video you'll be able to see their counterparts in the Cyrillic script. Try to listen and repeat:

Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

Gde je ključ? Где је кључ? - Učimo srpski sa Marinom
Gde je ključ? ...
Where is the Key?-...
By Marina Petrović
Photo book