5 Mistakes Germans Make in English | Feli from Germany

++Reason for blurs/muted audio: This channel was renamed in Oct 2021. All references to the old name have been removed.++

It's normal to make mistakes when speaking a second language but there are some things that you can avoid if you just know about them, so I put together a list of 5 common mistakes that German speakers make when speaking English. This includes English pronunciation and how to perfect an American accent, as well as common grammar mistakes. Many of these mistakes are things that even advanced English speakers make and that many Germans simply aren't even aware of. I've made these mistakes before too and wish someone would have told me about them. So I hope you find this helpful!

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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 26, 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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0:00 Intro
1:54 English V-sound
3:35 Voiced vs. voiceless consonants
7:56 Dark L vs. light L
9:14 Since vs. for
11:28 Collective & uncountable nouns
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[villakokomo]

I'm a native English (American) speaker and your English is better than many native English speakers. Impressive.

[zzkeokizz]

Let's be clear: I really don't care if a non-English speaker makes mistakes. I know lots of non- English speakers, even someone from Munich. They are doing me the biggest favor by speaking English because I'm not fluent in any other language. Accents are awesome! And I Love to meet people from abroad 😊

[emmarugg]

I find the plural 'informations' delightful, it's like each time you learn something new you add another little information to your collection

[hipgnotist]

"Since" is sometimes used as a conjunction meaning "because, " or "given that." In that sense it may be applied in a present tense. "Since you're here now, we'll eat."

[wbbelcher]

Since you asked what speaking errors do or do not bother us I have to honestly say that no speaking error really bothers me. I am in awe of anybody who can speak additional languages, especially a confusing monster like English. I will try to help where I can, but as long as i can understand what you need to convey then I don't really care how you say it. :D

[Jack]

To the native German speakers watching this channel, thank you for trying to learn our difficult language. From the lazy American who only speaks English.

[msmith]

"Did you get a haircut?"
"Yes, actually I got them all cut!"

[albertagrown]

My father in law was German and he did every single example you portrayed. Lol The kids loved teasing Opa about his accent. Lol

[BKairforce]

My wife is German but speaks English very well. She does say "feets" instead of "feet" sometimes tho lol. "Babe, are your feets cold?" Haha

[chrisbrantley]

One I used to hear a lot in Germany was "Do you want to make party with us?" In German you have Party machen, where in English we just convert the party to a verb "Let's Party!" I always thought "making party" was super cute though!

[xshortguy]

As a native English speaker, I never knew about the term "Dark L" or "Light L", even though I've used them correctly my whole life.

[TheCelestialvision]

I’ve noticed my German study abroad friends often say “that was a funny night” instead of “fun night”. This is itself kind of funny because these are two completely different words in English

[sezoe]

I am German and I had 9 years English lessens in school. After my school years I was in England for a placement. And when talking to a native speaker there, he said to me: "You have a problem with your Vs, you pronounce them like Ws!" This was when I learned that there is a difference between these two sounds! And I was shocked that I had been using the wrong pronouncement for so many years! This is long ago but I am still grateful to that guy for making me aware of that mistake! 👍

[BK-qpzp]

From your videos, I am learning that there are things I don't even know about my own language (American English). I lived in your country for over a decade and was so nervous about trying to speak German. However, I had an absolutely wonderful German neighbor who really helped me in three ways: 1) she spent months and months helping me to speak without my Texas drawl (no easy feat, I assure you!), then she helped me learn proper pronunciation of umlauts; 2) after I started learning how to put sentences together, but couldn't remember everything, she told me to ask "Wie heisst das auf deutch?" when I got stuck; 3) she told me that the most important thing is to make an effort and not to worry about mistakes. So I can honestly tell you, if someone makes fun of a mistake you might make in English, they are the idiot, not you. I don't know if you've made a video about the genders in the German language, as I've only recently joined your delightful channel, but I would like to know how in God's name a fork, a knife, and a spoon have three different genders! My aforementioned neighbor just laughed and said to pick one, that it didn't really matter and Germans would know what I meant.

[conlon]

10:55 I've been thinking about this, and you could say "I walk the dogs for two hours every day" for example, which would be present tense. So you can use "for" in present tense for things that happen for a certain duration repeatedly. It could also be used in books written in present tense. Rarely, in fact it's taken me a while to come up with a good example, but I've got one: "I stare at the riddle for a full hour before suddenly it hits me..."

[brianrad]

My childhood friend's mother was a German immigrant. Her accent was heavy, but never misspoke. She would yell at her kids in German. That was always fun.

[booklover]

Native German speaker: "In English, there are two types of 'L' pronunciations."

Me, a native English speaker: *Testing out all the L words I know*

[suva.]

Here's a really helpful tip my teacher gave us when we learned the difference between *since* and *for* :

(I'm gonna say it in German because it's easier to understand)

Wenn du hinter dem Zeitpunkt das Wort "lang" einsetzten kannst, benutzt man "for". Wenn es nicht geht, benutzt man "since"

Beispiel: I've been living in Berlin for 5 years
5 Jahre *lang* -> ergibt Sinn -> also "for"

I've been living in Berlin since 2015
2015 *lang* -> ergibt keinen Sinn -> also "since"

Anderes Beispiel:
I've been dating this guy for several months
Einige Monate *lang* - ergibt Sinn -> also "for*

I've been dating this guy since may
Mai *lang* - ergibt keinen Sinn -> also "since"

Ich hoffe es ist verständlich und konnte damit etwas helfen! ☺️

[littlemissbananaface]

I’m a native English speaker, but I love your explanation of the different between since and for! It’s something I never even thought about before, and even though I would instinctively know which one to use in each context, I wouldn’t have been able to explain what the difference was. Your explanation made so much sense and taught be a grammar rule of my own language I wasn’t even aware of!

[jtidema]

I love that you tell people not to be discouraged. Your English is amazing.