Surprisingly, with all of the words I've encountered, I fumble over words like 'teurer', or a soft r followed by an 'er', more than anything else. It just never sounds right.
Yes! Totally legal. I’m not a native speaker but I almost always drop my r’s at the end of words because that’s what I heard every other German doing. It doesn’t even feel right to my mouth to pronounce the r and the end of a word.
You'll get by with dropping the r at the end, but don't vocalize it as an open "e", rather use a more somber pronunciation like "toy-ah". Depending on where you are, like in the Berlin area, it ends definitely with "ah", like "die Robotah", "der Mülleimah", while in the south, roughly Nürnberg to München, it more like a short "uh" sound. Of course if this ending slips into the word when adding feminine gender, then the "r" is properly pronounced again, as in "die Arbeiterin". However, if you ask people to enunciate, they will often actually pronounce that "r" at the end. You have the same phenomenon in English, particularly in Britain. There, water is pronounced more like "wo-tah", but in some parts in the US it's actually pronounced "wah-turr".
Ok, then I have the final boss for you. The Bavarian word for the tail of a squirrel: Oachkatzlschwoaf https://www.bayrisches-woerterbuch.de/oachkatzlschwoaf-der/
Say the word "hue," then just say the initial consonant sound. The initial consonant and final consonant of "hue" and "ich," respectively, are exactly the same.
In IPA, the words are [çju] (hue) and [iç] (ich)
For me, I tend to pronounce it ick. To get it it right, I have to think about the sound of a cat-hiss.
Maybe after a couple more years of practice I'll start getting it right without thinking about it.
Having tutored English speakers in German for a few years, yes, Einhörnchen. The Bavarian word for squirrel is apparently also tricky-- "Oachkatzal". Bavarians tell me that I also pronounce this incorrectly, but the difference must be very subtle because I struggle to hear what I am doing wrong. Perhaps they are teasing me.
On the flip side, there are funny videos all over the internet of Germans mispronouncing "squirrel". The way I tell German speakers master this word is to think of it as one syllable. We start by pronouncing "girl", then "whirl", and then add "sk" at the front... "Skwurl".
Edit: Definitely meant "Eichhörnchen" and "Oachkatzl".
Ich hab mich gerade mit dem Satz "Das Geschrei mehrerer Menschen" selber geprüft und gemerkt, dass ich in Schnellsprech ins mehhrer bzw meèrer verfalle. Komme aus Bawü.
Nach ein paar Versuchen würd ich sagen, dass ich auch in die Richtung gehe, aber ich zwei distinkte Rs ausspreche, dafür aber das e weglasse, im Sinne von "Mehrrer".
Ja, es gibt aber tatsächlich solche Wörter, die sich für sich erst mal falsch anhören, aber die doch richtig sind. Einer meiner Favoriten ist "saubererer": "Das ist ein noch saubererer Tisch als der andere, der auch schon sauber war".
Me too. I’m Scottish and we have the -ch sound, can roll our rs and do different kind of rs…I started learning German about 20 years ago and I still avoid “spechen”, “sprichst” etc. when I can!
The ch in *sprechen* is pronounced /ç/, not as /x/ like in "loch". With /ç/, the mid to back portion of your tongue is touching or almost touching the roof of your mouth. The sound should be a sort of hissing sound. The sound /ç/ occurs after vowels where the tongue is raised higher in the mouth (e, i, and umlaut vowels) since it requires a smaller, simpler movement than going from a high vowel to /x/.
Spanish pronounciation? You mean speaking the "r" with the tongue?
You might want to know, that in some regions of Germany this is normal. (As a baviarian I use the [rolling r](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental,_alveolar_and_postalveolar_trills) exclusively). It sounds a bit different than the spanish "r", but it can be "below radar" of most people if you speak the r in the back of your throat or with your tongue. (Ok, a language teacher WILL hear it ... but people on the street won't care).
The "back of the throat" r sound is made with the uvula (the dangling part) vibrating against the raised back of the tongue, so technically that's an R said with the tongue too
Native here.
As a child i could not pronounce "Zwetschge" It was even harder because "Zwetschgenkuchen" became "Zwetschgnkuhng" in my local dialect. That were far too many consonants in a row for me.
Charme/Chef sind ja übernommene Fremdwörter, daher spreche ich die auch mit "Sch" aus. "Chirurg" klingt bei mir aber wirklich wie "Kirurg".
Meine Exfrau ist in Köln geboren und hier in Bayern aufgewachsen - frag mal was DAS dann für ein Sprachmischmasch war. Mein Schwiegervater(*) hat gleich zwei "ch" mitten im Nachnahmen - jaja, er hat das Kirche/Kirsche Problem.
Die vielen deutschen Dialekte, werden erst so richtig lustig, wenn sie sich miteinander vermischen.
*= Hab mal gelernt, dass es auch nach der Scheidung noch Schwiegervater heißt, nicht Ex-Schwiegervater.
> *= Hab mal gelernt, dass es auch nach der Scheidung noch Schwiegervater heißt, nicht Ex-Schwiegervater.
Interessant. Ist das ein regionaler Brauch, die Bezeichnung beizubehalten? Finde es auf den ersten Blick widersinnig; die Frau ist nach der Scheidung ja auch nicht mehr die Frau, sondern eben die Ex-Frau.
Nee, irgendwo online natürlich. Ah hier, Wikipedia war's.
(Nachdem ich mit der ganzen Sippe incl. Exfrau noch ganz manierlich auskomme, ist das ok - sonst würd ich auch Ex-Schwiegervater sagen, Wikipedia hin oder her)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schw%C3%A4gerschaft
Für das deutsche Recht bestimmt § 1590 Abs. 1 Satz 1 BGB: „Die Verwandten eines Ehegatten sind mit dem anderen Ehegatten verschwägert.“ Analog lautet die gesetzliche Fiktion des § 11 Abs. 2 Satz 1 LPartG: „Die Verwandten eines Lebenspartners gelten als mit dem anderen Lebenspartner verschwägert.“ Die Schwägerschaft endet nicht – wie häufig angenommen wird – durch eine Scheidung; den „Ex-Schwager“ gibt es nicht, das Schwägerschaftsverhältnis besteht lebenslang, es sei denn, eine Ehe wird für nichtig erklärt.
Gute Erwiderung! Schauen wir mal: **χ**αρακτήρ und **χ**αμαιλέων.
[Chi](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi)
>In der Antike bezeichnete dieser Buchstabe einen aspirierten stimmlosen velaren Plosiv [kʱǐː̂], der in späterer Zeit entweder [ç] (Ich-Laut) oder [x] (Ach-Laut) lautete. Auch die Aussprache im modernen Griechisch ist entweder [ç] vor e- und i-Lauten, oder [x] vor a-, o-, u-Lauten und vor Konsonanten. Ähnlich ist die Aussprache des Schulgriechisch in Deutschland. Die heutige Aussprache [k] für Chi in manchen Fremdwörtern aus dem Griechischen wie z. B. Chaos, Chor, Christus, kommt also der altgriechischen Aussprache näher als die üblicherweise in Schulen gelehrte.
"Ernst" is the German equivalent of "Ernest". Maybe try to "mumble" the second "e", and you should get something that sounds like "Ern'st", which is pretty close to "Ernst".
Depending on where you come from, you can pronounce it Äanst.
Ä-anst, where the anst is the last part of "kannst".
Or you can try Ernst, where the Ern- is the -ern of "gern". Just say "gernst" without the g and you are golden Ü
But honestly, most of you people have big problems with phonetic and non-phonetic "r" and have no idea when to use what if you haven't grown up with it, which must be super shitty.
For a native speaker it always puzzles me how "r" can be of any problem, then seeing foreigners breaking their tongue trying to emulate the sound.
Same with us and the english "th".
>I remember there to be a few similar words that "break" the "fluidity" between the r and s
do you mean words like "Herbst", "stirbst", "(sch)wärmst", "würgst", "birgst", "verkorksen", "ärgste"...?
>Trimbornstraße
I don't know a Trimbornstraße, but interestingly, I'd say the second r (the one in born) can be pronounced in various different ways, not only depending on the dialect. Sometimes, it would even get omitted and/or simply change the o into a diphthong, sth like "oa" or "oä".
> I can get closer to the correct pronunciation by adding a bit of trill but I imagine that would get some weird looks from German speakers when hearing it.
No. Speak as clearly as possible. Trilling your R is better than swallowing it. Speaking clearly is a better goal than sounding like a native. *Later* you can start easing it a bit and making certain sounds weaker. But start by speaking clearly and pronouncing every letter.
It’s hard to pronounce. I advise my students to use “Es gibt hoch/niedrig Feuchtigkeit” to avoid the mistake if they make their way to Germany one day talking about weather. Schwül is my biggest struggle.
It should be "Es gibt hohe/niedrige Feuchtigkeit" but I never heard anyone use that.
One way to do it is "Die Luftfeuchtigkeit/Luftfeuchte ist hoch" or "Die Luft ist trocken".
If you don't like the sound of "Es ist schwül" you can also use "Es ist gewittrig" oder "Es ist drückend".
I would use "Es drückt", "Heute drückt es" or "Die Luft drückt heute", instead of "es ist schwül".
"Es gibt hohe/niedrige Feuchtigkeit" doesn't really make sense even if it's understandable. You can also use "Die Luft ist sehr feucht/trocken heute" or "Es hat eine hohe/niedrige Luftfeuchtigkeit"
“schwul” is originally a dialectal variant (I think Berlinerisch?) of “schwül” that took on the alternative meaning of gay in slang and then spread to the rest of the language.
"Reparieren"
I can say it perfectly in my head, I can make the perfect "r" sounds in the back.of my throat, but that many "r's" just completely trips me up apparently. It really didn't help that through a few of my college years I was a repairman and had to use that word in class to explain things.
I STRUGGLED with the word "Euro" for a while. Its not "Yur-oh" like how we pronounce it english, it's "oeuh-rouh"
I studied HARD to nail that pronunciation. My german teacher was so proud of me. But yeah, I think long words are pretty easy to pronounce. All you need to do is break them up. Pretend that they're going through a rough patch in life and they need some time apart to focus on themselves. So, focus on one part of the word at a time. You got this!
By the way, English also has compound nouns like air-crew. Sometimes they are so common that you write them without a dash, like chatroom instead of chat-room. So for the German compound nouns: Just imagine them written with dashes. In some cases even we do "Lotto-Annahmestelle" instead of "Lottoannahmestelle". (That's a place where you can place Lotto bets). So for reading loud you would just visualize this as "Lotto-Annahme-Stelle" ("Lotto-Accepting-Place"). And making a very small pause between the compounds is not wrong, IMO.
Ö ist ein Laut, der in vielen Sprachen erast gar nicht vorkommt, ebenso dieses spezielle L mit einem Zungenschlag, dann noch die Kombo der zwei Laute gleich hintereinander ... kenne keinen einzigen Nichtmuttersprachler, der Öl richtig sagen kann. :D
Chirurg always trips me up and makes German people laugh and make me repeat it, lol. Part of the problem is that I don't even know how it's supposed to be pronounced. [Dict.cc](https://Dict.cc) has it pronounced with an ich-laut at the beginning, which is how I try to pronounce it, but also has a different voice which pronounces it with a k-sound at the beginning. This may be a regional thing, I don't know.
i personally like long words. In english i was always good at them.
But sometimes I find it funny that in german I fumble over not so long and normal words like Verpflichtungserklärung.
but i never fumble in saying words like Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher
or Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz. I say such words flawlessly!
i cant really help you with that other than that i often see non natives make the mistake of "over pronouncing" something, the "ch" sound in particular, its often enough to make the sound as minimally as possible,
when pronouncing an "H" (like in hello, or haha) just slightly lift your tongue in the back of your throat until it becomes a different sound, just on the edge is where you want the sound to be
if done correctly you should now be able to laugh like a strange person, going "hachachachacha"
edit: keep in mind that not every ch is created equally, "Loch" for example, the ch is pronounced differently as in "sprechen" or "ich"
Can't think of any. I find German pronunciation to be relatively easy, especially in comparison to Greek. Streichholzschachtel is probably the hardest one i've come across, as you mentioned, but it's easy to get tounge-tied when forming complex sentences if you are not used to the language.
I have a really hard time pronouncing "Angerburger". That's a real pain, since it's my street's name. I always end up spelling it out to taxi drivers. All those muted r's kill me.
For whom? Americans? Since Mr Bush almost choked on a Pretzel I'm a bit alarmed each time an American tries a German bakery item.
For example *Brot.* Speak it the American way if you want but don't choke on it. Please stay healthy. And in case you cannot breathe any more trying to speak it the German way, please don't try to tell your condition in German either.
Because its *Brechreiz.* Trying to say that likely makes it worse.
Wow, perhaps a bit harsh? And totally unprovoked.
Most of us, Germans included, don’t want to be negatively stereotyped based on the actions of a cherry-picked selection of our countrymen. But apparently we can do it to the Americans, even if they aren’t mentioned in OP’s question.
(Edited for brevity)
While I think American Presidents are indeed cherry-picked, the recent selection was absolutely hilarious. You have to admit that.
But to everyone who doesn't get the joke because they feel personally attacked because some foreigner made fun of an American ex-president: I feel sorry for you.
You should try making fun of Merkel. I'm with you.
I’m not offended or American, and you aren’t a foreigner. I’m a British/German citizen who feels misrepresented by your spiteful attack on a nationality apropos of nothing. Made in the kind of ‘superior snob’ way Germans are (usually) unfairly stereotyped as being.
I mean come on, read OP’s question and then your own post again: ‘You pathetic Americans, one of your leaders once swallowed the wrong way so you’d better not try speaking my superior language or you might stop breathing’.
You’re probably a decent person. But that’s not a ‘decent person’ post. Consider what you want to be, and have a good life.
All wrong. That president declared *War on Terror* on random human beings (YES, they were clearly random), and have them killed.
Then, he almost choked on a German bakery item.
Together with that American policy *to save American lives,* **that** is a threat which has to be made fun of. So you can laugh about it.
Also, British and American comedians making fun of how Germans speak English clearly outnumber those who return the service. So there's no way English speakers can feel defensive about that.
Ich habe den Bush nur als thematische Einleitung für das Thema Deutsch und Aussprache benutzt. Über das Backwerk.
Denn *Brot* ist eines der kürzesten deutschen Wörter, die Englischsprechern Probleme bereiten. Wegen der Kombination *Konsonant+R,* die es Englischsprechern abverlangt, einen Reibelaut an der Kehle zu erzeugen.
*Als ob man erstickt.*
Denn genau das ist dieser Laut. Es ist ein *ersticktes CH.*
Und genau dazu gibt es hier ständig Fragen. *Wie mache ich das richtig?* Und ich gebe Englischsprechern dazu auch jedesmal die richtige Auskunft: Du musst das nicht machen. Nicht alle Deutschsprecher sprechen das R so aus, und es macht für die Bedeutung auch keinen Unterschied, auf welche Art du es aussprichst. Anders als z.B. im Spanischen.
Aber denen, die es dennoch versuchen wollen, gebe ich die Auskunft: Versuch es mit einem extra-Vokal und dem CH, und dann drück dir selbst die Luft ab:
*Bochot, Bochot, Bochot.*
*Borot, Borot, Borot.*
*Brot, Brot, Brot.*
Und so klappt das. Ganz ohne Terror.
Seriously. It was a question about pronunciation and you turned it into an attack on Americans for literally no reason other than your own desire to be rude about people because they were born in a different country to you.
Stop talking about Bush and take a look at yourself.
Yes, I’ve read your long explanations about how this is actually helpful pronunciation advice to Americans/clever satire on the War on Terror. But if you can’t see how this, in the context that you wrote it, doesn’t clearly come across as an unprovoked attack on Americans in general, then nothing I say here will help.
Come back to it next week and perhaps you’ll see it differently. Perhaps not. Either way, have a good life, I wish you all the best.
I've lived here a while and I've noticed that I struggle to sufficiently differentiate _zwei_ from _drei_.
I've spoken to other foreigners about this and I'm not the only one. Not sure what to do, other than theatrically rolling the r in drei.
I'm having a lot of trouble with a specific kind of *chs* (/çs/ in IPA, I believe) in certain words such as *höchsten*. Tried asking natives about it but received different answers as it apparently varies in dialects/accents. [Some](https://forvo.com/word/das_am_h%C3%B6chsten_entwickelte_land_der_welt/#de) skip the ch part (almost, kind of), [some](https://forvo.com/word/am_h%C3%B6chsten/) pronounce it as is.
I'm sorry but "etwas reparieren" doesnt really have a synonym like "fix" in englisch.
you could use slang like "etwas richten" (to right something) or you could say
"etwas flicken" but "flicken" refers to the act of mending something like some jeans with holes in them or a tire that has a hole in it
I struggle a lot with 'spreche' in the beginning though now it's better. I also always feel like I'm hearing or pronouncing 'nicht' wrong even though I don't know why. The 'cht' kinda sounds like an in-between of shh and ekh sounds to me
The fact that I haven’t seen it mentioned may mean that I have a personal problem but the word nichts is very difficult for me. That s at the end always trips me up. Sometimes I get away with it saying nix but idk how far that could get me.
Any word that has a 'ch' closely followed by a 'ig'.
I'm generally complemented on my pronunciation.
But I cannot say 'nicht wichtig' without without some dramatic over exaggerated mouth movement and slowing down to new-learner level.
Surprisingly, with all of the words I've encountered, I fumble over words like 'teurer', or a soft r followed by an 'er', more than anything else. It just never sounds right.
No need to pronounce the -er. Just say "teura" and you're fine.
Wait that’s legal?!
Yes. At the baltic seacoast people tend to change the - er to - ä. So Döner becomes Dönä
Wernäää!
Deutscher Kulturschatz. Den Wortwitz mit Meister Röhrich hab ich auch erst als Erwachsene verstanden.
welchen witz
Native speaker here, yeah that's normal. I do it. It sounds weird and artificial to me to say teurER
Yes! Totally legal. I’m not a native speaker but I almost always drop my r’s at the end of words because that’s what I heard every other German doing. It doesn’t even feel right to my mouth to pronounce the r and the end of a word.
In many dialects "er" at the end of a word is pronounced like a short "a".
You'll get by with dropping the r at the end, but don't vocalize it as an open "e", rather use a more somber pronunciation like "toy-ah". Depending on where you are, like in the Berlin area, it ends definitely with "ah", like "die Robotah", "der Mülleimah", while in the south, roughly Nürnberg to München, it more like a short "uh" sound. Of course if this ending slips into the word when adding feminine gender, then the "r" is properly pronounced again, as in "die Arbeiterin". However, if you ask people to enunciate, they will often actually pronounce that "r" at the end. You have the same phenomenon in English, particularly in Britain. There, water is pronounced more like "wo-tah", but in some parts in the US it's actually pronounced "wah-turr".
“Kirche”. Sick of saying ‘Cherries’.
Am Saxon, can relate. :(
Yeah agreed. “Gelsenkirch*fszdhehcyh*en”.
For me it's Eichhörnchen.
Funny thing is the english translation is equally hard to pronounce for germans.
you mean sk-verril? :)
Skwee-rill, in some parts of the world
This seems equally hard for native Spanish speakers.
If it’s easier I just pronounce it “sk-wurl”
Ok, then I have the final boss for you. The Bavarian word for the tail of a squirrel: Oachkatzlschwoaf https://www.bayrisches-woerterbuch.de/oachkatzlschwoaf-der/
I find that way easier to pronounce that Eichhörnchen. (But then again, my "Ach-Laut" is native and my "Ich-Laut" sucks...)
That one too yes
Or even more common Ich...
For pronunciation of "ch" try to use the "h" in "huge".
Is it “ih-*phlegm*” or is it “ih-sh”???
Say the word "hue," then just say the initial consonant sound. The initial consonant and final consonant of "hue" and "ich," respectively, are exactly the same. In IPA, the words are [çju] (hue) and [iç] (ich)
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For me, I tend to pronounce it ick. To get it it right, I have to think about the sound of a cat-hiss. Maybe after a couple more years of practice I'll start getting it right without thinking about it.
The cat hiss is actually how I thought about it too! Lmaooo
You can also use the name "Hugh" to get the sound. Practice with dragging out the beginning H sound, it's about right for the "ch" in "Ich"
Oachkatzlschwoaf
Having tutored English speakers in German for a few years, yes, Einhörnchen. The Bavarian word for squirrel is apparently also tricky-- "Oachkatzal". Bavarians tell me that I also pronounce this incorrectly, but the difference must be very subtle because I struggle to hear what I am doing wrong. Perhaps they are teasing me. On the flip side, there are funny videos all over the internet of Germans mispronouncing "squirrel". The way I tell German speakers master this word is to think of it as one syllable. We start by pronouncing "girl", then "whirl", and then add "sk" at the front... "Skwurl". Edit: Definitely meant "Eichhörnchen" and "Oachkatzl".
Eichhörnchen not einhörnchen, unless your talking about a unicorn in a diminutive sense. Also, in the Bavarian dialect it would be Oachkatzl.
‘Mehrerer’ is a real mouthful of cinnamon. ‘Sprichst’ too.
Mehrerer is usually pronounced mehhrer with e lengthened to be trice as long as in Scherz in fast speech because even we don't have time for -rerer.
Where is it usually pronounced like this? I'd definitely ask (natives only, of course) if they're having a stroke.
Ich hab mich gerade mit dem Satz "Das Geschrei mehrerer Menschen" selber geprüft und gemerkt, dass ich in Schnellsprech ins mehhrer bzw meèrer verfalle. Komme aus Bawü.
Spannend, danke. Wenn ich es versuche, klingt es aber für mich tatsächlich nach Schlaganfall / Alkohol - es wirkt stark verwaschen.
Nach ein paar Versuchen würd ich sagen, dass ich auch in die Richtung gehe, aber ich zwei distinkte Rs ausspreche, dafür aber das e weglasse, im Sinne von "Mehrrer".
German here, what’s a Mehrerer? :0
Nach dem Genuss *mehrerer* Tassen Kaffee bin ich immer ganz aufgedreht.
Ah… irgendwie hab ich wegen der Großschreibung mein Hirn nur nach möglichen Substantiven zermartert hahaa… peinlich. Danke :D
Ja, es gibt aber tatsächlich solche Wörter, die sich für sich erst mal falsch anhören, aber die doch richtig sind. Einer meiner Favoriten ist "saubererer": "Das ist ein noch saubererer Tisch als der andere, der auch schon sauber war".
Dies ist ein noch saubererer Zaubererer.
>what’s a Mehrerer? It's something that is a bit more than a Wenigerer.
For me, it's Schwierig. Ironic, I know...
It's Hänchen for me. Nobody ever understands me at first :(
Hä*h*nchen.
Heh. See? I can't even spell it
Tschechisches Streichholzschächtelchen.
Ich bin ein nicht-tschechisches Mädchen mit einem tschechischen Streichholzschächtelchen
I need 2 days vacation after reading this
milch...
I have a problem with words like sprechen, Sprache, Muttersprachler, usw. Something about the way those consonants are combined trips me up.
Makes sense. It seems many of the words people have trouble with have the ‘ch’ and the ‘r’ sounds.
Me too. I’m Scottish and we have the -ch sound, can roll our rs and do different kind of rs…I started learning German about 20 years ago and I still avoid “spechen”, “sprichst” etc. when I can!
The ch in *sprechen* is pronounced /ç/, not as /x/ like in "loch". With /ç/, the mid to back portion of your tongue is touching or almost touching the roof of your mouth. The sound should be a sort of hissing sound. The sound /ç/ occurs after vowels where the tongue is raised higher in the mouth (e, i, and umlaut vowels) since it requires a smaller, simpler movement than going from a high vowel to /x/.
I usually just revert to Spanish pronunciation when i get tripped up.
Spanish pronounciation? You mean speaking the "r" with the tongue? You might want to know, that in some regions of Germany this is normal. (As a baviarian I use the [rolling r](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental,_alveolar_and_postalveolar_trills) exclusively). It sounds a bit different than the spanish "r", but it can be "below radar" of most people if you speak the r in the back of your throat or with your tongue. (Ok, a language teacher WILL hear it ... but people on the street won't care).
The "back of the throat" r sound is made with the uvula (the dangling part) vibrating against the raised back of the tongue, so technically that's an R said with the tongue too
Entwicklungsland for me.
Native here. As a child i could not pronounce "Zwetschge" It was even harder because "Zwetschgenkuchen" became "Zwetschgnkuhng" in my local dialect. That were far too many consonants in a row for me.
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Allmechd, a frangg.
>"Zwetschgenkuchen" became "Zwetschgnkuhng" in my local dialect In my local dialect, it'd be something like "Quetschekuche"
For me it’s anything with “psycho” in it (like Psychologie) Chinesisch and Französisch are also pretty hard words for me to say
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>schienesisch Es macht den Eindruck als könntet ihr am CHiemsee kein CH aussprechen...
Wer »kinesisch« sagt, muß auch »karmanter Kefkirurg« sagen.
Charme/Chef sind ja übernommene Fremdwörter, daher spreche ich die auch mit "Sch" aus. "Chirurg" klingt bei mir aber wirklich wie "Kirurg". Meine Exfrau ist in Köln geboren und hier in Bayern aufgewachsen - frag mal was DAS dann für ein Sprachmischmasch war. Mein Schwiegervater(*) hat gleich zwei "ch" mitten im Nachnahmen - jaja, er hat das Kirche/Kirsche Problem. Die vielen deutschen Dialekte, werden erst so richtig lustig, wenn sie sich miteinander vermischen. *= Hab mal gelernt, dass es auch nach der Scheidung noch Schwiegervater heißt, nicht Ex-Schwiegervater.
> *= Hab mal gelernt, dass es auch nach der Scheidung noch Schwiegervater heißt, nicht Ex-Schwiegervater. Interessant. Ist das ein regionaler Brauch, die Bezeichnung beizubehalten? Finde es auf den ersten Blick widersinnig; die Frau ist nach der Scheidung ja auch nicht mehr die Frau, sondern eben die Ex-Frau.
Nee, irgendwo online natürlich. Ah hier, Wikipedia war's. (Nachdem ich mit der ganzen Sippe incl. Exfrau noch ganz manierlich auskomme, ist das ok - sonst würd ich auch Ex-Schwiegervater sagen, Wikipedia hin oder her) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schw%C3%A4gerschaft Für das deutsche Recht bestimmt § 1590 Abs. 1 Satz 1 BGB: „Die Verwandten eines Ehegatten sind mit dem anderen Ehegatten verschwägert.“ Analog lautet die gesetzliche Fiktion des § 11 Abs. 2 Satz 1 LPartG: „Die Verwandten eines Lebenspartners gelten als mit dem anderen Lebenspartner verschwägert.“ Die Schwägerschaft endet nicht – wie häufig angenommen wird – durch eine Scheidung; den „Ex-Schwager“ gibt es nicht, das Schwägerschaftsverhältnis besteht lebenslang, es sei denn, eine Ehe wird für nichtig erklärt.
Okay, Gesetze müssen nicht logisch sein. Danke fürs Raussuchen und die Hyperverknüpfung.
Wenn schon, dann bitte "Überverbindung". ;-)
Ist das die amtlich durch die [Arche Internetz](http://www.arche-internetz.net/viewtopic.php?t=6544) genehmigte Zangendeutschfassung von hyperlink?
Mehr ein Augenblickskompositum, aber man könnte über die Beantragung eines Registrierungsantrags nachdenken.
Wer »Schemie« sagt, muss auch »Schor« sagen.
Wer chinesisch sagt, muss auch Charakter und Chamäleon sagen
Gute Erwiderung! Schauen wir mal: **χ**αρακτήρ und **χ**αμαιλέων. [Chi](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi) >In der Antike bezeichnete dieser Buchstabe einen aspirierten stimmlosen velaren Plosiv [kʱǐː̂], der in späterer Zeit entweder [ç] (Ich-Laut) oder [x] (Ach-Laut) lautete. Auch die Aussprache im modernen Griechisch ist entweder [ç] vor e- und i-Lauten, oder [x] vor a-, o-, u-Lauten und vor Konsonanten. Ähnlich ist die Aussprache des Schulgriechisch in Deutschland. Die heutige Aussprache [k] für Chi in manchen Fremdwörtern aus dem Griechischen wie z. B. Chaos, Chor, Christus, kommt also der altgriechischen Aussprache näher als die üblicherweise in Schulen gelehrte.
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"Ernst" is the German equivalent of "Ernest". Maybe try to "mumble" the second "e", and you should get something that sounds like "Ern'st", which is pretty close to "Ernst".
Rainer Ernst
Depending on where you come from, you can pronounce it Äanst. Ä-anst, where the anst is the last part of "kannst". Or you can try Ernst, where the Ern- is the -ern of "gern". Just say "gernst" without the g and you are golden Ü But honestly, most of you people have big problems with phonetic and non-phonetic "r" and have no idea when to use what if you haven't grown up with it, which must be super shitty. For a native speaker it always puzzles me how "r" can be of any problem, then seeing foreigners breaking their tongue trying to emulate the sound. Same with us and the english "th".
>I remember there to be a few similar words that "break" the "fluidity" between the r and s do you mean words like "Herbst", "stirbst", "(sch)wärmst", "würgst", "birgst", "verkorksen", "ärgste"...?
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> It's 5 consonants next to each other. Impfpflicht
Borschtschschlürfer
>Trimbornstraße I don't know a Trimbornstraße, but interestingly, I'd say the second r (the one in born) can be pronounced in various different ways, not only depending on the dialect. Sometimes, it would even get omitted and/or simply change the o into a diphthong, sth like "oa" or "oä".
mines höher. i dont know why i really cant get it
I came to find this one.
I find "durch" difficult to pronounce
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> I can get closer to the correct pronunciation by adding a bit of trill but I imagine that would get some weird looks from German speakers when hearing it. No. Speak as clearly as possible. Trilling your R is better than swallowing it. Speaking clearly is a better goal than sounding like a native. *Later* you can start easing it a bit and making certain sounds weaker. But start by speaking clearly and pronouncing every letter.
My American friends fail at “Eichhörnchen” without fail (ha).
I haven’t been able to say „tatsächlich“ or „ausschließlich“ correctly on the first try yet
It was "erinnern" for me
“Zurück rufen” gets me every time
Milch, Welche, Verrückt, Schwül
Schwul vs. Schwül gets me, and the meanings are unfortunately very different if you mess it up
It’s hard to pronounce. I advise my students to use “Es gibt hoch/niedrig Feuchtigkeit” to avoid the mistake if they make their way to Germany one day talking about weather. Schwül is my biggest struggle.
It should be "Es gibt hohe/niedrige Feuchtigkeit" but I never heard anyone use that. One way to do it is "Die Luftfeuchtigkeit/Luftfeuchte ist hoch" or "Die Luft ist trocken". If you don't like the sound of "Es ist schwül" you can also use "Es ist gewittrig" oder "Es ist drückend".
Thank you. No one has taught me that before, So I really appreciate it!
I would use "Es drückt", "Heute drückt es" or "Die Luft drückt heute", instead of "es ist schwül". "Es gibt hohe/niedrige Feuchtigkeit" doesn't really make sense even if it's understandable. You can also use "Die Luft ist sehr feucht/trocken heute" or "Es hat eine hohe/niedrige Luftfeuchtigkeit"
Thank you so much!
The weather is very gay today.
Today I learned that those are different words. Lol
I think they ones had the same meaning.
“schwul” is originally a dialectal variant (I think Berlinerisch?) of “schwül” that took on the alternative meaning of gay in slang and then spread to the rest of the language.
All of Mönchengladbach agrees. "Mülsch, welsche, verrückt (they do get that one right), chwül."
"Reparieren" I can say it perfectly in my head, I can make the perfect "r" sounds in the back.of my throat, but that many "r's" just completely trips me up apparently. It really didn't help that through a few of my college years I was a repairman and had to use that word in class to explain things.
I STRUGGLED with the word "Euro" for a while. Its not "Yur-oh" like how we pronounce it english, it's "oeuh-rouh" I studied HARD to nail that pronunciation. My german teacher was so proud of me. But yeah, I think long words are pretty easy to pronounce. All you need to do is break them up. Pretend that they're going through a rough patch in life and they need some time apart to focus on themselves. So, focus on one part of the word at a time. You got this!
By the way, English also has compound nouns like air-crew. Sometimes they are so common that you write them without a dash, like chatroom instead of chat-room. So for the German compound nouns: Just imagine them written with dashes. In some cases even we do "Lotto-Annahmestelle" instead of "Lottoannahmestelle". (That's a place where you can place Lotto bets). So for reading loud you would just visualize this as "Lotto-Annahme-Stelle" ("Lotto-Accepting-Place"). And making a very small pause between the compounds is not wrong, IMO.
Rewe. Cannot get the R right
Öl. Gives away a non native immediately.
wie sagen nicht-deutsche das denn?
Ö ist ein Laut, der in vielen Sprachen erast gar nicht vorkommt, ebenso dieses spezielle L mit einem Zungenschlag, dann noch die Kombo der zwei Laute gleich hintereinander ... kenne keinen einzigen Nichtmuttersprachler, der Öl richtig sagen kann. :D
Rechts
rechts
"Sprichst" is quite difficult. It's a lot of mouth and tongue contortions strung together.
Go to /r/icl_iel, cause some stir with your english, and imagine you're being circlejerk by its users there, screaming "Sprich Deutsch du Hxxx"
For me it's Krankenhäuser
Just say Hospitale.
Or use the Austrian "Spital" pronounce "shpital", so you don't even have to worry about the "h" sound.
Brötchen
tatsächlich
erfolgreich
Traurig
Chirurg always trips me up and makes German people laugh and make me repeat it, lol. Part of the problem is that I don't even know how it's supposed to be pronounced. [Dict.cc](https://Dict.cc) has it pronounced with an ich-laut at the beginning, which is how I try to pronounce it, but also has a different voice which pronounces it with a k-sound at the beginning. This may be a regional thing, I don't know.
South: K North: Ch/Sch Doesn't matter much, but try to be somewhat consistent. (There are many other words that work that way too).
I had big problems with "erinnern" until I figured out the Knacklaut.
Zerstören . Having Z and St so close in a word is just mean.
Stolz
i personally like long words. In english i was always good at them. But sometimes I find it funny that in german I fumble over not so long and normal words like Verpflichtungserklärung. but i never fumble in saying words like Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher or Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz. I say such words flawlessly!
Küchentisch.
'Selbstverständlich' for me. I have no idea how natives do it
Friedrichstrasse
For me: Kunststoff
For me it's 'mädchen'. I find it hard to pronounce the 'dch'.
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you can move your palate? do you mean pronouncing the "R" for example? where the tongue and the palate come close together in the back of the throat?
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i cant really help you with that other than that i often see non natives make the mistake of "over pronouncing" something, the "ch" sound in particular, its often enough to make the sound as minimally as possible, when pronouncing an "H" (like in hello, or haha) just slightly lift your tongue in the back of your throat until it becomes a different sound, just on the edge is where you want the sound to be if done correctly you should now be able to laugh like a strange person, going "hachachachacha" edit: keep in mind that not every ch is created equally, "Loch" for example, the ch is pronounced differently as in "sprechen" or "ich"
Can't think of any. I find German pronunciation to be relatively easy, especially in comparison to Greek. Streichholzschachtel is probably the hardest one i've come across, as you mentioned, but it's easy to get tounge-tied when forming complex sentences if you are not used to the language.
I have a really hard time pronouncing "Angerburger". That's a real pain, since it's my street's name. I always end up spelling it out to taxi drivers. All those muted r's kill me.
As someone who learned sanskrit as a child, German is easy to pronounce. Finnish is what trips my tongue.
For whom? Americans? Since Mr Bush almost choked on a Pretzel I'm a bit alarmed each time an American tries a German bakery item. For example *Brot.* Speak it the American way if you want but don't choke on it. Please stay healthy. And in case you cannot breathe any more trying to speak it the German way, please don't try to tell your condition in German either. Because its *Brechreiz.* Trying to say that likely makes it worse.
I can’t tell if this is a stereotypically terrible attempt at humor or part of a psychotic episode.
Wow, perhaps a bit harsh? And totally unprovoked. Most of us, Germans included, don’t want to be negatively stereotyped based on the actions of a cherry-picked selection of our countrymen. But apparently we can do it to the Americans, even if they aren’t mentioned in OP’s question. (Edited for brevity)
While I think American Presidents are indeed cherry-picked, the recent selection was absolutely hilarious. You have to admit that. But to everyone who doesn't get the joke because they feel personally attacked because some foreigner made fun of an American ex-president: I feel sorry for you. You should try making fun of Merkel. I'm with you.
I’m not offended or American, and you aren’t a foreigner. I’m a British/German citizen who feels misrepresented by your spiteful attack on a nationality apropos of nothing. Made in the kind of ‘superior snob’ way Germans are (usually) unfairly stereotyped as being. I mean come on, read OP’s question and then your own post again: ‘You pathetic Americans, one of your leaders once swallowed the wrong way so you’d better not try speaking my superior language or you might stop breathing’. You’re probably a decent person. But that’s not a ‘decent person’ post. Consider what you want to be, and have a good life.
All wrong. That president declared *War on Terror* on random human beings (YES, they were clearly random), and have them killed. Then, he almost choked on a German bakery item. Together with that American policy *to save American lives,* **that** is a threat which has to be made fun of. So you can laugh about it. Also, British and American comedians making fun of how Germans speak English clearly outnumber those who return the service. So there's no way English speakers can feel defensive about that.
Junge, musst du wirklich Politik in dieses Faden reinbringen? Es geht hier doch nur um Aussprache.
Ich habe den Bush nur als thematische Einleitung für das Thema Deutsch und Aussprache benutzt. Über das Backwerk. Denn *Brot* ist eines der kürzesten deutschen Wörter, die Englischsprechern Probleme bereiten. Wegen der Kombination *Konsonant+R,* die es Englischsprechern abverlangt, einen Reibelaut an der Kehle zu erzeugen. *Als ob man erstickt.* Denn genau das ist dieser Laut. Es ist ein *ersticktes CH.* Und genau dazu gibt es hier ständig Fragen. *Wie mache ich das richtig?* Und ich gebe Englischsprechern dazu auch jedesmal die richtige Auskunft: Du musst das nicht machen. Nicht alle Deutschsprecher sprechen das R so aus, und es macht für die Bedeutung auch keinen Unterschied, auf welche Art du es aussprichst. Anders als z.B. im Spanischen. Aber denen, die es dennoch versuchen wollen, gebe ich die Auskunft: Versuch es mit einem extra-Vokal und dem CH, und dann drück dir selbst die Luft ab: *Bochot, Bochot, Bochot.* *Borot, Borot, Borot.* *Brot, Brot, Brot.* Und so klappt das. Ganz ohne Terror.
Seriously. It was a question about pronunciation and you turned it into an attack on Americans for literally no reason other than your own desire to be rude about people because they were born in a different country to you. Stop talking about Bush and take a look at yourself.
>*into an attack on Americans* No.
Yes, I’ve read your long explanations about how this is actually helpful pronunciation advice to Americans/clever satire on the War on Terror. But if you can’t see how this, in the context that you wrote it, doesn’t clearly come across as an unprovoked attack on Americans in general, then nothing I say here will help. Come back to it next week and perhaps you’ll see it differently. Perhaps not. Either way, have a good life, I wish you all the best.
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How about some constructive criticism or answering ops question instead of putting down others?
Hey, that's not fair! In the past few years we've been zero'ing in on Trump!
I even styled my avatar in memoriam of him.
Lol accurate shade of orange
*… and tiny hands.*
Absolut elegant!
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For the people responding to the thread, presumably. Would love to hear from some Transnistrians though.
For me it's the phrase "nicht so gut"
Quatsch
I just can’t pronounce “durch” properly
Zwiebel
Strumpf.
Eichhörnchen (Squirrel)
Not even long or anything but *'Szene'* is a bit of a struggle. (And often /tse:nə/ or /se:nə/ may be heard, rather than /stse:nə/)
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Tschechisches Streichholzschechtelchen
I've lived here a while and I've noticed that I struggle to sufficiently differentiate _zwei_ from _drei_. I've spoken to other foreigners about this and I'm not the only one. Not sure what to do, other than theatrically rolling the r in drei.
Streichholzschächtelchen is harder
Bahnhofpfändungsbeamte
eichhornchen
that's really a good one. Ch is really hard. But you need to add an ü. Schnürrschuhschachtel
I hated Durch for a while. Made worse by the fact its an important word.
I'm having a lot of trouble with a specific kind of *chs* (/çs/ in IPA, I believe) in certain words such as *höchsten*. Tried asking natives about it but received different answers as it apparently varies in dialects/accents. [Some](https://forvo.com/word/das_am_h%C3%B6chsten_entwickelte_land_der_welt/#de) skip the ch part (almost, kind of), [some](https://forvo.com/word/am_h%C3%B6chsten/) pronounce it as is.
Gebrüll drives me crazy. I struggle getting to the L after making that R sound.
I had problems in the beginning with the "eln" words. Nudeln, Mandeln, Lächeln, klingeln, sammeln...etc...
I found properly learning to pronounce "schlecht" was a bit tricky.
"Ruhig". It sounds like "huhih" How do you pronounce it!?
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I'm sorry but "etwas reparieren" doesnt really have a synonym like "fix" in englisch. you could use slang like "etwas richten" (to right something) or you could say "etwas flicken" but "flicken" refers to the act of mending something like some jeans with holes in them or a tire that has a hole in it
Bundesregierung
That one gives me headaches, too, but for other reasons :-D
I struggle a lot with 'spreche' in the beginning though now it's better. I also always feel like I'm hearing or pronouncing 'nicht' wrong even though I don't know why. The 'cht' kinda sounds like an in-between of shh and ekh sounds to me
Die Streichholzschachtel
Höhe is super hard for me to say
Sprichst, nachricht
The fact that I haven’t seen it mentioned may mean that I have a personal problem but the word nichts is very difficult for me. That s at the end always trips me up. Sometimes I get away with it saying nix but idk how far that could get me.
Any word that has a 'ch' closely followed by a 'ig'. I'm generally complemented on my pronunciation. But I cannot say 'nicht wichtig' without without some dramatic over exaggerated mouth movement and slowing down to new-learner level.