Effective way of learning Norwegian pronunciation- Minimal pairs

Podcast: https://laernorsknaa.wixsite.com/laer...
Twitter:   / mariusstangela1  

Resrouces:
Minimal pair list: https://rhinospike.com/audio_requests...
Anki: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
Fluent forever decks: https://blog.fluent-forever.com/gallery/
Forvo for native pronunciation: https://forvo.com/
Dictionary with IPA : https://naob.no/



Have you ever thought about how difficult it is to obtain a native-like pronunciation in a language. People tend to speak their target language with a heavy accent. After puberty, it simply gets much harder to learn to the sounds of the new language, both to hear them and to pronounce them. However, adults can learn new sounds, but we usually have to train our ears and brains in order to acquire these new sounds. Our brains are wired to our native language, so we need to re-wire it so that it can actually perceive the sounds. So, you need to practice, practice and practice to re-wire your brain to Norwegian.
So, what should you do to learn Norwegian sounds? I would recommend minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are words that are identical except for one sound. An example in English is rat and bat. They are identical except for the [r] sound and [b] sound. A Norwegian example is “sjekk” and “kjekk”, [sj] sound against [kj] sound. Studying such minimal pairs in Norwegian is a very powerful way of learning the sounds in Norwegian, and no matter what level you have achieved, this is useful to you. You’ll be able to improve your pronunciation and your ability to distinguish between similar sounding Norwegian sounds.
This has been proven. In a research article from 2016, a team of linguistic researchers set out to test whether minimal pairs would be an effective way of learning English pronunciation for Iranian intermediate students of English. The Iranians took a pre-test of their English pronunciation. The group was then divided into two, one group that would work with minimal pairs and pronunciation, and another group that would receive a placebo. All of the students were native Persian speakers. The group that received minimal pair training performed much better afterwards than the control group that just received a placebo. The minimal pair group improved their ability to hear the sounds of English and to pronounce them as well, and the method was very effective.