How do you pronounce "ch" and "r" in German?

Question

I get the "r" for words like Zimmer where it comes at the end, but can never seem to get it right with others like grünen. also, "ch" seems like it's always pronounced differently, either as /sh/ (chinesische) and in other words sometimes as that strange sound that sounds like you're choking and sometimes just like the "h" sound like when a cat hisses. (not very good descriptions i know, but i'm phonetically challenged).

Answer 1

In the word "Zimmer" (and all other words that end with an "er") the "r" is not pronounced at all, it only broadens the "eh" sound at the end towards "ah".
In German there are many allophones (accepted alternatives) for the "r" sound, from the Bavarian one that's pretty much like a Scottish "r" to the Swiss "r" which is a guttural, to the more or less "normal" one that involves a vibrating uvula, as if you are gargling. The Bavarian one should be the easiest for a native speaker of American or English English, try vibrating the tip of your back-curled tongue (s-shaped) against your hard palate.

The "ch" after a dark vowel or diphthong (a, o, u, au) is pronounced by making a very small gap with the very back of your tongue and your soft palate.

The "ch" after light vowels or diphthongs ( e, i, ä,ö,ü,eu,äu,ei,ai) should be very easy: it is the starting sound of "huge". If you can't manage that, just pronounce it as the "sh" sound in "ship", most Southern Germans do the same, and it's generally much easier to be understood that way than by making weird noises or pronouncing it as a "k" which many English speakers seem to be taught.

I hope that was clear enough, don't give up,it's really only a question of finding the right position for your tongue, and keeping at the old practice, which makes perfect.

Answer 2

Difficult over the Internet unless you know the International Phonetic Alphabet.

When [r] comes at the end in normal speech, it's not really pronounced. Elsewhere, try gargling.

sch is [sh], but ch depends on what precedes and what follows. Looking at your question, it's more like a hissing cat after a front vowel [i], [e], and more like the 'ch' in Scottish after the other vowels. You need to talk to a native in order to get it right.

Answer 3

Hard to explain. Yes, "ch" is pronounced differently depending on the position it has in a word. Mostly after a, o and u it is pronounced like what you probably mean by "like you're choking", it is like "j" in Spanish and like what is mostly written as "kh" in English transliterations of Russian, Arabic or Hebrew. After i, e and the umlauts ä, ö and ü it is pronounced like what you probably mean by "like when a cat hisses" (interesting description, lol). In some foreign words it is pronounced as "sh" (for example in "Chance" which comes from French) and at the beginning of a word it is sometimes pronounced as "k" (for example in "Chaos" or "Chor"). In "China" or "Chemie" some people pronounce it as "sh", others like the "hissing cat" sound.

I know it is difficult to learn sounds that don't exist in your language, it was okay for me to learn the English "th" and "r" because I was nine when I started to learn English, but in other languages that I started to learn as an adult I could never learn their "special" sounds. Our "r" is different, but if you pronounce German with an English "r" it is not a big problem, everyone will understand, they will just notice that English is your first language (because that "r" is unique for English). Also if you pronounce the "ch" as "k" instead of the "choking" and as "sh" instead of the "hissing cat" people will understand.

Answer 4

In extreme German it truly is stated like the Scottish ch in loch. There are some dialects which pronounce it ish. In Berlin it transformations to ike stated eekay. In Bavaria and Austria it reduces to I stated ee.

Answer 5

in the north ch sounds like "kh" or spanish "j" at the end of the word

for example freundlich

in the south it sounds like sh

at the beginning of the word, almost always sounds sh
example: chance

there are exceptions like chaos (in which case sounds like k) or charakteristik

r is mostly r, like in english.

example: raucher, arbeit

Answer 6

depends on the word... sometime u use it ch like chair or sometimes ch like cair...