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Forum Rocket German German Vocab German Pronunciation dificulties

German Pronunciation dificulties

Rudi--9

Rudi--9

I am having a real difficulty pronouncing different words, particularly with the 'ch' ending, and rolling 'r'. How do you roll your 'r'? I like the interactive audio portions, especially when they repeat the word, and say it slowly in syllables. The cultural section is very fast, and does not repeat words slowly. I have been practicing using the record and listen feature, and can hear the difference, I just don;t know how to correct the pronunciation difference. Suggestions welcomed, and I can give example words that I am having difficulties with, but just wondering all I need is more practice and time, but practicing wrong is re-enforcing me saying it wrong. So I need to get this right. :-)
Byron-K21

Byron-K21

I don't think a non native speaker can ever sound like a native unless they live in that country for many years. Certain German sounds are difficult for the English tongue and I think you've identified two of the most common. I think the ch sound is especially difficult to get right, and it's not pronounced consistently in German either. Depending on the region it can be spoken to sound like a "k" and other regions more softly with an "ish" sound neither of which is 100 percent accurate but as close a phonetic pronunciation as I can describe. Short of having a professional phonetics coach to help you, I think the best we can do is listen over and over again and attempt to imitate the sounds. It takes time, but with recordings and play back you will get better.
Rudi--9

Rudi--9

Thanks Byron for the reply. I know it takes practice, practice, and then some more practice. Sometimes it gets frustrating, but thanks for the support.
Byron-K21

Byron-K21

Alles gute!
Honest Tom S

Honest Tom S

Hi I think you should go to this web sight and join for free. There is almost every language there. You just type in the word you want and Choose the language you want from the selection tab. it will translate and give five to six different dialects voices from different regions. It's a great tool. Don't worry, I still can't pronounce the word " Knochen" Bone. You should see how my seventeen year old daughter keep laughing at me, but I won't give up. That's the key. http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/morsch.html Ps. it also has games, definitions, and a lot of other goodies you can also plug in a mike for interaction. I haven't tried those functions yet however, in time I will.
Byron-K21

Byron-K21

Hi Tommy, I checked it out and it is pretty cool. Thanks.
jason☺

jason☺

Hi guys, Old topic, but can I assume there is a reason that we get more points for responding to a similar topic than we get for opening a new topic? To help with pronunciation, try out recording yourself using google translate or using the audio feature on the keyboard of your iphone ir ipad. If the computer understands you, so will a native. Google is especially handy because they have a phrasebook where you can save your phrases and then you can export them to a google sheet for further studies or printing or transfer to Excel. The speed of Rocket German can be difficult at times. So use other materials. For example, try slow german by Annik Rubens. She has five great beginner lessons and many advanced ones. Here is a link for the alphabet and umlaute and ß. She has a nice iphone app where you can download and study also. http://slowgerman.com/2010/09/10/the-german-abc-absolute-beginner-3/ Good luck, Jason

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