Learn a little about German pronunciation
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| Hi! | |
| Welcome to Introduction to German. | |
| My name is Alisha and I'm joined by... | |
| Hi everyone! I'm Jenni. | |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of German pronunciation. | |
| English vs. German | |
| German uses the exact same letters as English. It also uses one extra character (ß), and has unique markers which looks like two dots appearing over some vowels (ä ö ü). | |
| But let's try not to focus and rely on the German letters too much. Let's focus on the sounds. There are a total of 28 consonant sounds and 17 vowel sounds in German. The good news is that most of these sounds are identical to English. First, let's listen to some common German vowel sounds. | |
| a e i o u | |
| As you heard, these vowels don't sound that different from English. | |
| One thing to note though, is that German vowels are pronounced much more clearly than English. We also have more vowel sounds than English, so that's why it's very important that we pronounce them clearly. Unlike English, we try to maintain a constant pitch from start to finish without tapering off. | |
| a e i o u (hold each letter for ~1 second) | |
| Some vowel sounds, will be unfamiliar to you. | |
| Some vowels, such as A, O, and U, can have two dots over them. We call these dots "umlaute." They indicate a change in the original pronunciation of the vowel. Compare the following pairs of vowels: | |
| a, ä | |
| a +e = ä (Äpfel = "apples") – it is pronounced like the "e" in “melon” | |
| o, ö | |
| o + e = ö (Öl = "oil") – it is pronounced like the "I" in “girl” | |
| u, ü | |
| u + e = ü (Hürde = "hurdle") – there's no direct equivalent | |
| The vowels with the two dots over them are essentially a combination between the vowel, and an E sound. Sometimes they're represented as AE, OE, or UE. | |
| ae | |
| oe | |
| ue | |
| Now, let's take a look at German consonants. | |
| Like vowels, German consonants are predominantly similar to English. | |
| b, d, f | |
| Other consonant sounds however, may be a little more challenging. | |
| r (rost) | |
| r (Rübe) | |
| r (Schmarrn) | |
| These are the sounds that you'll need to focus on perfecting. | |
| OK. Let's move on. | |
| Tricky Letters | |
| Some consonants in German aren't actually pronounced as they look to an English speaker. Let's take a look at some of these letters. | |
| The German V, isn't pronounced like an English V, but as an F sound. So both V and F in German, are pronounced as an F sound. | |
| Vogel (“bird”), Fett (“fat”) | |
| The German W, on the other hand, is pronounced like a V sound. | |
| Wasser (“water”), Wagen (“car”) | |
| German is also notorious for its "ich" and "ach" sounds. | |
| The German CH, isn't pronounced like the CH in “church.” | |
| Ich ("I") | |
| Licht (“light”), Recht (“law”) | |
| It could also be pronounced another way... | |
| wach (“awake”) | |
| Dach (“roof”), noch (“still”) | |
| The former is pronounced closer to the front of the mouth, while the latter is pronounced at the back of the mouth. | |
| Next, is the SCH. This one is actually pronounced like the "sh" in “sheet.” | |
| schmal (“narrow”), schnell (“fast”), Schlaf (“sleep”) | |
| Now that you have gained a better understanding of German sounds, let's take a closer look at some common mistakes and how to fix them! | |
| Common mistakes | |
| We mentioned before that English speakers do not maintain the pitch of the vowel throughout. This often occurs because English speakers tend to "glide" on the vowel, needlessly adding a Y sound as they prolong the vowel. | |
| When pronouncing German vowels, try to maintain the same pitch throughout the vowel. | |
| Bad (“bath”), Nebel (“fog”), Igel (“hedgehog”), Ohr (“ear”), U-Boot (“submarine”) | |
| Bär (“bear”), blöd (“corny”), über (“over”) | |
| Another challenging sound is the German guttural R sound. | |
| rund (“round”), Rast (“break”) | |
| You want to produce the sound at the back of your throat, as if you're gargling water. Try it! | |
| r, r | |
| Well done. | |
| In this lesson, you were introduced to German pronunciation. You learned that English and German share a lot of similar consonant and vowel sounds. You also learned that German vowels are pronounced evenly throughout. And in this lesson, you were introduced to some unfamiliar German sounds and the common mistakes that learners make. | |
| We've covered only the basics of German pronunciation. If you're interested in learning more, check out our entire course titled "The Ultimate Guide to German pronunciation". In that course, we cover and break down every single sound in the German language, showing you mouth and tongue positioning, and giving you tips to help you perfect your German pronunciation. | |
| In the next lesson, we'll introduce you to the basics of German grammar, where you'll learn about German word order and how to build basic sentences in German. See you in the next lesson! Bye! | |
| Bye! |
50 Comments
HideDid you like this video? Try our Ultimate German Pronunciation Guide! https://www.germanpod101.com/index.php?cat=Introduction+Videos
Hallo Rita,
Danke schön for sending us your like.
Let us know if you have any questions! 😇
Best,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
👍
Hallo Bruce,
Danke schön for your kind comment. We are very happy to have you here. 😇
Let us know if you have any questions. 😉
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
Good 2nd lesson. Thanks.
Hallo Denisa,
Thank you for your kind feedback! 😉 We are very happy to have you here studying with us.
If you ever have any questions, please let us know!
Kind regards,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
Thank you a lot. This definetely helps me out in trying to get the "swing of the german pronunciation" 👍😄
Hello Mohamed,
Thank you for your question.
Actually, it's not easy to answer, because every student has their own preference.
There's no set rule in which order you must study these lessons.
If you want to take a 'little break' while studying a long series, you can search for something else in your level
at our Lesson Library:
https://www.germanpod101.com/lesson-library/absolute-beginner
You can select whether you want video or audio, and pick a category.
I hope it helps.
Let us know if you have any further questions.
Cheers,
Lena
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello teachers,
I am just a very beginner german learner. I am following your course "mastering german level 1, 88 lesson".
I want your advice,
shall I concentrate first to finish this level then go through the "ultimate pronunciation coursre or it could be prefered to begin with the pronunciation course at first?
Thanks in advance for your help and awesome explanation.
Hallo Holly,
Thank you for posting.
You can adjust the video lesson speed by clicking on the ‘1x’ button next to the volume control icon (you can choose either 0.75x or 0.5x to slow it down).
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GermanPod101.com
The person speaking “bear” in the vocabulary says “Der” first and then immediately says Bär. There is not enough time given between the two words to properly hear the pronunciation of Bär. Also, speaking a little slower would help absolute beginners like me who are also seniors and wear hearing aids.
Thank you.