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Currently I am doing German A1.

I am confused with pronunciation of wieder and weder. I use dict.cc website for the pronunciation and there both are pronounced same.

How do people understand which one is said while talking since either of them can come in a sentece?

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    It may help to note your mother tongue or any languages you might be familiar with. This sometimes makes it easier to explain pronunciation. (Like the "ie" in "wieder" is pronounced like in the English "weed") – tofro Jan 10 '17 at 17:01
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    You are not alone. Look at this question and follow the links in the side bar under "Related". – Carsten S Jan 10 '17 at 17:19
  • I speak English – InQusitive Jan 10 '17 at 17:49
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    @InQuisitive: which variant/dialect? – Gerhard Jan 10 '17 at 18:19
  • @tofro: Indian. – InQusitive Jan 10 '17 at 18:45
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"wieder" and "weder" are not pronounced the same - also not on dict.cc (at least in the examples I've checked).

Depending on your mother tongue, there is a good chance that you cannot hear the difference yet if you've just started out learning German. In my experience, this is quite common when learning new languages. You will likely hear the difference after practicing and listening to the language for a while.

The "ie" in "wieder" is pronounced /iː/, while the "e" in "weder" is pronounced /eː/, if this is any help. You could also have a look at the linked Wikipedia entries (click on the two IPA symbols).

If you are interested in the IPA of individual words (as indicated in the comments), you could try the PONS dictonary (I am sure there are others).

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  • Hmm, dict.cc I am not able to distinguish yet. May be soon I will. – InQusitive Jan 10 '17 at 17:53
  • Also could you suggest a good online dictionary like dict.cc were it shows the phonetics. dict.cc doesn't have it, no? – InQusitive Jan 10 '17 at 17:55
  • @InQusitive: I have updated my answer, hope this helps. – Gerhard Jan 10 '17 at 18:13
  • In case phonetics don't help, try leo.org - They have audible examples on nearly all german words. – tofro Jan 10 '17 at 21:22

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