Lesson 4: Pronunciation part 2 (Nasal sound )

Nasal sounds are not as difficult to pronounce as you hear them in Portuguese or other languages like French, because they are not foreign to the English phonology at all. All words with a -ng suffix in English are nasalized, such as bring, hang, and song, same for the sound of (Ng) in Cantonese.

The only difficulty lies in pronouncing the vowel or diphthong correctly and then adding the -ng sound to make it nasalized. Some Portuguese nasal sounds have no equivalent in English. When using the English approximations below, make sure to add the -ng sound for the nasal effect.

LETTER PORTUGUESE EXAMPLE ENGLISH APPROXIMATIONS PRONOUNCED WHEN
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ã maçã (apple) answer as in British english when it is alone and not followed by another vowel
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ãe mãe (mother) tying
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ão / am cão (dog ) / falam (they speak) town -am is only pronounced this way when it is at the end of a word
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õe milhões (millions) boing but a little slower
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an/am tanto(so much)/também(also) answer as in British english anywhere, except at the end of the word
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on/om som(sound)/redondo(round) onto
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en/em presidente(president)/Sempre(always) enter anywhere, except at the end of the word
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em bem(well) tying when at the end of the word
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in/im assim(thus,like this) seen

Examples for the more unsual sounds:
(ã)= Não ( No ) = pronounced like nan-oo
(ãe)= Mãe ( Mother )= pronounced like mying
(ão)= Cão ( dog ),same pronounciation as (am) at the end of the word = pronounced like cown
(em)at the end of the word = Bem ( well )