How to Fix Your German Pronunciation (for English Speakers)

About

Description

Salome Kolb covers the 7 most common pronunciation mistakes English speakers make in German — the habits that cause native speakers to switch to English mid-conversation. Includes specific fixes for each sound and a simple method for ongoing improvement.

Notes

• Why pronunciation matters first: bad pronunciation causes native speakers to switch to English before you finish a sentence — it’s Bottleneck #1 (per the companion video on speaking)
• The 7 mistakes:
  1. German “A” (1:33) — more open than English “a”, closer to “ah”
  2. “St” / “Sp” at word start (4:27) — pronounced “Sht” / “Shp” (Straße = “Shtrasse”)
  3. “Z” sound (6:02) — always “ts”, never English “z” (Zeit = “Tseit”)
  4. “-tion” (8:00) — “-tsion” not “-shun” (Situation = “Zituatsion”)
  5. “CH” (9:26) — two sounds: ich-laut (soft, front of mouth) vs ach-laut (back of throat)
  6. Final “E” (11:55) — don’t drop it; ends with a clear “uh” sound
  7. “R” (12:34) — guttural, from back of throat; don’t try to roll it like Spanish
• Simple improvement method (13:46): shadow native speakers, record yourself, fix one sound at a time

→ Companion to Why You Still Can’t Speak German (And how to fix it!) → See Language Learning

Transcript