English and German share lots of similarities and there are a number of words that are identical or nearly the same in both languages. This can make it easy for speakers of these languages to learn the other, especially as they can often understand many words they hear and read before they learn them.

However, even when a word looks the same in both languages, it is sometimes pronounced differently. Here we look at some ways in which the pronunciation of words can be different in English and German.

Word Stress

Many times the word stress (the strong sound in the word) is in a different place in English and German.

Here are some examples of this:

English	German
PROB-lem	Prob-LEM
TAL-ent	Tal-ENT
MO-ment	Mo-MENT
PER-ma-nent	per-ma-NENT
dis-PLAY	DIS-play
ex-CEL	EX-cel
ki-LOM-e-ter or KIL-o-me-ter	kil-o-ME-ter

Different Sounds

But not all of these differences come from word stress. There are some words in which a sound is pronounced differently:

Word	English	German
virus	The I is pronounced like “eye”.	The I is pronounced like “eeeee”.
palm	It’s pronounced like “parm”, without an L.	It’s worth a short vowel sound and an L.
agenda	The G is pronounced like “dj”, like in “judge” and “jumper.”	The G sound is hard, like in “gold” and “get”.
gel	As above.	As above.
organisation	The first A is very short and weak, like you are not saying it. The first I is like “eye”. The second A is long, like in “say” and “play”. -tion is pronounced “shun” (one syllable).	The first A is short, like “plan” or “cap”. The first I is like “eeee”. The second A is short, like “plan” or “cap”. -tion is pronounced “zi-orn” (two syallables).

Different Stress and Sounds

In addition to these, there are also words in which both a sound and the word stress are different:

Word	English	German
symptom	S is pronounced “ssss” like in “snake”. Y is short, like in “it” or “pin”. O is very short and weak, like you are not saying it. SYMP-tom	S is pronounced “z” like in “zoo” or “zebra”. Y is pronounced a bit like a U, like in “zumba”. O is stressed and long, like in “torn”. Symp-TOM
digital	G is pronounced like “dj” like in “judge” and “jumper”. A is short and weak, like you are not saying it. DIG-i-tal	G is hard, like in “gold” and “get”. A is stressed and long, like in … dig-i-TAL
student	ST is pronounced like in “stop” or “still”. There is a “y” sound before the U, like the word “you”. The E is weak, like you’re not saying it. STU-dent	ST is pronounced “scht”. There is no “y” sound before the U. The E is short, like in “tent” or “went”. stu-DENT
thermometer	TH is pronounced like in “three”. All the E sounds are very weak, like you’re not saying them. ther-MOM-e-ter	TH is pronounced as a T. The first E is like “where” or “pair”. The second E is long; it sounds a bit like “way”. ther-mom-E-ter
conference	The second and third syllables merge. CON-frence	The second syllable has a short E sound, and the stress is on the third syllable. Kon-fe-RENZ
comfortable	The first and second syllables merge. The O sound is very short and weak, like you’re not saying it. The T sounds like a D. The A is also very short and weak. The final L sounds is very weak. COMF-de-bel	The first O is short, like in “pond”. The second O is long, like in “torn”. The third syllable is stressed and the A is long, like in “car”. The last vowel sound is also weak, but the final L is clearly pronounced. kom-for-TA-bel

These are just a few examples of how German and English speakers pronounce words that look the same on paper.

Can you think of any more examples from your own experiences? Please share them below!