What features of an English accent give away the fact to a German that they are speaking to an English speaker--besides the letter r, the umlauted vowels, and the diphthongized "o"? Which other foreign language(s) do speakers have an accent while speaking German that sounds most similar to an English accent? Can the average German tell the difference between British English's speakers accents; North American English speaker's accents, and Australian and New Zealand English accents? Is the pitch or intonation different between English and German?
English accent in German
as a German, you can make out English speakers by
- general problems with umlauts
- they can't pronounce the 2 "ch" sounds correctly, they pronounce it as "k" or "sh"
- mixing up the articles "der" "die" and "das"
- general problems with umlauts
- they can't pronounce the 2 "ch" sounds correctly, they pronounce it as "k" or "sh"
- mixing up the articles "der" "die" and "das"
What does an English speaker that has no problems with the umlauts, ch sounds, and der/die/das? Do they automatically sound native? Or do they then sound more like, say, French speakers, or Estonians?
>> no, of course they will speak with an British / American accent then <<
What does an English accent on German sound like to a German (assuming they've mastered the grammar and "ch" sounds and umlauts)?
What does an English accent on German sound like to a German (assuming they've mastered the grammar and "ch" sounds and umlauts)?
I have a Scottish friend who has been living in Germany for more than three decades. His German - grammar and accent - is kind of native-like. The only thing which gives him away as a non-native speaker is clearly his intonation.
Is it difficult to distinguish an American speaking German as opposed to an English or Scottish person?
>> The only thing which gives him away as a non-native speaker is clearly his intonation. <<
Ah ha. So how should the intonation be changed?
Ah ha. So how should the intonation be changed?
The problem all English speakers have, even if they master all special sounds of a foreign language, is that they can't refrain from more or less diphtongizing all vowels. It makes them recognizable at one.
An example: when pronouncing the word "cat" the top of your tongue slightly *moves* away from the palate and retracts back during the few milliseconds it takes for emitting the "a"-sound. But with German "Katze", mouth cavity shape has to be kept steady during that brief lapse of time.
An example: when pronouncing the word "cat" the top of your tongue slightly *moves* away from the palate and retracts back during the few milliseconds it takes for emitting the "a"-sound. But with German "Katze", mouth cavity shape has to be kept steady during that brief lapse of time.
Dipthongisation si the easiest problem to overcome... only really foolish people can't eliminate this - the kind of people who go on speakingas though it were their native tongüe.
>> An example: when pronouncing the word "cat" the top of your tongue slightly *moves* away from the palate and retracts back during the few milliseconds it takes for emitting the "a"-sound. But with German "Katze", mouth cavity shape has to be kept steady during that brief lapse of time. <<
Hmm. I don't have any diphthongization for "a". The General American accent doesn't diphthongize [{] at all. Only accents spoken in parts of the Northern US diphthongize that vowel. And isn't Katze pronounced with [a] and not [{]?
Hmm. I don't have any diphthongization for "a". The General American accent doesn't diphthongize [{] at all. Only accents spoken in parts of the Northern US diphthongize that vowel. And isn't Katze pronounced with [a] and not [{]?