h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry I am so late today.

"R" is a hard one. In Bavaria and spilling over the borders into the neighbouring states, you will hear people roll their "r"s. The rest of the country can't do this. They use a sound like the French "r", but much harder - more like the Spanish "j". Sorry, but the only way to describe it is that it's like gobbing although suitable for mixed company.

It's easier to bounce off another consonant - Try saying the word for "green" - Grün - the throat is already closed for the "g" and the "r" comes from almost the same position. Then you can progress to the word for Price (and Prize) - Preis. (The eis part is pronounced exactly like in the English word prize, see below).

Probably one of the hardest words to pronounce is "Brach" - the adjective meaning "fallow" - i.e. nothing planted in it. The "r" and the "ch" sounds, positioned as they are on each side of the "a" are very similar and you might need a lot of spit until you get used to it.

The next step is to say words that begin with "r" and a vowel -

Rain - der Regen
Reindeer - das Rentier
Reue - regret (pronounced Hroyer)

In syllables like "art" and "ert" which come at the end of words, the "r" is far less conspicuous, more changing the sound of the syllable than being a sound in its own right.

S: S is, when on its own - nearly always voiced. So it is pronounced like "z". The word "so", which is very often used, is therefore pronounced "zo". This means lots of things - for example, it can be translated as "in this way". Or, where an English speaking person would use the expletive "well" at the beginning of a sentence, "so" can be used for the same purpose in German.

At the end of the words this rule applies, too - see our example "Preis" above.

Double S is pronounced like in English. The ß is exactly the same, it is just used in certain situations, generally after what is known as a "short" vowel, but I will go into these in a later lesson. The new, very controversial, reform of spelling and punctuation which came into effect recently, has changed the usage of this ß, but, unfortunately, didn't do away with it altogether, which one would have expected on the threshold of the 21st century and in the middle of the age of international data transference.

As Bossel pointed out yesterday, in 90% of the country the letter "s" when on its own before a "p" or a "t" is pronounced "sh".

Examples

Der Spiegel - (shpeegle) - mirror ... emphasis on the first syllable
Der Student - (shtoo-dent) - student .... emphasis on the second syllable
Der Stau - (shtow (to rhyme with bough)) - traffic jam

In the far North, the "s" is pronounced as in English ... e.g. stone. But a lot of things are more like English there, you will find out.

The letter T is the same as in English - TH was dealt with under "H"

V: This is ALWAYS pronounced like an "f"

W: This is pronounced like a "V"

X: Is pronounced - as in English - ks

Y: is pronounced like the Ü that we will encounter in a couple of days when covering the vowels.

Z: Is always pronounced "TS". Even in words where it is in conjunction with an "S" - such as faszinierend. You have to stop and pronounce both letters. Fass-tsin-eerernd.

The Glottal Stop

This has no expression in German, as far as I can tell. But the Germans use it a helluva lot. It is the sound you make when you start a sentence with a vowel. It is a slight catch in the throat. When singing "Alleluja" you have to use it - you can't just start off going "aaaa".

So if you want to say "Ich bin ein Berliner" (which I don't recommend, but John F Kennedy thought it was a good idea), you can't run the "n" of "bin" into the next word like you would in English or French. After "bin" you stop and start the new word.

This is what gives German its characteristic staccato sound and makes it sound harder, more guttural, than it is.

In this sentence (we are at the end of the unit) you can practise your glottal stops - there are three of them: Wir sind am Ende der Einheit.

Huhu!

The nitpicker from Westphalia is here again! Hmhm:

As to the consonant "V" I have to say that it is not always pronounced like an "f" but like a German "w" or English "v"!

Examples: November and Havarie (English: November and average).

Hi,
I've reached this far now and it's a great fun. You are doing a great job. I've started to learn German for 3 times and I always failed because of different reasons. Luckily I've passed the pronounciation part before - explanations in English are too much for me . I'm looking forward what's going to happen...

My connection keeps crashing - this is the third time I have written this answer.

Hatifnat nice to see you here. I am afraid I can't explain the pronunciation for Russians, but you shouldn't have any trouble, Russian is much harder. In fact I gave up Russian because I couldn't pronounce it.

Please keep reading the daily lessons, because there are always tidbits in between the actual subject the lesson covers which may be new to you.

Holle Polle is right about the pronunciation of "V" in words like "November" - if you pronounced it like an "F" there, it would distort the surrounding vowels.

I am not sure about "average" being the translation for Havarie. This may be a technical expression I have not heard, but a Havarie is when a vehicle or ship sinks, crashes or capsizes and loses its load.. usually a big problem for Lloyds.

I had to check that twice, too, because I didn't beleive "average" could be the right translation for "Havarie". "Havarie" is also used in engineering for an accident with tanks leaking or exploding. I think that "average" is correct, because if you say it in "French" it sounds more similar to the German word. And the second meaning of "average" in German is "Durchschnitt" and "moyen/ne" in French (I beleive).

Could trick, disturbing you here, TC, and in the meantime winning at H2IQ, isn't it?

HP
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Yes, serves me right for opening 20 windows at a time and not concentrating on one at a time.