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! |
54 Comments
HideDid you like this video? Try our Ultimate German Pronunciation Guide! https://www.germanpod101.com/lesson-library/ultimate-german-pronunciation-guide
Hi Ingrid,
Thank you for your feedback.
Regarding the "word of the day": Before looking
at any other possible issues, have you
checked that your email address is correct?
The audio track can be downloaded by clicking on the
button with the arrow pointing down. It's the fourth button from
the left, under the title.
As to the "grammar lists", I guess you mean the grammar lesson (?). You
will get to that by going to the next lesson (no. 3) in this series. Slightly to the right,
above this lesson's title you will find a drop-down menu. It is showing "2" now, lesson
2 of a list of 5 lessons. 😉
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hello! Where is the Review Audio Track and Grammar List's ?
And I'm not receiving the Word of the day..
Hi HNCKrstl,
Thank you for your kind comment. ❤️️
We hope you like the rest of the lessons as well.
Cheers, 😄
Lena
Team GermanPod101.com
Whoa.. Danke schön~! ❤️️
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" 👍😄