Æ and Å are difficult to describe in terms of English, as English accents vary so widely. And these sounds are not present in all varieties of English. English doesn't really every have a length distinction between Æ sounds, and many speakers pronounce it more like E. But you're probably familiar with this sound, found in words like "trap"; pronounced with a short Æ in British English and a long one in American English; again, avoid the version which sounds like a long E (e.g. some North American speakers pronounce "dad" almost like "dead" except with a longer vowel) and practice the distinct Æ instead.
As for Å, this sound is fairly rare in American English. You find a long version of it in words like "or". In British English you have both the short and long forms, such as in "don" and "dawn", respectively.
The most important thing to remember as an Anglophone learning Norwegian is that you have to start by learning the nine short and nine long vowels (and the schwa) and rely only on those when determining which vowel to use in a given situation. It's always a terrible idea to simply assume Norwegian vowels are the same as in English: they rarely are. Familiarise yourself with the basic principles, and then use those to predict the appropriate vowel sound based on spelling, and then learn additional patterns and individual exceptions as you go. It's crucial to note both that Norwegian spelling is far more logical than that of English and that there nonetheless are many exceptions, and that the kinds of exceptions are different. Norwegian orthography is generally more consistent than that of English, but the starkest difference is that in Norwegian most exceptions are caused by rules applying differently in different contexts, rather than being fully obscured, as is often the case in English.
Below are the relevant fundamentals you ought to learn and use when determining which vowel sound to use based on spelling:
- The default is for vowels to be pronounced identically to their names. Examples: agg /ag/, egg /eg/, inn /in/, ost /ust/, ull /ʉl/, ypp /ʏp/, æsj /æʂ/, øst /øst/, ånd /on/.
- Vowels are never ordinarily silent. This only happens in certain loanwords. Examples: "outrert" /utˈreːʈ/, "lime" ("lime") /lajm/. Compare "lime" ("glue") /ˈliːmə/. And for grammatical reasons, or because they have been nativised, some loanwords don't have silent letters even when you would expect them to, as in "game", which may be pronounced /geːm, gejm, ˈgejmə/, depending.
- Before double consonants, vowels are always short. Example: takk /tak/.
- Vowels are short before the letter combinations LD & ND, because these are variants of LL and NN, respectively. E.g.: vold & voll /vol/, sand & sann /san/.
- Vowels are usually short before final M; MM does not ordinarily appear at coda. Example: om /om/.
- Before consonant clusters, vowels are usually short. E.g.: salt /salt/.
- Before single consonants, vowels are usually long. E.g.: sal /saːl/.
- In hiatus, there is no phonemic length. Actual pronunciation varies. Examples: real /ˈreːal, reːˈaːl/, reell /ˈreːel/, reol /reːˈuːl/, vie /ˈviːə/, viet /ˈviːet/, hiet /ˈhiːə/, side /ˈsiːə, siːdə/, sia /sida /ˈsiːa/, smie /ˈsmiːə/, koordinere /kuːordiˈneːrə, kordiˈneːrə, kuːurdiˈneːrə, kurdiˈneːrə/.
- Vowels at the ends of (uncompounded) words get no length distinction. Typically monosyllabic words will get long vowels at coda (e.g. re /reː/, så /so:/). In other cases, actual pronunciation may vary, partly based on environment.
- In diphthongs, vowels are always short. These are the diphthongs, with pronunciation spelling: AI (ajj), AU (ævv), EI (æjj), OI (åjj), UI (ʉjj), ØY (øjj). Some variation exists between dialects; for instance ØY is pronounced like OI by some.
- Short O is usually actually pronounced like short Å. E.g. kost ("diet") /kost/. Counterexample: kost ("broom") /kust/.
- Be wary of short U as it is often pronounced like a short O. E.g. skuff ("drawer") /skuf/. Counterexample: skuff ("disappoint") /skʉf/.
- Æ is frequently pronounced as an E. E.g. "veske" and "væske" are both pronounced /ˈveskə/. "sæd" is traditionally pronounced /se:d/, but the spelling pronunciation /sæ:d/ is also common.
- E is ordinarily pronounced Æ before R. E.g. "er" /æ:r/. Some dialects also pronounce E like this in more environments. E.g. "sekk" /sekk/ may become /sækk/. This may be part of a broader system of vowel differences (in this case, regarding short vowels); e.g. "fisk" /fisk/ may become /fesk/.
- Unstressed E is reduced to a schwa in some environments. This always happens at the ends of words (e.g. gjøre /ˈjøːrə, fantasere /fantaˈseːrə/), and never in the first syllable of a word. To mark a final non-reduced E -- as found in loanwords -- it is marked with an acute accent. Example: allé /aˈleː/. Compare: alle /ˈalə/. There are also loanwords, such as "filet" /fiˈleː/, which are pronounced with a full E at the end of a word, and are sometimes spelt with a silent final consonant, but without a diacritic.
I should note that there are certain significant dialectical differences at play I haven't touched on. These are primarily the result of there being regional variants of words. These typically form part of consistent patterns. Sometimes multiple variants are legal in writing, but most forms are not represented. Examples from my dialect include "bru", "tru", "gras" and "høl", which are accepted alongside "bro", "tro", "gress" and "hull" in writing; and "ællj", "køl" and "sjæl", which are simply eye dialect of "elg", "kull" and "selv/sjøl", otherwise pronounced /elg, kʉl, sel, ʂøːɽ/.
Two aspects I haven't dealt with are pitch and stress. Pitch is advanced, difficult to learn and explain, and not all that important, so I'll leave that one be. As for stress, I found this lovely explanation: toppnorsk.com/2018/12/22/trykk. This is stuff that's second nature to be as a native speaker, making it hard to outline in clear, helpful, general terms. It's in Norwegian, but you should be able to parse it with a little bit of help from a dictionary and/or translator.
Oh, and don't hesitate to ask another question right here or as a new query if you have any questions about this or anything else pertaining to Norwegian.
