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The Ultimate Guide to Perfect German Pronunciation
Mastering German Pronunciation: The Final Frontier
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about Pareto’s law, or,
as it’s more commonly known, the 80/20 rule. It describes the fact that
80 percent of results usually come from 20 percent of input.
While those numbers are not set in stone, the concept behind Pareto’s
law is solid:
A disproportionate amount of outcomes can be achieved
with a fraction of what you put in.
For example, in German comparatively few words make up the majority of the everyday spoken language. Consequently,
learning these first gives you access to a large percentage of what German speakers are saying on a given day.
Most German learners spend the majority of their time on the 80% of
language acquisition:
understanding and being understood. Yet, there is a
stage past that where it’s more about refinement and polishing than
amassing more knowledge.
A big part of that last 20% is
working on your accent and
perfecting German pronunciation. So not only can you communicate, but you’ll also blend in.
What Makes a German Accent?
Before we get started on how to change, let’s take a second to think
about what actually makes up an accent. I mean it’s not like native
speakers have a different anatomy, their teeth are shaped differently or
they can reach different places in their mouths with their tongues than you.
Pronunciation
Since language is made up of sounds, we try to
classify these by giving them names and putting them into a system. Consequently, in order to master German pronunciation, these single sounds are the smallest unit to concentrate our efforts on.
Intonation
Every
language has its own rhythm and melody. You might be spot-on with your pronunciation of German sounds, but if
your melody is completely different, your accent will give you away
quickly. Therefore, melody and intonation is the second part we will
concentrate on.
Word usage
A third factor is what you say. Using unfamiliar and non-standard words is a
sure sign of someone’s foreignness. (Slang is
something we will concentrate on another time.)
DIY German Accent Training: Tools You Will Need
Improving your German
pronunciation is easier with the right set of tools.
Languages samples
First, you need something to practice off of—some
speaker that you can model yourself after, you have something to compare yourself to. Thankfully, material to listen to can be found aplenty:
Of the above, podcasts, audio dramas and audiobooks are probably the
best choices-- because they let you repeat phrases and parts
over and over again.
While the other media also work, you have to
make sure you can capture what’s going on there first. That’s where the
next tool comes in handy.
Audio recorder
The most important thing to improve your accent is that you actually
hear yourself speak.
Only when you can make out the difference between what a native speaker
is saying and what comes out of your mouth can you take steps to
improve. Therefore, you definitely need some sort of recording device in
your arsenal. This could be:
- The audio recorder of your cell phone
- Recording software for your computer (e.g. Audacity)
- A specialized audio recording device
Which one you choose is up to you. Just make sure you have a way to capture your beautiful voice.
The IPA
IPA stands for
International Phonetic Alphabet, an agreed upon system of phonetic notation that is used
worldwide. The IPA provides a way to represent sounds independent
of language by using letters and diacritic markers. For example the “i” in “mach
ine” would be represented with [i], while “a” in “f
an” comes out as [æ]. The same sounds and transcriptions exist in German, for example for
Biene (bee) and
gähnen
(to yawn), respectively.
Knowing how to read the IPA will greatly help
you understand how to pronounce words when they are transcribed with
this system. You can
find the full IPA in PDF form here. The Wikipedia page on
IPA for German is also worth checking out, and there is an interesting
app for transcribing German text to IPA symbols.
Working on your German
pronunciation is a 5-step process
that, if you repeatedly go through it, will quickly facilitate change.
1. Listen and imitate
As a first step, you will have to take your materials (i.e.
recorded language samples) and listen to it several times. While you listen, try to pronounce it. Imitate the speaker as closely as possible.
You can (and should) start small. Pick one sentence at a time. Play
it a number of times and try it out yourself. Writing it down and
reading it probably helps, too. Really make an effort to pick out the
difference between the recording and what you are hearing inside your
own head (no, not those voiced, the other one). Try to be as
self-correcting as you can.
2. Record your own voice
When you feel like you have a good grasp on things, it’s time to make
a direct comparison. Record your voice while pronouncing from memory or
reading out the sentence you practiced. Afterwards you can listen to it
in direct comparison with the original. Doing so easily lets you figure
out where your sounds are completely different from what the recording
says.
3. Isolate problem sounds
In all probability, you will quickly notice which parts are most off.
For English speakers, these are likely to include the German
r,
umlauts, diphthongs and other pesky characters. If possible, get a
native speaker’s opinion. They can tell even better where your speaking
is slightly off.
4. Research and practice sounds on their own
Once you have identified areas for improvement, go ahead and practice
your problem sounds relentlessly and in isolation (isolate the sounds,
not yourself). Again, if you can get the help of a native speaker, all
the better. Someone whose mother tongue is German will more easily be
able to tell you when you really got it, and give you tips on how to get
closer to the original. Here are also a few pointers on that topic:
Plus, there is a
German online dictionary that includes IPA transcriptions for many words.
Here is another one that lets you play sound files for a lot of vocabulary, so you know exactly how to pronounce them.
5. Rerecord and fine-tune
Once you have practiced enough, go back to the beginning and rerecord
the original text you used. If you kept a recording of your first try,
you can use that for comparison. However, your main goal should be to
keep imitating the recording you started out with. If you did everything
right, a clear improvement should be noticeable. By going through the
entire process more than once, you can then fine-tune and work on the
last little kinks.
It’s All in the Melody: Training German Intonation
After working on the smallest parts of spoken language, you can then
move on to other key areas of accent training. The method of studying is
the same, you will just shift you attention to broader parts of the
German language.
One such area is intonation. Getting the rhythm and melody of a
language right is much easier if you have a musical ear. However, even
non-musical people can improve their way of speaking by paying attention
to what makes up German intonation.
Learn German word stress
A big part of correct pronunciation for words is word stress. In
German, usually the first syllable of a word is emphasized, such as in
Katze (cat),
Tatsache (fact) or
Mutter (mother). However, this isn’t always the case (yay, more exceptions!).
Getting this part right is important, since word stress can even change a word’s meaning. For example, compare
modern (modern, current) and
modern (to rot) or
übersetzen (to translate) and
übersetzen (to cross over). So be mindful about this.
Now, of course this part should best be learned by imitating native
speakers and will happen naturally over time. However, until then here
are a few pointers to get a better grasp on things:
- While word stress on the first syllable is a good rule of thumb,
what it really depends on is the root of the word. That means if you
have a verb such as lehren (to teach), which is emphasized in the leh part, this will be carried over to other words with the same root like Lehrer (teacher) or lehrreich (instructive, literally “rich in teaching”). However, belehren (to lecture) is accentuated on the second syllable, because that’s where the word root resides. Capisce?
- Furthermore, nouns built with suffixes derived from Latin such as Idealismus (idealism) and signifikant (signifikant) have their emphasis on those suffixes. Other signal words include -anz, –enz, –ion, –ist, -ment and -tät. Same goes for verbs ending in –ieren.
- Words starting with be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent- or emp- receive stress on the second syllable, while those with ab-, auf-, ein- or vor- have it on the first.
- A few prefixes (über-, unter-, um-, durch-) can be both, according to the meaning of the word.
- Many loanwords that made it to German from other languages will keep
their original accentuations. A carport in German will not be
pronounced Garage but instead stays Garage, like the English “garage.”
- If a noun is composed of more than three syllables, it will have one
primary stress on the first word and a secondary stress on the third,
e.g. Großbaustelle (large construction site).
Thankfully word stress is also included in IPA transcriptions and
signified with [ ‘ ] (for primary) and [ ˌ ] (for secondary stress). The
above-mentioned dictionaries will be able to help you out.
Don’t worry, it looks more complicated than it is in reality. You will get there quickly with a bit of practice.
Pay attention to sentence melody
When you learn another language, you will quickly notice that its native speakers have a very particular way of speaking.
Think about it. If you listen to any language, even if you don’t
understand it, you can often imitate the way its speakers are talking.
It’s like humming the melody of a song to which you don’t know the
lyrics. Getting this rhythm and melody right is a big step towards
having a more natural accent.
In the case of German, it has three different melodies: falling, rising and hovering. These are used in different places.
- Falling: Marks the end of a sentence in statements or question that contain a question word. Example: Wer bist Du? (Who are you?) – Ich bin Hans. (I am Hans.)
- Rising: Typical for yes-no questions or those without a question word such as who, where or what. Example: Sprechen Sie Englisch? (Do you speak English?). Can also be used with question word questions, if you want to sound very friendly.
- Hovering/Monotone: Continuation of the current
tone. Used for breaks in mid-sentence, such as between main and
subordinate clause. Example: Compare Ich wünsche mir ein Pferd (I wish for a horse) with Ich wünsche mir ein Pferd, weil ich tierlieb bin (I wish for a horse because I love animals). In the first case, the sentence melody falls on Pferd, while in the second sentence the tone is higher and continues on to weil.
While this sounds a bit theoretical and dry, its goal is merely to
sensitize you for different elements of pronunciation and not to make
you learn it by heart. With the above points in mind, you can continue
your practice of recording yourself imitating native speakers. This will
yield much better results than brooding over language diagrams. It’s
more fun too.
Taking German Pronuncation to the Next Level
Once you have reached a point where you can easily express most
things in German and you are looking for a new challenge, working on
your accent and pronunciation is a great idea. By deconstructing what
exactly makes and breaks pronunciation and strategically working on the
different parts, you can greatly improve your spoken German.
The most important part is to isolate which areas can be improved and
work on them in a targeted manner. For that, it is mandatory to
construct a feedback system which allows you to incrementally improve
the way you speak. Afterwards it is only a matter of time before you can
pass as an actual German.
