How to pronounce German Umlauts in 10 minutes! | Feli from Germany

++Reason for blurs/muted audio: This channel was renamed in Oct 2021. All references to the old name have been removed.++
Thomas Müller? Jägermeister? How do you pronounce these letters with the two dots on top in German? Can you learn it if you didn't grow up with it? And what if you don't have these letters on your keyboard? I gave my best to make a video that will help you guys with all of these questions and will hopefully make the German Umlauts a little less scary. Please add YOUR tips and tricks for pronouncing the Umlauts in the comments below! ⤵

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0:00 Intro
1:05 Eszett ß
2:02 ä Umlaut
4:39 ö Umlaut
6:31 ü Umlaut
8:31 Umlauts on keyboard
9:31 Outro
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 27, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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[FelifromGermany]

Thomas Müller? Jägermeister? How do you pronounce these letters with the two dots on top in German? Can you learn it if you didn't grow up with it? And what if you don't have these letters on your keyboard? I gave my best to make a video that will help you guys with all of these questions and will hopefully make the German Umlauts a little less scary. Please add YOUR tips and tricks for pronouncing the Umlauts in the comments below! ⤵

[floundergearjam]

Felicia, people pay $300 a credit hour to learn what you just instructed in a short video. Thanks, safe travels. Great video.

[extofer]

Okay, your tip on the ü by saying “eee” with a rounded mouth helped me IMMENSELY. I’ve been learning German for over a year now and never heard that tip until your video. Thank you!!

[ContesHistoireEtLegendes]

As a native French speaker, the Umlauts are really easy to say because those are sounds we also have in our language. So if you already know French,
Ä = ai
Ö = eu
Ü = u
And for the German "U" we write it "ou"

[kennethbailey]

I grew up with a father who spoke Russian and German. One of his sisters grew up in Belgium and spoke French. My German great grandmother spoke broken English unless she was mad, then only German.

[MarcusAgricola]

The Ü is quite easy to learn when you know how it was developed. It replaced the combination "iu" in middle high German and when you say "iu" very quick and short it already develops into "ü". Or you try to say "ooh" and you bring your chin up and to an underbite. For the Ö, actually place your tongue behind the lower front teeth and push the middle of the tongue slightly to the front as if you were trying to say "yo" (io again in middle high German). The Ä is just an A where you broaden your chin area instead of going vertical.

[alvagoldbook]

When I took German in high school my teacher said that when making the O or U umlaut sound you make a small o shape with your lips and make a U shape with your tongue and press it against the back of your front teeth. We were taught ezsets and umlauts, but this was the mid 90’s and he said that a lot of people thought this would go away with the advancement of computers, in order to make keyboards more universal. I’m actually really glad this never happened, as I’ve always thought these extra letters were kinda cool.

[daveR]

One of the coolest stories involving Americans using umlauts is how Mötley Crüe came up with their name. They were drinking Löwenbräu beer when they came up with the name and they decided to use the umlauts they saw on the beer bottles. But they didn’t even know what umlauts were and the first show they ever played in Germany the fans were pronouncing the name differently and the guys in the band had no idea why until they found out what umlauts were.

[jenniferbrown]

This was such a great video! I think learning a language is so much easier once you understand the proper way to say the vowels. And that bit at the end about using an "e" next to the vowel instead of the 2 dots makes so much sense to me now when I see German written. Informative, insightful, loved it!

[lilliandrescher]

I started learning German 56 years ago. After 4 years of study, I was pretty fluent, but I decided to retake the course after decades of not speaking the language. German has changed so much since the 1960s, I almost feel as though I need to start from scratch. Many German words I learned don’t seem to be used much anymore as they have been replaced by words from other languages.

[lydiajordan]

I’m a Chinese speaker and the long version of ü does exist in Chinese pronunciation. It sounds and writes exactly the same as ü in German. But it somehow took me a while to realize it😅

[kleighmarie]

SO glad a friend recommended your video and I found this channel! It has been my goal to learn German for years (family heritage and personal interest), and you are a natural teacher! Danke!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[rubyjohnson]

Great video Feli!!! I already knew the umlauts, but every time I said them I felt like it was an approximation of the real pronunciation. After watching your video, I realized I had it right and I gained confidence in speaking German. Thank you!!!!

[pendragon]

Oh gods, thank you!! Always had trouble with these when learning German! Hope your trip is going well!

[dougmorris]

Hi Feli, you have just answered/clarified the sounds and what to do if your keyboard doesn’t have the Umlaut letters.
I enjoy all your interesting videos and have happy memories of visiting Wuppertal and Hamburg in 2011
Vielen Dank and best wishes from Oxfordshire UK. I❤️🇩🇪🇪🇺

[suzkstein]

I am learning German and just discovered your channel. This video was SO helpful. From listing to linguists talk about this it has to do with tongue placement and movement. You did an excellent job of explaining how to pronounce these!😊 If you are not already studying linguistics you definitely should go for it. You'd be a natural.

[damanifesto]

Good post. Most of my German studies were in High School and university 30 years ago. A refresher is needed!

[eleonoralydia]

When I was learning German, my teacher told me that the ö was pronounced by forming the lips as if you were going to say o but say e (the German) instead and for the ü you form the lips to say u but say i (the German or ee in English) instead. It helped a lot.

[SisypheanRoller]

Wow, this is so short and to-the-point that I just had to leave a comment. You have a knack for teaching. Keep it up!

[Martina-rgme]

Great video Feli! You’re so clear with your explanations. Wish I could come up with some tips but to be honest I learned them by ear 😅 no tricks here..