Seven symbols
As far as possible I use general English spelling (let's call it English notation) to show the Danish pronunciation. However, there are some cases where English notation is not enough, so I've used the following phonetic symbols:
[ə] is the neutral, unstressed sound like the i in pencil, the a in about, the o in harmony, and so forth
[ü] is the Danish y. It is pronounced like the ee in geese, but with the lips rounded like the oo in goose.
[ð] is the soft d, which has no English equivalent.
[ʁ] is the uvular r. It is produced in the back of the throat
[ʌ] is the short a in what
[ɛ] is the short e in pen, [ɛ:] is similar, but longer.
[ɔ] is the short o in stop
Approximated sounds
Some other sounds, like the Danish ø, have no English equivalents, so they are approximated with whatever notation works best.
Ø is approximated as eu, other times as [ü]; å is sometimes aw, other times oh, and so on.
For example, listen to the å sound in these words:
(aw) and
(oh)
Long and short sounds
Sounds can be short or long, which makes them hard to distinguish using simple notation. For example, the short i in
can only be shown by the long ee in sleeps. The short u in
can only be shown by the long oo in boos.
