GERMAN UMLAUTS for Dummies - How To Pronounce Ä, Ö, Ü

Hey rabbits!
For non-native speakers the three letters ä, ö and ü are pretty difficult to pronounce. With this video I will help you a bit - and hopefully also make you laugh! :)

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[igorwurm]

As a native German i can verify this is how you pronounce it. Best pronunciation of ä, ö and ü I have seen so far on Youtube

[notallthatbad]

Wait, so if I mispronounce German words, I'm gonna get PREGNANT?

*runs far away from Germany*

[Wuzzysbrand]

I always explain it this way:
ä -> form your lips/tongue as if you are pronouncing the german a, but say the german e instead
ö -> form your lips/tongue as if you are pronouncing the german o, but say the german e instead
ü -> form your lips/tongue as if you are pronouncing the german u, but say the german i instead

It might not be 100% accurate but it's very close.

[HelmutNevermore]

Thänk yöü för this wönderfül videö! I häd fün prödücing Germän ümläüt söünds. I feel like I äm never göing tö mix them üp ägäin. Wäit...

[bestofgames]

Oh I use “Ö” for a mouth and two eyes🤣

[PisauraXTX]

Ä=same as German E
Ö=German E with rounded lips
Ü=German I with rounded lips

That is all you need to know.

[RaainyRina]

gosh I love your jokes and the way you're teaching german, tysm! you're such a charismatic and charming person

[tzutzumo]

Umlaute für jene zu erklären, die deutsch lernen wollen, ist wirklich schwer. Es anhand von Vergleichen, wie Türklingel und pfeifen, zu bewerkstelligen ist eine gute Idee. Damit sollte jeder etwas anfangen können. Daumen hoch! :-)

[GeoDaLeo]

VERY useful and I AM a linguist! You're also very charming and that always makes practicing German more pleasant. Thank ya!

[supanontra]

ä and e are actually usually pronounced the same...
hätte ([ˈhɛtə]), Kette ([ˈkɛtə]), Käse ([ˈkɛːzə]), Fett ([fɛt])
It's only that "e" has a second pronunciation:
Esel ([ˈeːzl̩]), See ([zeː])...
OK, and a third one too (ə).

[Palandurwen]

*hihihi ich hatte auf jeden Fall viel Spaß beim Video!
Als ausgebildete DaF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache)-Dozentin habe ich aber noch einen etwas einfacheren Tipp für dich, sollte dich noch einmal jemand bei Ö und Ü um Hilfe bitten:

Ö -> sprich ein e, halte es und runde dann deine Lippen.
Ü -> sprich ein i, halte es und runde dabei deine Lippen.

Tada :D
E und I sind Laute, die in fast allen Sprachen gehen und bei denen die Zungenstellung genau die richtige ist. Einzig die Lippenrundung macht den Unterschied ;)

Für das Ä fällt mir gerade die Hilfestellung nicht ein - eventuell wurde es tatsächlich immer mit der Krücke über das E und dann den Mund weiter zu öffnen erklärt, also ähnlich wie du es schon getan hast.

Deine Tipps waren aber definitiv amüsanter und unterhaltsamer als meine ;)

Mach weiter so ^^

[killerkem]

My girlfriend sent me your way so I can properly say Fährst...Ä, heard that flash and I lost it 😂😂😂😂 definitely liked this video

[WantedAdventure]

*A video on the American accent in German...wait, wait I know that video :D ;) Yaayyy can't wait to see it!* And yeah, I've gotten a few requests to make a video about the German letters with the umlaut and I'm like, guys, I have to figure out how to SAY those letters first xD GREAT VIDEO!!! I practiced doing each one like a good student :D

[pauls]

Very nice video! Thank you! In English, we actually already have these three sounds. We just don't use different characters to depict them. Instead, we re-use the same letters and you just have to know the correct sounds by knowing the word. But, you're right, it's easy for an English speaker to just think the two dots over those letters are irrelevant :) Now the SPANISH would have a very hard time with these sounds because they literally only have FIVE vowel sounds (A E I O U). As I said, we have those same five vowels but we have more than double the number of sounds.

[lucky]

I just shut my mouth immediately when u flashed right on ma face... 😂🤣
An honest confession, can't take my eyes off of u. Every time I need to watch twice or thrice to get the video, coz first or second times goes real real slow and I just try not to understand anything. Love u, like all of u... 😘

[RelocatedRedbird]

For the umlaute, I picked up a tip on a course: ä would be like trying to say "e" but with lips shaped for "a". Likewise for ö, pronouncing "e" with an "o" form, and for ü, pronouncing "i" with an "u" form.

[jfpacheco]

When I was learning German, I had a friend that said that umlaut meant large, like this letters should be pronounced longer than usual, he also said that he had an umlaut you know what, then after the second lesson in German he learnt that he was actually wrong

[davidvoigt]

That was surprisingly entertaning... LOL Thanks!

You have a lovely smile, by the way.

[bkc]

Thanks for this. As an American living in Germany for the last 6 years (and learning German/Schwäbisch) I really need this type of practice. I also love languages and am an English teacher here. Very nice videos and I look forward to having the time to watch more.

[michaelclark]

OMG Trixie you're the

And they say Germans don't have a sense of humor. Ha!

Funniest. DTTR Video. Ever.