Dutch Pronunciation (Ejaan Bahasa Belanda)

Dutch Pronounciation Guide (Petunjuk Ejaan Bahasa Belanda)

Have you ever heard a Dutch man reading? Is that different to what we do? The answer must be yes, if you’re English speaker. So, before you learn Dutch from book or internet with no audio file, you have to learn how to pronounce and read (or write) in Dutch words and sentence. Below is the alphabethical system of Dutch. I should tell you, that Dutch writing system is very easy because it’s rather phonetic than some other languages like English. It means that you read as what is written. But there are still some exception. Alright, let’s off to the alphabet.

(Ejaan bahasa Belanda sangatlah mudah. Bahkan sangat mirip dengan bahasa Indonesia, kecuali beberapa huruf. Berikut alfabet Belanda. Cekidot!)

A.      Vowels:

Vowels in Dutch are so many, sometimes the same letter is read long, and sometimes short based on whether it is in open syllable or closed syllable. (Huruf vokal dalam bahasa Belanda sangat beragam. Huruf yang sama bisa diucapkan panjang, ada yang diucapkan pendek tergantung ia terbuka atau tertutup)

Long vowel (vokal panjang) : a, i, u, e, o, ɜ, y, ø etc

1.       At the end of the syllable (except some ended in e) (Di akhir suku kata, kecuali beberapa e)

Ex: “la” [la.], “ga” [xa:], tante [tantə]

2.       Double written in close syllable, but long i is written as ie (ditulis ganda dalam sukukata tertutup, tapi i panjang ditulis ie)

Ex: laatje [la.cə], vuur [fy:r], stamboom [stɑmbo.m], liegen [li.xən], nadelen [na.de.lən], lopen [lo.pən], cultuur [kœltyr]

3.       All diphtong is long pronounced

Ex: lui [lœy], leugen [løxən], gelijk [xəlæk]

Short vowel (Vokal pendek) : ɑ, ɩ, œ, ə, ɔ etc

1.       Letter e at final (huruf e di akhir)

Ex: lente [lɛntə], tante [tantə], beste [bɛstə]

2.       Single written in close syllable (ditulis satu saja dalam suku kata tertutup]

Ex: kat [kɑt], koppel [kɔpəl], dun [dœn]

A : long a as in father, short a as in again

I : long ie as in feet, short i as in pitch

U : the letter U in Dutch is pronounced [y] if long and [œ] if short

E : long e (can be either e(french é) or ɛ (french è)) as in say or bad; short e (french e/ schwa) as in petition

O : long o as in told, short o as in talk

UI : sounds like short a, followed by u (seperti a pendek diikuti oleh huruf u)

IJ / EI : sounds like ei, with french è

EU : sounds like eu, but different

OE : this is the sound of English oo in Dutch

OU : like ou in English loud

Exception (pengecualian):

I in ig or IJ in lijk : sounds like e schwa [ə] (bunyi e schwa seperti dalam “ketika”)

B.      Consonants:

B : similar to English /Indonesian

C : usually sounds like k, but sometimes s when preceded by i, e or y (biasanya k, tetapi bisa jadi s jika sebelum huruf i, e atau y)

D : similar to English /Indonesian

F : similar to English /Indonesian

G : Dutch G is so much different. It sounds like ch in Scots “loch” or German “noch” (bunyi kh Arab). But in loanwords from French sounds like zh when preceded by letter i, e or y.

H : similar to English /Indonesian, but never at the end of the word

J : is read as English y, sometimes zh in loanwords from French (bunyi y Indonesia, atau zh jika dalam kata pinjaman dari Perancis)

K : similar to English /Indonesian

L : similar to English /Indonesian

M : similar to English /Indonesian

N : similar to English /Indonesian

P : similar to English /Indonesian

Q : only used in loanwords, pronounced like k

R : different to English r, Dutch is trilled (seperti r Indonesia)

S : similar to English /Indonesian

T : similar to English /Indonesian

V : can be f or between f-v, but mostly is pure f (seperti f Indonesia)

W : like English v, except at the final position then it becomes vowel (seperti bunyi v Inggris, kecuali di akhir kata menjadi vokal)

X : only used in loadwords, sounds the same (hanya dalam kata serapan, bunyi seperti ks)

Y : only used in loanwords, sounds the same (hanya dalam kata serapan, bunyi sama)

Z : similar to English /Indonesian, but sometimes read as s

Dj / tj : like English ch in choice (seperti bunyi c Indonesia)

CH : the same as Dutch g (German ch in noch) [x] (bunyi kh bahasa Arab) ; but like sh as in shine, in all loanwords from French.

SJ : like sh as in show

SCH : like S + CH [sx] (seperti s ditambah kh)

It all seems complicated and difficult. But if you often hear Dutch in youtube or CDs or whatever you’ll in short time adapt its pronounciation. It just seems difficult because I use IPA system. If you often listen Dutch while reading its transcription, it’ll be so much easier. So, let’s study Dutch together.

If you have any question about the Dutch pronunciation just ask me via comment.