How do I know which vowel sound to use in German?

Question

For example, how do I know when to use the long "i" ("ea" as in "meat") as instead of the short "i" ("i" is in "pit")?

I'm also having trouble figuring out which of the two sounds to make with umlauted letters.

For example, how do I know when to pronounce one form of the letter "ü" instead of the other. I guess the best way I can describe it is "oo-ee" instead of "oo-ih".

I meant "oo-eh" not "oo-ih", sorry.

Thanks for the help everybody.

Ok, I'm making a mess of correcting myself so I'll just say this: "How do I know how to pronounce umlauted letters"?

Answer 1

You have to get the feel for it, like with English.

(I'm assuming you mean differences like "hässlich", where the "ä" sound is "eh", and "Käse", where the sound is "ay", and also words like "Hoffnung" where the "o" is pronounced "aw", and "Bogen", where the "o" is pronounced "oh")

Answer 2

Here you go. 'ie' is pronounced e, 'ei' is pronounced i, 'a' is pronounced ah, 'e' is pronounce eh, 'i' is pronounced e, 'u' is pronounced like the o in who.

Now the hard ones 'ä' or 'ae' - 'ö' or 'oe' - 'ü' or ue is difficult for English speakers (been here for ten years and still have trouble with them), 'a' long English a, 'ö' long English o but rounding out your lips when you say it, 'ü' say the short u but round out your lips. This method isn't the best, but it works not bad.

There are many more combinations with more rules of pronunciation e.g. - au, äu, eu, ou, öu, etc., etc.. Hope this helped a little.

Answer 3

when two vowels go walkin, the second does the talkin.
For example.
Spiel is pronounced with the long ee sound, ie being E.
Mein is pronounced with the long eye sound, ei being I.
The only time you'll pronounce the short i as in pit, is if the i is alone.
I took 4 years in high school and want to teach high school level Deutsche.
Hope I have helped.

Answer 4

The question is:
"How do I know how to pronounce umlauted letters"?
I really do not know, it goes automatically.
You just put the vowels together when you pronouns them.
I am not German, but I know how to pronouns the words - one get used to it.

Answer 5

I think the long "i" sound will be spelled "ie" as in "spiel", the short "i" will be spelled just "i" as in "Fisch".