The
good news is, the sounds of German consonants are not going to be as
unfamiliar as many of the vowels sounds. In German, consonants are
either pronounced like their English counterparts or are pronounced
like other consonants in English (apart from two exceptions).
The
Easy Consonants
There
are many consonants that are pronounced the same way in German as
they are in English. When you see them, just go ahead and pronounce
them the way you would pronounce them if you came across them in
English words.
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
f, h, k, l, m, n, p, t, x
|
The same as English letters
|
Pronounced the same as in English
|
Plosives:
B, D & G
They
are called plosives because of the way their sounds are articulated:
with small explosions of air.
B
Sound - At the beginning of a syllable, b is
pronounced the same way as it is in English. When b occurs
at the end of a syllable, however, it is pronounced like
a p : laub ( loup )
or Korb ( koRp ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
b
|
b
|
Say b as in big
|
p
|
Say p as in pipe
|
D
Sound - At the beginning of a syllable, d is
pronounced like an English d . When d occurs
at the end of a syllable, however, it is pronounced like
a t : Leid ( layt ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
d
|
d
|
Say d as in dog
|
t
|
Say t as in tail
|
G
Sound - At the beginning of a syllable, g is
pronounced the same way as it is in English. When g occurs
at the end of a syllable, however, it is pronounced like
a k : Weg ( veyk ).
The consonant g has yet another pronunciation. In
certain words, usually ones that have been assimilated into the
German language from other languages such s French, pronounce
the g as in: Massage ( mA-sah-juh ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
g
|
g
|
Say g as in good
|
k
|
Say k as in kitchen
|
|
j
|
Say j as in jeans
|
Fricatives:
Z and Sometimes C
Fricatives
are consonants articulated when the air stream coming up the throat
and out of the mouth meets an obstacle, causing - you guessed it -
friction.
(Note:
The second part to this article covers four more fricative sounds.)
Z
Sound - The z sound is made by combining
the consonant sounds t and s into
one sound: zu (tsew ), Zeug (tsoyk ), Kreuz ( kRoyts ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
z
|
ts
|
Say ts as in nuts
|
C
Sound - In German, you probably won't run into a c that
isn't followed by an h too often, but when you do,
it should be pronounced ts whenever it occurs before
ä, e, i, or ö: Cä saR ( tsah-zahR ),
or like the first c in circa (tseeR-kah ).
Otherwise, it should be pronounced like
a k : Crème ( kReym ), Computer ( kom-pew-tuhR ),
or like the last c in circa ( tseeR-kah ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
c
|
ts
|
Say ts as in nuts
|
k
|
Say k as in keeper
|
This
covers four consonant sounds: CH, CHS, H, J. There
are only two consonant sounds in German that are not used in English.
The first one is the ch orich sounds
(represented by the symbol H in this article). And the second sound
is the ch in Loch (represented by
the symbol CH in this article).
CH
Sound
There's
no exact English equivalent to the ch sound in
German, but when you say words such "hubrus" and "human,"
the sound you make when you pronounce the h at the
very beginning of the word is very close to the correct pronunciation
of the German ch in ich (this ch sound
being one of the most difficult sounds, we might add, for English
speakers learning to speak German). If you can draw out this h sound
longer than you do in these two English words, you should have very
little trouble pronouncing the following words
accurately: ich ( iH ),manchmal ( mAnH-mahl ), vielleicht ( fee-layHt ).
The
second ch sound is articulated at the same place in
the back of the throat as k , but the tongue is
lowered to allow air to come through. To approximate this sound
(represented in this article by the symbol CH ),
make the altered H sound you just learned farther
back in your throat - a bit like gargling. Can you pronounce Johann
Sebastian Bach's name correctly? Give this a
go: Yoh-hAnzey-bAs-tee-ahn bahhhh (gargle and hiss
like a cat simultaneously at the end). Once you can do this you have
nothing to worry about: You've mastered this second ch sound.
In
general when ch occurs at the beginning of a word,
it is pronounced like a k : Chaos (kA-os), Charisma ( kah-ris-mah ).
There are exceptions, however, as in China , where
the ch is pronounced the same way it is in ich .
The ch has
a fourth pronunciation: sh . This pronunciation is
usually used only for foreign words that have been assimilated into
the German language: Chef ( shef ), Chance ( shahn-suh ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
ch
|
H
|
Close to h in human
|
CH
|
No English Equivalent
|
|
k
|
Say k as in character
|
|
sh
|
Say sh as in shape
|
CHS
Sound
You
won't have any trouble with the chs sound.
Say" fuchs ( foox ), B ü chse ( b
ü xe ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
chs
|
x
|
Say x as in fox
|
H
Sound
The h is
silent when it follows a vowel to indicate that the vowel is
long: Stahl ( shtahl ). In some
cases, it is silent when it follows a t , as
in Theater ( tey-ah-tuhR ).
Otherwise, it is pronounced very much like the English h -
just a little breathier. Think of an obscene phone caller breathing
heavily on the other end of the line and try the
following: hallo ( hA-loh ), Weihe ( vay-huh ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
h
|
h
|
Say h as in house
|
J
Sound
Whenever
you see a j in German, pronounce it like an
English y : Ja ( yah ), Jaguar ( yah-gew-ahR ).
German Letter
|
Symbol
|
Pronunciation Guide
|
j
|
y
|
Say y as in yes
|
