German Pronunciation Guide PDF

**[AUSSPRACHE (PRONUNCIATION) ]** The alphabet does not represent all the sounds that exist in German. The so called ***"UMLAUTE"*** , letter combinations, etc. provide a few more. The German **[vowels]** and their approximate sounds in English are: **A** as in English f**a**ther **E** like Engl...

**[AUSSPRACHE (PRONUNCIATION) ]** The alphabet does not represent all the sounds that exist in German. The so called ***"UMLAUTE"*** , letter combinations, etc. provide a few more. The German **[vowels]** and their approximate sounds in English are: **A** as in English f**a**ther **E** like English **e** in **e**ffort **I** like s**ee**, but almost always short as in b**i**t **O** there is no exact English equivalent, the O in: "**o**ften" is closest **U** like the „ue"‑sound in bl**ue**, but also short as „oo" in f**oo**t Certain vowel sounds in German cannot be rendered with the Latin alphabet, new letters had to be invented. These letters are **[UMLAUT]** , or **[UMLAUT]**E in plural. **Ä** sounds like „**a**" in English „at" **Ü** sounds like French „**u**". (There is no English equivalent.) **Ö** (no exact English equivalent, the vowel sound in "fur" comes closest.) There are also a few **[diphthongs]** (i.e. two vowels pronounced as one sound): **EI** like English [I] **AU** like „ow" in n[ow] **EU/** **ÄU** as in b[oi]l **ß** this symbol is a sharp „s", (used only in Germany and Austria; the Swiss use „ss" instead). It is not used at the beginning of a word, it has no capital form. **B, D, G** at the end of words or in front of t or s these letters sound more like P,T and K. **CH** after a, o, u, au corresponds to the CH in the Scottish "loch". **CH** after e, i, ä, ö, ü this sound is not represented in English. *(But if you take a word like huge and stretch out the H: \"hhhhuge\" the result is similar)* **CHS** is often pronounced like English x. **CK** is pronounced like a double k. **G** is usually as in English [g]o; soft in foreign words like "Orange". **J** like English \"Y\" in [y]oung. **KN** the k in this combination is always pronounced. **NG** is pronounce like English si[ng]er. **PS / PF** the p in these combinations is always pronounced. **SCH** like English \"sh\" as in [sh]ort, wa[sh]. **ST/SP** at the beginning of a word is pronounced as if the \"S\" were \"SCH\". **V** usually pronounced like English f. **W** like \"V\" in [v]alue. In some foreign words, it corresponds to English v. **Z** like ts in ca[ts] or Be[ts]y.