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Better German Podcast with Susi

Susanne Schilk-Blümel
Since 09/2023 56 episodes

18 Learn to Say the German Alphabet

Learning the Alphabet as a First Step to Master German Pronunciation

2024-01-04 37 min

Description & Show Notes

Hello and welcome to the Better German Podcast! In this episode, Susi Blümel teaches the German alphabet, pronunciation, and special letter combinations. You will get examples and translations for each letter and combination. Learning the alphabet is a step towards mastering German pronunciation and learning to read German. Better yet, you can hop into the Better German Community, where you can get the free PDF for this episode with the alphabet, all additional letters, and the list of words for each letter.

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Summary
In this episode of Better German, host Susi Blumel introduces the German alphabet, guiding listeners through the pronunciation of each letter and emphasizing the importance of practice. She explains additional letters, vowel sounds, and specific letter combinations in German, providing examples and encouragement for language learners. Susi highlights the value of articulating words correctly and reveals a second part focusing on vowels and pronunciation. She invites listeners to download a PDF with further materials, which they can get by simply joining the Better German Community.

Timestamps
00:00 Download the alphabet worksheet or PDF from bettergerman.info.
05:50 Explanation of pronunciation for letters and sounds.
08:16 Letter similar to b, called as sharp s.
09:54 German pronunciation is simpler than English.
14:31 Download the PDF for free at bettergerman.info/18.
20:06 Learn articles from the beginning for ease.
25:09 Alternative pronunciations of words, emphasizing specific sounds.
30:19 German and English language similarities and introductions.
34:36 Practice saying alphabet letters and vowels fluently.

Key Topics and Bullet Points
Primary Topic: Introduction to the German Alphabet
  • Definition of the German alphabet
  • Availability of a free video lesson on the website
  • Pronouncing the alphabet from A to Z with encouragement for listeners to repeat after her
  • Introduction of four additional letters in German with their pronunciations
  • Explanation of vowel sounds in German and reassurance for listeners
Primary Topic: Letter Combinations and Pronunciations
  • Discussion of specific letter combinations in German, e.g., "sch" and "ai"
  • Explanation of the pronunciation of letter combinations
  • Examples of words with the letter combinations
Primary Topic: Differences in Pronunciation between German and English
  • Comparison of pronunciation of various German words to English
  • Highlighting the importance of practicing pronunciation in order to become familiar with the language
Primary Topic: Invitation to Further Learning
  • Mentions an episode on introducing oneself and reading (episodes 9 and 10)
  • Introducing the second part of the podcast focusing on vowels and pronunciation
Primary Topic: Free PDF Resource
  • Encouragement to download a free PDF with additional material for pronunciation and language learning
  • Inclusion of the alphabet, additional letters, combinations, example words, and translations
Primary Topic: Pronunciation Variations
  • Emphasis on learning German articles from the beginning of language learning
  • Discussion of variations in pronunciation for certain letters, such as "a" and "r"
  • Highlighting the importance of different ways of pronouncing the letter "r"
  • Pronunciation and examples for letters like "w," "x," "y," "z," and "ä"
Related Episodes

Other Resources
  • Get the PDF to go with the episode on the German alphabet. This will help to learn to say the German alphabet. You will learn all the German names for each letter of the alphabet and the additional letters we have in German. Also, you get the entire wordlist with examples for each letter.
  • Watch the YouTube video version of this podcast 
  • Get your copy of our Interactive German Movie Guide. Watching German movies and TV shows is great to help you learn German. In this guide, you will find suitable TV shows and movies with subtitles in your language, so you can start using movies to learn right away! 
  • Catch up on All The Episodes Published So Far!

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Transcript

Welcome to the Better German podcast. My name is Susi Blümel, and I will teach you German and everything around the language , the countries and the culture. Hello! Today we're going to cover the German alphabet. Very basic. there is a lot that we can say about it. I'm just going to give you an introduction. So, the alphabet, of course, is that set of letters that we consider, a complete set. These are all the letters, all the symbols that we use to record our language. We have something that we call the alphabet and then we have a set of additional letters, but you will learn that. I do assume for this video that you know the, those letters, these letters, so that you have either already learned them or you speak a language, that also uses those same set of letters. if You haven't learned them. This is probably not the place to start. Maybe there would have, would have to be something more basic, but you can try and can see. In that case, I would definitely suggest you to, watch the video. There is a video version of this. The video version is part of my A1.1 course. However, this video is available for free. So you can go to my homepage and, you can get, you can look at that. It's a free video. It's right there, and, it's part of the A1.1 course and it's free for everyone who wants to look at. Of course, we can also get excess early bird access to the course, which will start in March. But there is a few, um, videos that are in there that you can watch completely for free, and I suggested to do it. Uh, all the videos for the first two units, are available for free. Or if you would rather have just a written document, you go to bettergerman.info/freebies and there you can download the worksheet or the PDF that goes with this episode. It's called Alphabet Part 1. Okay. So, there's a few parts of this video, but we will get started and just go through the basic alphabet first. So, when I say the alphabet, I'm saying the names of the letters. that's the first thing we're going to learn. And it's a good thing to learn them. It's going to give you a clue about the pronunciation. But of course, there's much more to learn about the exact pronunciation of every letter and specialties, but we will start somewhere, okay? Good. So, for the first step, I'm just going to say the alphabet from A to Zee or Zet in German and you can just listen to it and try to figure out where we are. Okay. "Ah Beh, Tseh, Deh, Eh, Eff Geh Hah Ee Yot Kah Ell Emm Enn, Oh, Peh Kuh, Err Ess, Teh, Oo Fau, Veh Iks Üpsilon, Tsett." Excellent! So, for the next step, I'm going to say each letter and I want you to repeat it. If you're listening on a podcast, I suggest you to just write up the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and then you can just follow easier along. Okay, so, repeat after me every one of those letters. "Ah b Beh c Tseh d Deh e Eh f Eff g Geh H ah, ee, Yot Kah Ell Emm, Enn Oh Peh kuh Err Ess Teh Oo, Fau Veh Iks Üpsilon Tsett." Okay, cool. So these are the basic, names of the letters of the alphabet itself. So now in German, we have a couple of additional letters and, these are actually four and now I want to go through them. So the first one is this, it looks like an A with two dots. So we call it either, by the way, how we also pronounce it in most of the cases, "eh," or there is another way of saying this or referring to this. This is "Umlaut, Umlaut." "Laut" is a sound. Umlaut would be a "changed sound," I guess. So a Umlaut A or "eh" is how we refer to this and "eh" is also the pronunciation of this. I'm going to give you examples for the pronunciation of every word here later on. Good. So this is Umlaut A or "eh." The next one that looks like an O with two dots is either referred to as oo, which is also how we say it. It's "Oh" or we call it "Umlaut O." Now, by the way, if you're having a hard time really saying or even hearing the difference between some of these, particularly the vowel sounds, don't worry, that's okay. That's normal, you will get used to it. German, for some reason, has a lot of vowels. So, vowels are A, E, I, O, U, or more generally, all the sounds that you make, where the flow of air is not being stopped or changed by lips and tongue. So, A (ah) is a vowel, as opposed to, for example, P (peh). There you stop the air flow with the lips. So, these are called consonants. So, in German, we have a lot of vowel sounds. So, if you have a hard time in the beginning to differentiate them or hear the difference, don't worry, you will get used to it. You will get the hang of it eventually. Good. So the next letter, the next additional letter, is an "Oo," like a, the letter U with two dots, and it's called "Ooh," or "Oo." And then there is a letter that looks like a little bit like a small b, that is not, or, or actually like the letter b, but a little different, and it's not closed at the bottom, at the left. And this is actually called in German, in Austria we call it "Scharfes S" which would be a sharp S, or in Germany they call it "Eszett." And it's pronounced like S, sssss There is more. To say about this letter. if you follow my podcast, I'm going to make an episode about this letter and what's up with it and why we have it. It does exist. Sometimes my students tell me that they get taught by their teachers that it doesn't exist. This is not true. This letter does exist, And it hasn't been abolished. It hasn't been gotten rid of. However, people in Switzerland and Luxembourg don't use it, by the way. So anyway, this is this letter. It only exists, or mainly exists, as a small letter. Not like a capital. These are all capitals, actually. and the pronunciation, as I said, is "ssss." Okay. And then here's a few combinations that are, used a lot. These are not all combinations. So what's up with these combinations? Generally, we have at least one sound for each letter. Actually, German is a little bit It's easier in that respect than English because English has for many, many letters and many combinations, a lot of ways of possible pronunciations. German is not as complicated, meaning it's easier. Actually, once you've figured out how these letters sound, it's easier to see a word and read it correctly. But there are a few things to learn, particularly when you're a beginner. So, here is the first combination I want to tell you. So, this S, C and H, in German, "Ess, Tseh, Hah," is pronounced "shh," pronounced "shh." Like "Schule," —"school." Then, the letter combination "Tseh—Hah" can have two slightly different ways of saying them. After an A or a U, it's pronounced, " khhh " So it's like a " khhh" sound. In English, this sound doesn't really exist but in, in Dutch, for example, we have it, and in the Arab countries we have it, and, and so on. So, for example, an example would be, actually, if you say, "Akh, Akh," is like, "Oh," —"Ach." And then the other way of saying this "ch" combination, Tseh—Hah, is "chh," like "ich." Maybe you've heard it. "Ich" means "I." Okay, good. The next combination that is important are the letters E and I, and these are pronounced together as "ahee." Like, actually like an A, an A, the letter A in German and E. So "eyee," "eyee." An example would be the word, " Ei," like "an egg" I'm going to give you a little bit more examples later on. So then, the combination of the letters I and E, I'm basically just giving it for a comparison, so you don't mix it up with the other one. So first an I, and then an E in English, is in German pronounced "eeeee," like a long form of this, "eeeee." I'm just giving this to you as a comparison. It's used a lot. For example in the article "die," Then Ah; A and U, or in German "Ah, Oo," is called "Ow," or pronounced "Ow." Like "das Auge, —"the eye." Then "Eh" and "Oo," is pronounced "oi," like, what did I put here as an example? "Heute," —"today." "Heute." And then the letter S and P, at the beginning of a word, is pronounced like "Shp," just in the beginning of a word really. For example, "Spielen," that's "to play." And similarly, the word S and T together is pronounced "Sht." Like "Stern," that's "a star," " der Stern is "a star," like in the sky. Okay, so these are these special combinations. There's a whole, there's a bunch of special combinations that I'm not going to put in a podcast. Like this. You're going to get it in, in part of the examples because it's very hard to get them without the written up version of it, but you can watch the video, then you will get the combinations too. Okay, good. So we're going to go —by the way, there is a freebie. There is a PDF that you can, also go to the homepage. I'm also going to link all of these things in the show notes, where you can get a download of all of these things. So if you listen to the podcast, I highly suggest that you get the PDF for this. So there is a freebie or an additional material for this episode. and I highly suggest you to get it. You go to the, to my homepage bettergerman.info/18 . because this is episode 18.. So bettergerman.info/18, because this is episode 18, and you can download completely free. You just have to register once and you can download completely free, um the PDF that you see also in the video and it will give you the alphabet written up, the additional letters, the combinations, and also a lot, like example words for every letter and the translation. Okay, good. So let's go through the example words and the letters. So I'm going to say the letter. I'm going to just say the letter in German now, and then I'm going to say the example words and I'm going to give you the translation. So, the letter "Ah." This one is called "Ah," like in "der Apfel" , "the apple," "der Apfel" " der Arm" So repeat every one of these after me. So always repeat the letter and then the example words. So "Beh," like "der Bauch," it's "the belly." "der Bauch" oder (or) "das Bein." That's "the leg." I forgot to write that here. I'm going to fix it in the, so when you download it, it's going to be there. "das Bein" is "the leg." So, the letter C is in German called "Tseh," "Tseh." There are different combinations. Mostly this letter is part of combinations, like two of them you have here, like "sh" and "ch. But, when you have the letter by itself, it is very often pronounced like "k" like "der Computer," which is obviously a computer. Dann (then) ( the next letter is "Deh" like "die Decke" that's "the ceiling." Or "der Daumen, that's "the thumb." "Eh," like "Er." Or "die Ecke." "Er" means "he," and "die Ecke" means "corner." The letter E is an interesting one. It has quite a different, like, quite a few variations of how it is pronounced. I'm also going to make an episode just on the letter E, and by the way, if you are in one of my courses, you will learn details, the pronunciation, and many examples for every one of those letters in a very fun way. We have pronunciation drills, they're very fun, my students like them a lot. Good! "Eff," that's the next letter, is "Eff." That's pretty much like in English. like in "der Finger," which is "a finger," oder(or) "der Fuß," which is a "foot." "Geh," "geh," like "das Gesicht," —"face." Or another example would be "Gut," which means "good." "Gut." Next letter is "Hah." "Die Hand" " Die Hand" "Der Hals." That's "the neck." "Die Hand" is "the hand," of course. So, the letter "Hah" also has variations. This is pretty much how it's pronounced at the beginning of a, of a word. Sometimes the letter "Hah" or H, is silent and is not pronounced at all. You will see that a lot, oder (or) it's also used in combinations. Then, the next letter is "Ee " like "ich," —"I," oder (or) "das Bild," —"the picture." Dann (then) "Yay," oder (or) "Yot," there's two ways of how to refer to this word letter. It's either called Y or yacht. It's up to you to your choice what you prefer. Examples would be "ya," that means "yes," —"ya." Oder (or) "der Juni." That's the "June," the month. "June," —"Juni." Next letter, " Kah," like "der Körper" That's "body." Oder (or) "der Kopf," —"the head." By the way,, if you're wondering, if you haven't followed my podcast from the beginning, maybe you're wondering why I always say "der Kopf" oder (or) "das Gesicht." If you do the very short explanation, it is a very cool thing to learn the articles of the words right away from the beginning. It will make things much easier. I know that sometimes my students think like, "Oh God, and this is so hard to learn them." I think the idea is a, is a different one, or it's easier for you to learn, if you understand that it makes your life and your learning experience much easier if you learn them right from the beginning. However, I'm giving you more, so you get it better and makes more sense. There is an own podcast episode that I made about it. I'm going to link to it in the show notes. It is Episode 6, so Episode 6 —Introduction to Articles gives you a little bit more information about that in case you have been wondering. Okay, good. So the next letter is "Ell" like "die Lampe" "lamp." The next letter is Emm " der Mund" like that's "the mouth," oder (or) "das Mobiltelefon." "Mobile phone." Dann (then) by the way, we also say to the mobile phone, we say in German, we say "Handy," like with this one with "ha," which is funny because it sounds English and it comes from English, but it doesn't mean the same thing in English. So next letter, letter Enn, die Nase Der Nabel, so Die Nase is the nose und (and) "der Nabel" is the "belly button." Letter "Oh," like "das Ohr," that's "the ear." "Peh" " der Papierkorb," which is a "waste basket." "Kuh" like "der Quatsch." So "Kuh" oder (or) "kv" again, you have two possibilities, is in German words, or actually even in words that we are taking from other, languages always written with a "U," German Oo following. So like this um, and it's pretty much always pronounced "kv, kv und (and) "der Quatsch" means nonsense. Like, "this is Quatsch," —"that's nonsense." Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, The letter "Err" is also one with a lot of variations, and therefore it deserves its own podcast episode. However, I'm just going to give you the main ways of saying it. "Der Rücken." So that's probably the one that you realize the most. Rrrrrrr, "der Rücken" You don't have to say like, " Rrrrrrrrrrrr." Sometimes my students say that's hard for them and I understand. For example, English doesn't have this at all, " Rrrrr." How you can practice— first of all, you don't have to say, " Rrrrrrr"— it's completely enough to say it like, " r" like once. The tongue is just moving once in the back. How you can practice this is you take a glass of water. and you pretend that you've just finished brushing your teeth and you go and you take the water and you go like this " Rrrrrrrr" (gargling sound) with the water, and then you do the same without water. I don't have a glass of water here to demonstrate it right now. I am going to do that in the pot, in the "R" podcast episode, but this should help you. This is the best way of doing it that I know. You just take a water and you go, rrrrr, and then you can practice this. So, another way —so, "der Rücken" actually means "the back." Another word would be, "das Regal." That is "a shelf." And then I've put here in parentheses a few other ways, or actually one other important way of pronouncing this, and that is like a short "ah" and there we don't say "rrrrr" at all. For example, "die Tür." So here it's like an "ah" "die Tür," of course, is —not of course,— "die Tür" means "door." Oder (or) "das Ohr" That's "the ear," and again here you don't pronounce the R at the end, you write it "O H R," but you just say the R as a short "ah" " Ohr " And the last example that I have here is an "er" at the end is exclusively pronounced like "ah." Same thing, "das Fenster," that's "the window." —"das Fenster." Okay. So these, this is something I wanted to tell you. Sometimes, —but you don't have to worry about this, this is very, very advanced —sometimes people particularly Austrians maybe, don't say this so much even though you could, but anyway, just for you to know, at this point in time, the two most important ways of pronouncing R are either " rrrrrrr" or like a short "ah." Good, next letter: "Sessel." That's a "chair," like an "armchair." Like sss. Letter is Ess, so the next letter is S. Example is "der Sessel." It's "a chair." Next letter is "Teh." Like "die Tür." We already had "die Tür" for the R, now we are having it for the T. The first letter of "Tür," —"die Tür." That's "the door." Und (and) "das Telefon." And I didn't write up the telephone here. I'm going to fix it. If so, if you download it, it should be there. Dann (then), Oo, that's "der Kulli" —that's "a pen," oder (or) "das Buch," that's "a book" "Fau", " Fau" is very often —not always— pronounced like "fff" like "der Vorhang." Another way of saying this is like v, v, v, v. Like Curve. So these are the two main, or "die Vase." —That's a "Vase." Dann (then) W is pronounced like "veh" So Fau and Veh can be pronounced the same. So "Fau" can be "fff" oder (or) "v," and this one is always "veh." "Das Wörterbuch" is a good example, that's "a dictionary." Or "das Wort," which is "a word." The next letter is "Iks" like "das Taxi," oder— that's "a cab/taxi," oder (or) "extra," that means "extra," something additional or different. So this letter we pronounce, or we call "üpsilon," actually we call it "Üpsilon," that's the name of the letter. And, there are different ways of pronouncing this. The most frequent one is probably like e "Pony. das Pony," That's "a pony," a small horse. And then the next, the last letter of the actual alphabet is, " Tsett." That's the last, like in English, it's called "zee" or "zed" " die Zunge" oder (or) "die Zeh" " die Zungue" is "the tongue." " die Zeh" is "the toe," or depending on what your native language is, probably you would consider it to be the finger of a foot toe, — "the toe," —"die Zeh" Okay, good. So then let's do the additional letters. These are really pretty much just for German. A, or the Ah, like in English. Similar. "Oh" oder (or) Umlaut O like, " Österreich" like that's the word for Austria. Oo oder (or) Umlaut O like in "die Tür" — "the door." — "die Tür" oder (or) "die Übersetzung." That's "a translation." Then the "Scharfes S" or the "Eszett," "der Fuß" "the foot," oder (or) another important thing you will learn very fast, or maybe have learned already, is "ich heiße." That means I'm called, and then you say your name. "Ich heiße Susi." By the way, if you haven't heard it, I have made a podcast episode on Introducing Yourself. On saying things like greeting and introducing yourself, or actually it's two episodes, it's episode 9 and 10. I'm going to link to them. Dann (then), the next one, or the last ones, are the combinations that I've mentioned before already. So the first one being "sch," like "die Schulter," that's "the shoulder." Notice, in English we have the same sound, it's, in English you just write it sh, and in German you write it sh, it's the same sound. Dann (then) "ach," so "ch" after "a", or "u." "Der Bauch," oder —that's the belly— oder (or) "das Buch." That's "the book." Or a "ch" after "I." That's "Ich." That's "I" in German. and I forgot that. I'm going to add that here. Oder (or) "das Licht." That's "the light." "Licht, cht." Good " Ei" like in "das Bein Oder (or) "das Ei." That's "the leg." Or "the egg." Lieb. Also, sorry, ie. Like in "Die" oder (or) "Liebe." "Die" means "the," and that's an article, so, and it's a female article, so it's considered like a, to be a woman, or like a woman. "Die" oder (or) "Liebe." That's "love." Again, if you If you don't know what to do with these "der, die, das," listen to Episode 5, Introduction to Articles, and I'm going to give you an explanation there. Dann (then), we're almost there. "Au," this is like " das Auge," oder (or) "das Haus." "Das Auge" being "the eye," "das Haus" being "a house." Oi Like in "Heute," that's "today," oder (or) "der Freund," that's "a friend," "Shp," oder (or) "SP" like "der Spiegel," —"the mirror," "Spiegel. oder (or) "Spielen," — "to play," And "Sht" or ST we pronounce it Sht. " Die Stirn," that's "the forehead," Oder (or) "der Stuhl," that's "the chair." All right, so that's that for episode number one. What I suggest to you next is to go back and practice saying with me the "Ah, Beh, Tseh, Deh, Eh, Eff, Geh" and so on until you can actually say them easily with me. And ideally, then also really you can say them verbatim all by yourself. You can look at the letters, but you should be able to say them by yourself. So there is going to be a second part of the alphabet or of the podcast, a second episode about the alphabet, where are we going to look specifically at all the different vowels and the different ways of pronouncing them and, I'm going to tell you a little bit more of the vowels and we're going to practice them. Okay, good. So come back and we're going to do more practice of the alphabet. Okay, cool. Or, obviously, if you're on the course, just do the next video. Okay, good. I'll see you soon, and thank you for listening to this podcast. I would love to hear from you. To hear how I can help you, what you need, and what you thought was good, and so on. Okay, good. I'll hear you soon, I'll talk to you soon. and bye bye! If you liked it and, it was helpful for you, please share it with other people and let them know that this exists. And if you are looking for a course and you want to learn German online, then you can, of course, find all the infos as well on www. bettergerman.info. So, see you there and see you in the next episode

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