Umlauts? Not a Problem - German Pronunciation

3 posts in a day... I know. They were drafts, alright? But who cares, right? Anyway-

Have you ever wondered how 'German' Germans sound when they speak German?? It's impressive, really. It gives you those chills, like "Ah, sounds so good...and hard to do," Especially when it comes to words like 'schön', 'fühl', and the likes of it.
How do they do it? How can you do it?

Umlauts

Quite the challenge for people; as far as I have known. I have been asked by many about pronouncing umlaut letters.

There are three umlaut letters in the German language : 'ä', 'ö' and 'ü'. I don't wanna explain too much, so I'll just get straight to the point : when you see those two dots on the letters, you combine the original pronunciation of the letter with the eeee sound.
Need a good explanation?

'ä' is definitely an easy one, basically like the 'a' in 'ale' (a.k.a the 'a' you know).
But what about 'ö' and 'ü'? Well here's the trick :

When pronouncing 'ö', first say 'o' (like in 'oat'). Maintain the shape of your lips, and pronounce 'e' (the kinda eeee 'e') inside your mouth. Check! Do the same when pronouncing 'ü'; this time the shape of your lips should be as if you were pronouncing 'u' (like in 'flute'). Wunderbar! As simple as that!

Practice as many times as you can until you feel comfortable pronouncing it. Then it comes out naturally. Reader has leveled up! Hope it helped!

Always remember : Practice makes perfect.

Viel Erfolg weiter!
Maya

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