German Pronunciation Guide
1. Vowels
a – as in half
e, ä – as in red
i – as in meet
o – as in orange
u – as in boot
ö – as in French “bleu”
ü – as in French “cru”
2. Combinations of 2 Vowels
au – as in power
eu, äu – as in royal; German words like Freude
ie – as in meet; German words like Liebe, die
ei, ai – as in fine; German words like dein, hinein
3. Consonants
z – pronounced “ts”, as in lets
s – at the beginning and in the middle of a word – soft, as in rose
at the end of a word – hard, as in salt
sch – pronounced “sh”,as in English
st – at the beginning of a word, pronounced “sht”, similar to rushed
in the middle and at the end of a word, as in trust
sp – at the beginning of a word, pronounced “shp”
in the middle and at the end of a word, as lisp
w – pronounced “v”; German words such as Wonne, ewig, wild
v – pronounced “f”; German words such as verlieben, Vögelein
r – pronounced similar to the French, at the back of the throat;
when sung, it is often rolled
ch – after a, o and u, pronounced as in loch
after i, e, ä, ö and ü more softly (at the roof of the mouth)
g – as in good
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