Vowel sounds in German can be long or short.  Long vowels in German are "pure", the sound does not glide from one vowel to another.

1. Long vowels.  Vowels are long if doubled (Beethoven, Saal), followed by an h (Brahms, Fehler), or followed by a single consonant (Schumann, Ton).

2. Short vowels.  Vowels are usually short if followed by two or more consonants (Kant, kalt).

3. Vowels with an umlaut (ä, ö, ü):

      a) Vowels with an umlaunt can be short or long.  Short ä sounds like e in bet (Pässe). Long ä sounds like a in gate, but without the glide (später).

      b)The ü and the ö sounds do not exist in English. (1) To pronounce the ü round your lips as if you were going to whistle.  Without moving your lips frm this position, try to say the vowel sound in the word bee.  This will give you the ü sound (für. München, fünf, müde, müssen).  (2) To pronounce the ö round your lips as if you were going to whistle.  Without moving your lips from this position, try to say the vowel sound in the word bay.  This will give you the ö sound (Österreich, möchte).

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4.  Diphthongs.  Among the vowel sounds of both German and English are both blends, or glides, called diphthongs, as in the words mice, house, and boy.  In German, the first element of these glided sounds is shorter than it is in English: ei, ai, ay (mein, dein, Maier, Bayern); au (Haus, auch); eu, äu (Freund, Deutsch, Fräulein).

5.  Unstressed e and final er.  Unstressed e is pronounced like the initial e in the word ever: schade, Junge, heute, danke.  Final er is pronounced like the final vowel sound in sofa: Lehrer, aber, Theater, Bruder.

There are sine consonant sounds that do not exist in English:

1.  The ich sound.  The ich sound is pronounced like the h in huge: ich, mich, sich, Milch, Mädchen.

2.  The ach sound.  To produce the ach sound, say the word look and hold onto the position you take for the k sound as if you could not let go.  In this position the back of your tongue is locked against the back part of your mouth.  Now slowly relax your hold on the position until you can force air through between your tongue and the roof of your mouth.  The friction you hear is the ach sound: acht, auch, Buch.

3.  The l sound.  Germans pronounce the l sound like the l in million, not like the l in bell or bill: elf, alt, hallo.

4.  The r sound.  The majority of native speakers of German use a sound that is produced at the back of the throat.  It can be produced by saying the ach sound with the simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords.  A vibration of the vocal cords can be observed by holding your hand to your throat as you say an s sound and change to a z sound (ssssszzzzzzz) or say a f sound and then change to a v sound (fffffvvvvvvvv).  You feel the vibration after you switch to the second sound in each case.  If you do the same for the ach sound, you will produce an r sound (chchchchchchrrrrrrrrrr): Regen, richtik, groß, drei, frei, Freund, prima, Krawatte.

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There are some letters that are pronounced differently than in English.

1.  Final b is pronounced p: halb, gelp, ob.  Final d is pronounced t: Freund, Hand, Hemt.  Final g is pronounced k: Mittag, genug.

2.  Final ig is pronounced ich: zwanzig, Pfennig.

3.  Final or medial ng is pronounced n as in singer: Wohnung, bringen.

4.  Initial, medial, or final z is pronounced ts as in hits: Zeit, zehn, Pizza, Schweiz.

5.  Initial or medial s is pronounced z as in zebra:  so, sieben, Käse, Besuch.

6.  V is pronounced like f in father: vier, viel, von.  V is pronounced like v in violin in many words of foreign origin: Vase, Violine, Video.

7.  W is pronounced like v in vest: wo, wie, was, warum, Wien.

8.  J is pronounced like y in yes: ja, Junge, Jahr, jetzt.

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