How to pronounce vowel U in Indonesian? Actually, if you are an English speaker, you should already hear how the sound of Indonesian vowel U is.
No, it is not like U in English. Absolutely different.
In English, a U is sounded like a word “YOU”. Meantime, Indonesian vowel U pronunciation is not like this. The wors of beautiful, use, utilize, burn are not either.
However, for sure, you have already spelled the sound but you didn’t realize. (Of course, you didn’t realize it as you never learned Indonesian before).
How to pronounce Vowel U in Indonesian
Then, the question is “which words?” Which words in English dictionary , if they are pronounced that have similar sound of Indonesian vowel U.
Please take a look at the below words.
- boot
- sooth
- root
- boom
- soon
Those five words are good example of the sound when you pronounce vowel U in Indonesian. Really really exactly the same. There are still many others but the five is enough to give you the clue.
The -oo- sound in English is the sound of a U in Indonesian.
Japanese should not experience any problem to produce this sound because in their alphabets or characters, there is similar sound.
Now, if you have understood about how to spell, then let’s practice.
I will write down 10 Indonesian words, also the divided into syllables to make it easy to be practiced. The meaning in English can also be found on each word.
| WORDS | SYLLABLES | MEANING |
|---|---|---|
| BUKU | BU-KU | A BOOK |
| BURU | BU-RU | HUNT |
| BULU | BU-LU | FEATHER |
| SUSU | SU-SU | MILK |
| DUKU | DU-KU | A NAME OF INDONESIAN FRUIT |
Please check if your pronunciation has been correct or not by listening to the below. (You can hear me pronouncing Indonesian Vowel U).
I would like you also to repeat the first les How to spell vowel A in Indonesianson about how to spell vowel A. If you come to this article first, then please see also How to spell vowel A in Indonesian.
| WORDS | SYLLABLES | MEANING |
|---|---|---|
| BUTA | BU-TA | BLIND |
| RATU | RA-TU | QUEEN |
| LUKA | LU-KA | WOUND |
| SUKA | SU-KA | LIKE |
| JUGA | JU-GA | ALSO |
If you want to see if your pronunciation is already correct or not, you can play the below MP3 file.
So, please let me know if you think it’s too difficult to pronounce Indonesian vowel U in the below comment box. However, I am sure that there won’t be any comment as it’s quite easy.
Enjoy the lesson my friends and keep practicing.
See you in next article!