From: Justin.Keeler@f65.n228.z1.fidonet.org (Justin Keeler)
Newsgroups: k12.lang.deutsch-eng
Subject: Learning A Little German #1
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 10:43:24 PDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:228/65 - K12 Educator, Muskegon MI

   I might have left a few things out, if you want to know this...
A German "chs" is like "ks".  A german "l" is also shortened, and pronounced more upbeaten than the english version.  A German "ng", is always like the "ng" in "singer", not like the "ng" in "finger".  A "qu" is pronounced like a "kv".  A "ck"is the same in english.  A "tz" is like "tts" or "ts".  Also, an unknown character that appears in German, but not in the English language is a character called the "ess-tset".  It looks a lot like the capatilized "B", but the humps of it do not touch the rest of the 







letter, and it rides the base line like a g, j, p, q, or y, which means, that half of it is below the base of your writing.  Also remember this.  Whenever an "h" follows any vowel, that vowel becomes long.  And when two of the same consonants follow a vowel, including "tz" and "ck", that vowel becomes short.
An "au" in German sounds like "ou" in "out".  An "eu" or an umlauted "a" followed by a "u" sounds like "oi" in "oil".  An "ei", a "ai", a "ey", or an "ay" sounds like a long "i" in "side".
   Here's some practice to make what I said easier to follow.
(Remember that a vowel with an e after it is really an umlaut of that vowel, which means it has two dots over it!)
 Bett  ----   (bet)
 graben ---   (grahben)
 Grab  ----   (grahp), the b is like a p because it's at the end of the word
 Grabs ----   (grahps), the b is like a p because it's before an s
 graebt ---   (grahpt), the b is like a p because it's before a t
 Cafe -----   (kahfay), the c is like a k most of the time
 Cicero ---   (tsitsayrow), sometimes on rare occasions, the c is like a ts
 Dach -----   (dahch), remember the scottish ch sound!
 Loch -----   (lahch), sometimes the o is like "o" in "long"
 Buch -----   (booch), remember the ch sound in the back of the mouth!
 auch -----   (owch), don't forget the au and ch sounds!!!!
 Daecher --   (daycher), the ch sound here is made in the front of the mouth
 Loecher --   (lehohcher), ch sond in the front of the mouth
 ich ------   (ich), remember the ch sound in the front of the mouth!
 Christ ---   (kraist), sometimes, in Latin or Greek words, ch is like the k
 Chance ---   (shantse), sometimes, the ch is like the german "sch"
 Dachs ----   (dahks), a ch followed by an s is like "ks"
 backen ---   (bahken), the ck is the same in english
 Ding -----   (ding), the d is also the same in english
 Band -----   (bahnt), when d is the last letter in a word it's like the t
 Stadt ----   (shtaht), a dt is just like an english t
 Schaf ----   (shahf), the f is the same
 Geld -----   (gelt), the g is usually the same
 Koenig ---   (keohnich), when "ig" is last in a word, it's like "ich" in germ.
 hier -----   (heer), the h is usually the same 
 gehen ----   (gayin), when h is after a vowel, that vowel becomes long
 Jahr -----   (yahr), the j is like the y
 kennen ---   (kennen), the k is the same
 lang -----   (lahng), the l is the same
 kommen ---   (kuhmen), the m and n is the same
 Hunger ---   (huhnger), the german ng is like "ng" in singer
 Post -----   (pohst), the p is thew same
 Philosophie  (philohzohfie), the ph is the same
 Quelle ---   (kvelle), the qu is like "kv"
 


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