3 ms·

Flemish here. The "ee" in "beer", "één" en "been" all sound exactly the same, and I've never even slightly been aware that there might be a difference. Both Be

Flemish here. The "ee" in "beer", "één" en "been" all sound exactly the same, and I've never even slightly been aware that there might be a difference. Both Beertje Colargol (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHLl6EXn44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHLl6EXn44) and this NL Dutch Baloe de Beer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htbBpgQWvq0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htbBpgQWvq0) use a simple long "ee", exactly like I'd expect. Unless of course the distinction you're talking about is too subtle for me to hear. Do you have some audio (or audio+video) with a different "e" sound? I'm interested to hear that difference. Obviously there are quite some differences in pronunciation between the North and the South, but this is one I had never heard of before.

roelschroeven 5y ago
Now that I think about it, in my dialect "beer" does sound differently from "één" and "been". "been" sounds close to its Standaardnederlands pronunciation, while the "ee" in "één" en "been" becomes a diphtong (or at least I think that's the correct term; I'm not a linguist). That might to some underlying fundamental difference between those words, maybe?
- teekert 5y ago
  I'll look up some examples, but for now, ee (as in "been") sounds like the English "a", so Dutch "been" sounds like English "bane". The ee in "beer" (and "peer") sounds more like I say "bir" (in Dutch, perhaps with a bit longer "i" sound).
- teekert 5y ago
  So, do these 2 ee sounds sound the same to you: https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=peer&op=translate https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=peer&op=tra... and https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=been&op=translate https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=been&op=tra... ? Not to me :) But it's difficult to articulate.
  - roelschroeven 5y ago
    No, now that I pay close attention to it I do hear a difference. "Been" sounds like English "bane" indeed, "beer" goes a bit in the direction of English "beer". I would never have noticed on my own. I don't think there's difference between the two in the south, but maybe there is and I just never heard it. (Of course we pronounce the "ee" differently anyway (more like the Luxemburgish pronunciation on https://nl.forvo.com/word/ee/ https://nl.forvo.com/word/ee/ than the Dutch one), and our "r" is different too, hence also the transition from "ee" to "r"; maybe that changes the whole thing.)
  - CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
    I see now what you mean, it's less of a difference than I thought you meant. In my mind it was the "r" sound that you pronounce differently but listening to it it's actually the ee that's different.

roelschroeven 5y ago

Now that I think about it, in my dialect "beer" does sound differently from "één" and "been". "been" sounds close to its Standaardnederlands pronunciation, while the "ee" in "één" en "been" becomes a diphtong (or at least I think that's the correct term; I'm not a linguist). That might to some underlying fundamental difference between those words, maybe?

teekert 5y ago
I'll look up some examples, but for now, ee (as in "been") sounds like the English "a", so Dutch "been" sounds like English "bane". The ee in "beer" (and "peer") sounds more like I say "bir" (in Dutch, perhaps with a bit longer "i" sound).
teekert 5y ago
So, do these 2 ee sounds sound the same to you: https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=peer&op=translate https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=peer&op=tra... and https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=been&op=translate https://translate.google.co.uk/?sl=nl&tl=en&text=been&op=tra... ? Not to me :) But it's difficult to articulate.
- roelschroeven 5y ago
  No, now that I pay close attention to it I do hear a difference. "Been" sounds like English "bane" indeed, "beer" goes a bit in the direction of English "beer". I would never have noticed on my own. I don't think there's difference between the two in the south, but maybe there is and I just never heard it. (Of course we pronounce the "ee" differently anyway (more like the Luxemburgish pronunciation on https://nl.forvo.com/word/ee/ https://nl.forvo.com/word/ee/ than the Dutch one), and our "r" is different too, hence also the transition from "ee" to "r"; maybe that changes the whole thing.)
- CorrectHorseBat 5y ago
  I see now what you mean, it's less of a difference than I thought you meant. In my mind it was the "r" sound that you pronounce differently but listening to it it's actually the ee that's different.