As already mentioned, written Estonian follows a principle to have a distinctly articulated sound ( phoneme) represented by a letter. It surely makes it easier for Estonian kids to learn reading - with little practice and skill they're able to produce proper pronunciation for many simpler words in no time. Perhaps that's why we, Estonians, often think that teaching foreign learners the sounds for each letter is sufficient for good pronunciation. How naive! English speakers have particularly hard time with this concept. Moreover they often resort pronouncing Estonian by English rules.

As I have noticed, vowels seem to be real trouble. Beginners often struggle getting used to the idea that in Estonian E is pronounced as "eh" (as in enter) and I pronounced as "ih" (as in pick). As if this isn't enough, Estonian has abundance of umlaut vowels such as õ, ä, ö, ü! While people with some German knowledge would be more or less fine with ä, ö, ü then o with tilde on top, i.e. õ is something they really have hard time. Yet it's important to know when you need to keep apart õnn (happiness) and onn (hut)!

To keep it simple, I will deal mainly with vowels but before getting specific, note that while in English the most sounds are produced in the back portion of the mouth (the way tongue moves towards the throat etc.), Estonian puts the front part of the mouth and lips into the work. For example our rolling r is the result of letting tongue tremble against the inner ridge of the gums of the upper front teeth while forcing air through it (if you would put your hand close to your mouth you would feel the breeze).

Well, all analogies and references work to certain extent - far better is to hear and see yourself. I have prepared some videos to provide eager Estonian students an idea how to shape their lips to form particular sound, i.e. letter. Note that I am exaggerating just to for illustration purposes. You would not see Estonians speaking like this otherwise! And please get front of the mirror and practice the vowels. Take mental notes, create associations - whatever your personal style is! In the language, the littlest unit, in this case, a letter carries a huge meaning.

Sample words for each vowel and hints about the shape of lips: A, E, I, O, U, Õ, Ä, Ö, Ü