Notes on Pronunciation

A. Some difficult clusters

In Unit 4 we presented the ich-sound and the ach-sound after and between vowels and in combination with certain consonants. Unit 5 dealt with the ts-cluster in initial, final and inter-vocalic position. These sounds also occur in complex clusters, as the following examples show. Practice them with your instructor.

Practice 1

nicht N▶ S▶	durch N▶ S▶	gänzlich N▶ S▶	wenigsten N▶ S▶	acht N▶ S▶	lachst N▶ S▶
nichts N▶ S▶	Furcht N▶ S▶	herzlich N▶ S▶	nächsten N▶ S▶	achtzehn N▶ S▶	machst N▶ S▶
rechts N▶ S▶	furchtbar N▶ S▶	weichlich N▶ S▶	höchste N▶ S▶	achtzig N▶ S▶	buchst N▶ S▶
sechzehn N▶ S▶	fürchten N▶ S▶	rechtzeitig N▶ S▶	möglichst N▶ S▶	Hochzeit N▶ S▶	lochst N▶ S▶

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B. Review of vowel contrasts

Up to now we dealt with the German sounds which are most different from English sounds. By way of review we will drill the most difficult of these sounds again, starting with the contrasts between -o- and -ö- and between -u- and -ü-.

Practice 2

grosse N▶ S▶ – Grösse N▶ S▶		Tochter N▶ S▶ – Töchter N▶ S▶
schon N▶ S▶ – schön N▶ S▶		offen N▶ S▶ – Löffel N▶ S▶
Ofen N▶ S▶ – Öfen N▶ S▶		fordere N▶ S▶ – fördere N▶ S▶

Practice 3

Tute N▶ S▶ – Tüte N▶ S▶		Mutter N▶ S▶ – Mütter N▶ S▶
Huhn N▶ S▶ – kühn N▶ S▶		rucken N▶ S▶ – Rücken N▶ S▶
Tour N▶ S▶ – Tür N▶ S▶		Hunde N▶ S▶ – Bünde N▶ S▶

Practice 4

Söhne N▶ S▶ – Sühne N▶ S▶		Götter N▶ S▶ – Mütter N▶ S▶
töte N▶ S▶ – Tüte N▶ S▶		Köche N▶ S▶ – Küche N▶ S▶
Föhre N▶ S▶ – führe N▶ S▶		schösse N▶ S▶ – Schüsse N▶ S▶