Aussprache - Questions on how to correctly speak a word.
19
votes
11answers
704 views
How is the ending -ig pronounced, and where?
I've heard the following alternatives for pronouncing the ending -ig of words like fertig and lustig:
/ɪç/ (as in mich)
/ɪʃ/ (as in Fisch)
/ɪg/
/ɪk/
Where are the different pronunciations used? ...
19
votes
1answer
500 views
How do we pronounce “China”?
In German there is some confusion on how to pronounce the letters 'ch' in "China". I heard all of following variants:
[ˈçiːnaː] - "ich"
[ˈkçiːnaː] - "Bäckchen"
[ˈkiːnaː] - "Kino"
[ʃiːnaː] - ...
17
votes
3answers
423 views
When is the last sound of a syllable unvoiced?
It is very common to unvoice consonant sounds appearing last in a word.
die Hand -- /hant/ -- d → /t/
der Tag -- /taːk/ -- g → /k/
der Staub -- /ʃtaʊp/ -- b → /p/
This sometimes happens with ...
17
votes
3answers
385 views
Spelling to pronunciation
It is said that German spelling is largely phonetic (unlike English spelling), and that there is a fairly reliable set of rules to convert spelling to pronunciation. (Sure, there are some exceptions, ...
13
votes
6answers
641 views
Speaking German with accent: a status symbol or a sign of being a foreigner?
I have been living in Germany for almost 10 years now and despite good command of both written and spoken German I have a noticeable accent and my texts are not absolutely perfect. I have noticed many ...
11
votes
2answers
689 views
Do you always pronounce ST as SHT?
If you have a word like 'Strasse' and it forms part of a street name for example, then I would assume that you still pronounce the word as though it were by itself.
But are there examples of when you ...
11
votes
3answers
301 views
How are mathematical expressions of this kind read in German (with fraction and root)?
My guesses are:
ein fünfte Wurzel aus a plus c Quadrat-tel / ein Kubikwurzel aus p-tel
eins durch fünfte Wurzel aus a plus c Quadrat / eins durch ...
11
votes
3answers
429 views
Why are “vier” and the beginning of “vierzehn” not pronounced the same?
Why is "vier" in the beginning of "vierzehn" [ˈfɪrʦeːn] not pronounced the same as the standalone "vier" [fiːɐ]?
11
votes
3answers
723 views
Milch? Milsh? Why the pronunciation difference?
I'm working my way through the Pimsleur German series, and I've noticed that one of the speakers has what seems to me a strange pronunciation of the word Milch.
He pronounces the ch like the sh sound ...
11
votes
2answers
253 views
Wann spricht man „ie“ als Diphthong aus?
„ie“ hat die folgende mögliche Aussprachen:
/iː/ („Miete“)
/i̯ə/ („Familie“, „Petersilie“)
/i̯e/ („Karriere“)
Wie kann man wissen, ob „ie“ als Diphthong oder Monophthong ausgesprochen ist?
11
votes
2answers
635 views
Where to find IPA transcriptions of Hochdeutsch online?
Where can I find a comprehensive online resource for IPA transcriptions of the "official" pronunciation of German words?
10
votes
5answers
3k views
W → V, V → F. Why do German speakers wrongly transpose rather than shift when speaking English?
If German "W" is pronounced like an English "V"
and German "V" is pronounced like an English "F"
i.e. W → V V → F
Why is it that I continually hear German speakers pronounce their (English) ...
10
votes
2answers
267 views
Schreibweise und Aussprache von aus dem Englischen stammenden Akronymen im Plural
Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob Akronyme, die von der englischen Sprache entlehnt sind, im Plural mit oder ohne "-s" am Ende geschrieben und ausgesprochen werden.
Ich selbst verwende in der ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
How is “ch” pronounced correctly?
I'm interested (or rather "re-interested") in learning German. When I looked up some basic lessons to get myself started, I found this on about.com. If you click on any of those words, you can hear ...
10
votes
3answers
412 views
How to know if a beginning 'v' is pronounced /f/ or /v/?
A 'v' in the beginning of a word can be pronounced in one of two ways:
/f/: Vater, verrückt, vier, Vogel.
/v/: Vanille, Verb, Villa, Vokal, vulgär.
My question: Is there a way to know how a word ...
8
votes
1answer
265 views
Why is “eu” used for spelling the sound “oi”?
My little daughter, allthough not being in school yet, is very keen in writing words - naturally, she writes them as she thinks they are written by translating each sound to a letter.
Recently, she ...
8
votes
2answers
819 views
R's: Trilled R, Uvular Fricative R, and Uvular Trill R
I've read that the Bavarian accent (or the southern regions in general) uses a trilled R -- IPA [r] -- instead of the "standard" voiced uvular fricative -- IPA [ʁ]. I've also read that the uvular ...
7
votes
3answers
308 views
Wie sprechen die Salzburger den Namen ihrer Stadt aus?
Es geht mir um den Buchstaben g in Salzburg. Auf Forvo habe ich mir die Aussprache zweier Österreicher angehört, die /g/ sagen; aber die beiden wohnen nicht in Salzburg. Wie sagen die Salzburger das? ...
7
votes
2answers
195 views
How is “Parameter” pronounced?
Is it /paˈraːmetɐ/ or /paraˈmeːtɐ/?
In other words, which syllable is stressed?
6
votes
3answers
235 views
Hatten das runde „s“ und das lange „ſ“ die gleiche Aussprache?
Gab es einen Unterschied in der Aussprache von rundem „s“ und langem „ſ“, oder war der Unterschied nur typographisch?
6
votes
3answers
549 views
Is there a difference in pronunciation between “ist” and “isst”?
Is there a difference in pronunciation between "ist" -be (3p. sing) and "isst" -eat (3p. sing)?
EDIT: I posted the second part as an independent question
6
votes
3answers
357 views
What pronunciation is more influential, higher status or standard?
I was looking into different pronunciations, I saw there is a difference between regions within Germany and also with other German speaking countries, making me wonder which set of pronunciation rules ...
6
votes
1answer
159 views
A strange greeting! Servos?
Ever since I have arrived in Germany, I have been picking up words I here often and then going back home to check their meanings. There is one word that still baffles me.
It is a form of greeting.
...
5
votes
5answers
222 views
Are “Xylofon” and “xenophob” really pronounced with /ks/?
Pronunciation dictionaries suggest that words beginning with "x", such as "Xylofon" and "xenophob", should be pronounced with /ks/. This sounds awkward every time I try.
How common is it for ...
5
votes
2answers
123 views
Does German phonetics fully determine the spelling?
It is clear that there are different, equally valid ways to read a word in German (e.g. alveolar or uvular r, etc.) How true is the converse statement: phonetics fully determine the spelling? I'm ...
5
votes
1answer
212 views
Pronunciation of Pommes Frites
When I first saw Pommes Frites I assumed the es would be pronounced, but it mostly seems like speakers say:
pohm freet
Rather than my initial assumption of something like:
pohm-ez freet-z
Why are ...
5
votes
2answers
318 views
Does pronunciation of German words vary a lot across different places in Germany?
I am in a learning stage and I was wondering if pronunciation and (even accent) differs a lot across the places in Germany.
E.g. "Ich" being pronounced differently at different places made me think ...
5
votes
2answers
336 views
Wird Hochdeutsch relativ schnell gesprochen?
Momentan läuft eine Debatte über Deutsche in der Schweiz. Dabei stieß ich auf diesen Artikel (nicht das ich die Seite regelmäßig lese :)), wo behauptet wird, "Maschinengewehr-Hochdeutsch" (ziemliche ...
5
votes
2answers
217 views
Pronunciation of 'r' in German
According to the answer of @what to the question Pronunciation of "lernst" there are 3 different ways to pronounce the alphabet r in German:
voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] (splattne's sample)
...
5
votes
2answers
102 views
Wie wird der Vokal in „Genus“ ausgesprochen?
Wiktionary bietet zwei unterschiedliche Aussprachen für den Vokal im Wort „Genus“:
/ˈɡɛnʊs/ (wie „Bett“)
/ˈɡeːnʊs/ (wie „Meer“)
Bei dict.cc und LEO werden die Hörbeispiele nur mit /ɛ/ ...
5
votes
1answer
326 views
Listening practice for long vs. short vowels
I'm looking for good resources or exercises for practicing recognizing long vs. short vowels. Minimal pair recordings in "quiz" format would be ideal.
I know when reading whether a vowel should be ...
5
votes
1answer
186 views
Are there other words that are only partly Germanized, like “Toilette”?
The word Toilette is pronounced /toalɛtə/ in standard German. It retains the original French /toa/, but its end is pronounced as it would be, were it a German word: /ɛtə/ instead of /ɛt/.
Are there ...
5
votes
1answer
71 views
Pronouncing “chs” as /ks/
"ch" is pronounced as /x/ or /ç/ depending on the vowel in front of it, and "s" is pronounced /z/ before a vowel, how come then that the sequence "chs" in the words wachsen and Wechsel is pronounced ...
4
votes
5answers
234 views
Pronunciation of “lernst”
It's easy to pronounce the letter 'r' in "lernen". But when it comes to pronouncing "lernst", it becomes really hard to keep pronouncing 'r' next to "nst". Listening to some native speaker ...
4
votes
1answer
356 views
Sie (you - formal), sie (she) and sie (they) / Ihr (you - plural), er (he)
How to differentiate pronunciation of these words?
Sie (you — formal), sie (she), and sie (they)
ihr (you — plural), er (he)
4
votes
2answers
635 views
Difference in pronunciation of “Er” vs. “Ihr”
I'm currently learning German with Duolingo. In some of the lessons and daily practices, I have to listen to a recorded voice and type the German words that are spoken.
I seem to continually get ...
4
votes
3answers
248 views
Why is “Zeile” but not “Zeiger” differently pronounced in the south?
For both nouns there is a similar pronunciation of "-ei-" in standard German:
Zeile: [ˈʦaɪ̯lə]
Zeiger: [ˈʦaɪ̯ɡɐ]
When people in some southern German regions try to speak non-dialect German the ...
4
votes
1answer
127 views
Pronunciation of musical notes
Taking the note G as an example, I know that in German G♭ is written 'Ges' and G♯ is written 'Gis'. But how are these pronounced? My dictionary gives me the spelling but not the pronunciation.
I ...
4
votes
1answer
286 views
Wann wird das stimmhafte “s” gesprochen?
Da ich mit schwäbischem Dialekt aufgewachsen bin (in dem es das stimmhafte "s" [s̬] nicht gibt), bin ich immer unsicher, wann das "s" stimmhaft gesprochen wird, und wann nicht.
Beispiel:
See ...
4
votes
1answer
208 views
Was bedeutet es, wenn “warum” auf der ersten Silbe betont wird?
Hat es eine spezielle Bedeutung, wenn "warum" auf der ersten statt auf der zweiten Silbe betont wird?
3
votes
4answers
287 views
Why is “Vater” spelt with 'V' when it is pronounced like 'father'?
I know that 'V' in the German alphabet is for "Vau" and 'F' is "Eff".
Then why are we using 'V' instead of 'F' in German for "Vater"? Similar to the English "father" I would have expected it to be ...
3
votes
3answers
209 views
Deutsche Werbungen für Akzent-Verbesserung
Ich möchte an meinem deutsches Akzent arbeiten. Ich möchte Werbungen auf Deutsch finden und danach versuchen, den/die SprecherIn einer Werbung zu imitieren. Zum Beispiel (auf Englisch):
LinkedIn ...
3
votes
3answers
131 views
Phonetic help for Weierstraß
As far as I remember it is pronounced like ['vaɪəʁˌʃtræs] but not quite sure about it (specially whether it is a "ʁ", "ʀ" or "x" in the middle).
3
votes
2answers
106 views
Blockälteste: which syllable is stressed?
In the word blockälteste, what syllable (or syllables) gets the stress, please? Obviously not a word people say too often—and I cannot find a pronunciation for it online.
3
votes
2answers
129 views
How is the letter “t” pronounced in “amtlicher”
When I listen to the pronunciation of "amtlicher" on dict.cc, I hear the letter 't' pronounced more like 'g' or 'k'. At least I do not hear it as a clear 't'. Somebody please explain how 't' is ...
3
votes
2answers
107 views
Accent placement in “Waldfräulein”
I understand that Fräulein is lexically accented (stressed) more on the first syllable than the second; wiktionary shows IPA pronunciation as /ˈfʁɔɪ̯laɪ̯n/, /ˈfʁɔlaɪ̯n/, and also
wikipedia says ...
3
votes
1answer
114 views
Die Lautschrift zu Chopin
Ich finde derzeit keine Referenz für die Aussprache des Namens "Chopin" - in Deutsch.
Im Englischen Wikipedia Artikel finde ich Referenzen für:
Englisch: ʃoʊpæn
Französisch:ʃɔ.pɛ̃
Die Aussprache wird ...
3
votes
4answers
393 views
How to master pronunciation
I'm looking for methods and resources (such as music along with their text - audio books) to improve my German pronunciation, other than talking to a native speaker.
EDIT:
I'm given advice by ...
3
votes
1answer
98 views
Wie wird „Titurel“ ausgesprochen?
Wie wird der Name „Titurel“ ausgesprochen? Ich kann keine Transkription oder Einspielung finden.
3
votes
1answer
70 views
Is there a practical difference between “e” and “ä”?
The e and ä are considered as different phonemes. In practice, do people make and notice the difference? Which problems, if any, would not bothering to make such difference lead to?
