1: Pronunciation
To start off with I'm going to go over pronunciation, because if you don't know how the words sound, you won't get anywhere with your language.
The German alphabet has all the same letters as in the English alphabet. There is also the additional 'β' and the vowels with umlauts, which are 'ä' and 'ü' and 'ö'.
Vowel Sounds, Including Umlauts!a This is pronounced like in English, in the words 'bat' and 'apple'. When lengthened, the sound becomes longer, so it becomes more like 'aa'.
e Sounds like in the English words 'get' and 'rent'. When 'e' is placed on the end of a word, you must pronounce it! eg. Lampe (lamp) is pronounced lamp-e. When lengthened, it sounds more like the sound you get in the English word 'ear' and 'here'.
i In most words, i sounds like the i in 'gift' or 'fit'. When it is lengthened or placed at the end of a word, it sounds like ee. (Keep, meet etc.)
o When lengthened, it is pronounced like in 'or' and 'sport'. In front of a double consonant, and in some other words it is shortened and pronounced more like in 'got' or 'modern'.
u Sounds like in 'but' or 'under'. When it is lengthened it sounds a bit like oo when it's used in the word 'cool' (Not like it the word 'kangaroo'!)
ä Sounds like the 'e' in the English words 'lend' and 'pen'. When lengthened, it sounds like the ai in the words 'air' and 'pair'.
ö When lengthened, it sounds like 'er' or 'uh' like in the words 'moth
er' or 'f
irst.' Shortened, it is the same but shorter, obviously.
ü Pronounced like oo, like in the words 'cube' and 'mood'.
Note For those who don't have umlauts on their keyboards, umlauts are written like so:
ae = ä
oe = ö
ue = ü
au Pronounced like ow, (aa-u) making the 'a' part of it sound like you are going to say 'aaarr' but then put in the 'u' before you make it sound like you have a splinter in your 'Auge' (eye).
ai/ei Both pronounced like a-ee, like the word 'eye'.
äu/eu Both are pronounced like oi (Like toy) - but make sure you make the o sound in oi sound short like the o in 'got'.
Consonants!I'm not going to list the consonants that are pronounced the same as in English here, so if it's not on the list it's pronounced exactly the same!
b Is only pronounced differently when it's the last letter of a word. Then it is pronounced like a p. eg. the word Gelb (yellow) is pronounced
Gelp.c Can be pronounced in many ways! The website I've linked to at the bottom of this post explains it a little more clearly. I would advise taking a look at it.
Depending on the word, it can be pronounced either
ts,
k,
sh, or the other way, which I am about to explain next.
ch For those of you taking Japanese, this may be easier to understand. It is like the sound at the beginning of 'hya'. Most of the time itt's made at the front of your mouth (Following an umlaut or i or i) If it follows o or a or u it usually is made at the back of the mouth.
d Is pronounced the same, except when placed at the end of a word, when it's pronouced 't'. eg. Und (and) is pronounced
unt.
g Is pronounced the same most of the time, but sometimes can be pronounced like a k.
j Is pronounced like a y is in English.
q Must be combined with the letter u like in English, and is then pronounced 'kv'
r The r sound in German is made with the back of your throat. It's a bit like gargling, as the website explains, but maybe not so dramatic! It's pretty hard to explain and I hear many people have trouble with it, so the best way of learning the r is to practice it.
s Depending on which consonant you combine it with, s has many pronunciations. On its own, it is pronounced either like an s in English, or like a z. At the beginning of a word it's usually like a z.
st Pronounced 'sht', not like the English st used in 'street' or 'stick'.
sp Pronounced 'shp', not like the English 'spam' or 'spike'.
ss The same as just a single s in English like in 'bass'.
sch Pronounced like 'sh', not like the sch in 'school'.
dsch Like the English j.
tsch Like the English ch.
t Only pronounced differently when used in a word ending in -tion eg. Portion. Then it is pronounced ts, so Portion would be por-tsion.
v Like the English f.
w Like the English v.
y Not a common letter in German, but usually pronounced like the ü.
z Pronounced like ts. eg. Zahl (number) would be tsaal.
ß It is like an English s. It never comes at the beginning of a word.
I have found a website, much of which I have used help from in this section, that goes over all the sounds in German with sound files, so if you haven't understood something, or want to check something you've read, then you will find this useful.
Follow this link!Hawk_McKrakken
Also, this pronunciation guide might be better for those who don't have realmedia player (or whatever .rm files stand for):
http://www.ex.ac.uk/german/abinitio/pronounce/ (If it tries to open in Quicktime and you don't have it, you can right-click the button and select "Save Target As" to play it in Winamp or Windows Media Player)
To me it just seems a lot more organized than the other link, but that's me..
I realise this is a massive list of pronunciation, not all of it you will need. Don't try to learn all of these in one go, just pick them up as you go along. If you plan on sticking with German, they'll become no problem afater you have a feel for the language!
The best way of learning pronunciations is to practise speaking them, and to listen to German speakers say them (I'm sure there will be many German videos on YouTube. You don't even have to be interested in what they're about, just listen to the sounds they make if they're speaking clearly enough!)
I promise next time I post a lesson it will not be so long and tedious, but the pronunciations are an important part of learning a language, and it's best to learn them at the beginning before you remember things incorrectly!
Viel Erfolg! (Much success!)
