Daniel44 wrote:
> Thanks for helping me try to clear this up.
>
> 'y' is pronounced like 'oo' in 'bOOt'. It is perhaps more rounded than the
> Finnish version. Just make the lips into a perfectly round shape and make
> the 'oo' sound. The german 'u' is a fair approximation.
>
> 'u' is pronounced like the 'oo' in 'tOOk'. This would seem to correspond
> with the 'y' sound in Finnish.
The reason why people are confused is that the "y" sound in Finnish is actually
very different from the "oo" sound in "took". The former is a tense front
rounded vowel, and the latter is a lax back rounded vowel. If you want people
to understand how to pronounce "u" in Uusisuom, then you should just drop the
reference to Finnish altogether.
Matt.