Leto: Just for the record; they're not variants of A and O's. Although the letters look similar they are considered to be completely their own distinct letters that are put at the end of the Scandinavian alphabets.
That being said, "Å" is pronounced very similar to an extended vowel sound in the word "door" (as far from "ah"- like sound and as close to the more American pronounciation "oue"-like sound as possible). "Ä" is similar to the first vowel sound in "there" in British English (
stereotypical British English; you all know how it sounds
). "Ö" is harder, but it's like a prolonged vowel sound of "sir" in stereotypical British English. Other than these 3 vowels you guys don't have we have the same alphabets.
This is as good as I can explain it without going into phonetics, which sometimes also have flaws. The names of stuff in IKEA is usually people's names in Swedish (Beddinge Lövås however is not; to me it sounds like a place name), there's even a shelf I have in my room that's named Ivar! (FYI: My name is Ivar
)
