1.6: Aussprache

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Zsuzsanna Abrams and co-workers
University of California Santa Cruz via Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning

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Aussprache

The „Aussprache” (pronunciation) section of each chapter will introduce you to the amazing (or bizarre) sound system and dialects of the German language. The German language is incredibly rich in local and regional varieties, and it is actually quite difficult to settle on what basic sound-system to present to the beginning language learner. We settled on the highGerman variety spoken in Germany because it is the most flexible and the most natural choice for non-native speakers, until they establish a cultural link to a specific region of the German-speaking countries and adopt the dialect spoken there (there is a standard high German in Austria and a standard high German in Switzerland, which later chapters will explore). The German standard variety is spoken by most people in official settings (e.g., television, travel, in education).

Das Alphabet

The German alphabet consists of 26 (plus 4) letters: 8 vowels and 22 consonants While this is a longer list than the English alphabet, you should most definitely not despair. Once you learn the sound-symbol associations (how each letter or compound letter is pronounced), you will know how any and all German words are pronounced because German is very consistent. For example, in English, the letter ”i” can be pronounced in different ways (consider: ice, igloo, girl, just to name a few). In German an ”i” stays ”i” (ist, immer, Blitz, even if there are long vs. short versions: finden vs. Isar).

Listen to the alphabet, to hear how these letters are pronounced:

A, Ä, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Ö, P, Q, R, S, ß, T, U, Ü, V, W, X, Y, Z

Listen to sample vocabulary.

A das Ausland, der Autobus, das Alphabet, die Alpen

foreign country, motor coach, alphabet, the Alps

B die Bevölkerung, Berlin, die Bahn, das Bundesland

population, Berlin, train, state

C campen, ICE, der (Video-)Clip, checken

to camp, ICE (bullet train), video-clip, to check

D Deutschland, Döner, drei, Donnerwetter

Germany, kabobs, three, thunderstorm

E der Einwohner, eben, essen, erfahren

inhabitant, flat, to eat, to experience

F der Flughafen, die Fantasie, Rad fahren, das Formular

airport, fantasy, to ride a bike, form

G die Gastfamilie, geben, gastfreundlich, das Gemüse

host family, to give, hospitable, vegetable

H das Heimweh, historisch, die Hälfte, das Haus

homesickness, historical, half, house

I das Inland, die Insel, insgesamt, der Ingeneur

home country, island, altogether, engineer

J jetzt, das Jahr, joggen, die Jugendherberge

now, year, to jog, youth hostel

K die Kreuzfahrt, der Käse, der Kurs, kommunizieren

cruise, cheese, course, to communicate

L das Land, leben, laufen, leer

country, to live, to walk or run, empty

M das Meer, meinen, die Minderheit, München

ocean, to mean, minority, Munich

N die Nationalität, nehmen, nachfragen, nein

nationality, to take, to ask about, no

O offen, die Oper, oberflächlich, das Ohr

open, opera, superficial, ear

P der Pass, pfeifen, die Post, die Pause

passport, to whistle, mail, break

Q das Quartier, der Quadratmeter, der Quatsch, das Quiz

accommodation, square meter, nonsense, quiz

R reisen, der Reporter, Regensburg, das Ruhrgebiet

to travel, reporter, Regensburg, the Ruhr

S die Schweiz, das Salz, schreiben, singen

Switzerland, salt, to write, to sing

T der Tourismus, die Technologie, bitte, trainieren

tourism, technology, please, to train

U der Urlaub, untersuchen, die U-Bahn, unbequem

vacation, to investigate, subway, uncomfortable

V die Verkehrsmittel, vierzig, vorstellen, verbringen

means of transportation, 40, introduce, spend

W wandern, die Wolke, wir, Würzburg

to hike, cloud, we, Würzburg

X x-Achse, x-fach, das Xylofon, die Existenz

x-axis, ever so often, xylophone, existence

Y y-Achse, die Yacht, der Typ

y-axis, yacht, type

Z der Zug, das Zimmer, zurück, ziehen

train, room, back, to haul

There are also a handful of “strange-looking” letters in German, with which the following chapters will deal in detail. Here is a very brief overview of them as an appetizer:

Ä, ä ähnlich, die Anwältin, ärgern, die Ästhetik

similar, attorney, to anger, aesthetic

Ö, ö Österreich, öffnen, das Öl, ökologisch

Austria, to open, oil, ecological

Ü, ü die Übung, überzeugen, kühl, amüsieren

practice, to convince, cool, to amuse

ß die Straße, spaßen, heißen, außen

street, to joke, to be called, outside