Language Basics - Part 2

Good news! All the consonant letters in German can be found in English as well. They are all pronounced basically the same way, with a few exceptions:

• c: You don't see this much alone, except combined with other consonants, or in borrowed foreign words
  
  g: Always "hard g" as in "girl"
  
  h: same, but if it's after a vowel, just... say the vowel for slightly longer.
  
  j: "y" sound as in "you"
  
  q: You usually see this paired as "qu," in which case it's "kv"... yeah, think on that a moment. But it's really not so hard: pronounce the "q" like a "k", the "u" like a "v"
  
  r: gutteral, not necessarily rolled. Very back of the throat and airy.
  
  s: pronounced like English "z"
  ss,ß: Don't be scared by the symbol, these mean the same. It's just the English "s"
  
  v: pronounced exactly like "f" in "fairy". Don't ask me why they need both a "v" and an "f".
  
  w: pronounced exactly like English "v" for "van". I know you're really wondering why now.
  Extra note: Now take the word "Volkswagen" and apply proper German pronunciation... It should sound like "Folksvagen."
  
  y: depends on word
  
  z: "ts" like "ritz"

  
  
  
• Cool. That's it for single letters. There are the following letter combinations, but as I said... at least German is consistent.
  

  ch: slightly like hissing -- think of the "h" in "huge"
  
  ck: just say it like "k". Easy.
  
  sch: like the "sh" in "ship"
  
  sp: "shp"
  st: "sht" (think the end of "fished")
  
  tsch: looks complicated, but it's just "ch" like "chip" (see "Deutschland"!)

And now, even if you don't understand all of it, you can read most any German word! Good start!

By the way, don't complain to me if you think this is hard. Wait until you've tried learning Greek and Chinese. At least the majority of both German writing and pronunciation still overlaps with English.