August 20, 2023 by speakspokehavespoken

Words that look the same but sound different in English and German

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!

May 6, 2022April 30, 2022 by speakspokehavespoken

Top 10 mispronounced words

When learning a language, it’s not enough to be able to read and write new words. We also have to be able to pronounce them correctly. Long words can be particularly difficult to say correctly, especially if they are similar – but slightly different – to words in your own language. He’s a list of words that are commonly mispronounced in English and some tips for saying them correctly.

1. purchase

Learners often pronounce this word as “pur-CHASE”, but actually the strong sound is at the beginning: “PUR-chus”. The “a” is a very short, weak sound. There’s more information about this sound here.

2. executive

Lots of learners pronounce this word “ex-e-CUT-ive”, but the strong sound should be on the second syllable: “ex-EC-u-tive”.

3. analysis

The verb “analyse” has a long final syllable and the “y” is pronounced like “eye”, but in the noun, that sound is shorter and the strong sound is earlier in the word: “a-NA-li-sis” (not “a-na-LYSE-is”).

4. comfortable

This is a difficult word to pronounce because we don’t really say what we see. Many learners say “com-for-TAB-el”, but we only pronounce this word with three syllables: “COMFT-a-bel”. The strong sound is also on the first syllable.

5. interesting

This word can cause similar problems. It should be pronounced as three syllables with the strong sound at the beginning: “IN-trest-ing” (not “in-te-REST-ing”.)

6. organisation

This is a very universal word in lots of languages, but the “a” sound is often mispronounced to sound like “can” when it should be a very short “uh” sound. You can read more about this sound here. The word is pronounced like this: “or-gn-eye-ZAY-shun”.

7. half

It looks like simple, but this word can cause difficulties, especially when telling the time. The secret is that the “l” is not pronounced, so we actually say “harf”.

8. display

Whilst this word may be used in other languages to describe the screen of an electronic item, it is sometimes stressed differently in those languages. In English, the strong sound should be at the end, i.e. “disPLAY” (not “DISplay”).

9. make-up

This word is similar. In “MAKE-up” the strong sound should be at the beginning, though some other languages that have adopted this word stress the second syllable.

10. clothes

This is a tricky word because we have to combined a voiced ‘th’ and ‘z’ sound. To do this, practise saying “th” like in “the” and “those” and then add a “z” to the end. We move the tongue back slightly in the mouth to move from the first sound to the second. When you feel confident with this, try adding the “clo” sound to the beginning. There is only one syllable in this word: “clothz” (not “clothe-iz”).

Which English words do you find most difficult to pronounce? Feel free to share in the comments below!

June 25, 2020 by speakspokehavespoken

The most important sound in English

Want to take your English pronunciation to the next level? You’ve masted vocabulary and grammar, but you’d like to sound more like a native speaker? Or maybe you still find it hard to understand native speakers? There’s one trick that can help to understand and make pronunciation more natural. It all comes down to one sound: the schwa sound.

Though it’s the most common sound in the English language, most people never learn about the schwa sound in their English classes. It is written /ə/ and is pronounced ‘uh’. This video shows you how to make the sound.

The schwa sound is used to say some vowels. In every sentence and some words, there are sounds that are stressed and some which are not stressed. Some unstressed sounds are a schwa sound. Here are some examples of words with this sound:

computer /kəmˈpjuːtə/
teacher /ˈtiːʧə/
under /ʌndə/
future /ˈfjuːʧə/
yesterday /ˈjɛstədeɪ/
company /ˈkʌmpəni/
around /əˈraʊnd/
about /əˈbaʊt/
Australia /ɒˈstreɪliːə/

In addition, in sentences there are some words which are stressed and some which are not stressed. Normally, we stress nouns and verbs because these are most important to understand the meaning.

In these sentences, we could stress the following words or sounds:

Would you like a cup of coffee?

Do you have a laptop?

This is for you.

I’m going to work.

He’s from Malaysia.

Sometimes, we say words that are not stressed as a schwa sound when they are in a sentence. These are some common examples:

a /ə/
the /ðə/
of /əv/
to /tə/
for /fə/
at /ət/
from /frəm/
are /ə/
am /əm/
an /ən/

So if I just say the word for I would say: /fɔː/ “four”

But in the sentence ‘This is for you‘ I would say: /fə/ “fuh”

To in the sentence ‘I’m going to work‘ would be: /tə/ “tuh”

And from in the sentence ‘He’s from Malaysia‘ would be: /frəm/ “frum”

It can take some time to get used to this new sound, but once you master it, it will be a lot easier to understand native speakers – and to sound like one too!

Extra practice
- Download a short podcast and listen out for the schwa sounds. 
If you can, download a script and mark the schwa sounds you hear.
- Find a short text and mark where the schwa sounds should be. 
Practise reading the text aloud with schwa sounds. If you are 
not sure, you can use a dictionary to check.
- The BBC Pronunciation Workshop has a great video with more
examples.

Can you think of any more words with a schwa sound? Are there any other sounds you find difficult to pronounce?

May 21, 2020 by speakspokehavespoken

How to say the ‘-ed’ sound like a native speaker

Pronunciation is one of the hardest things about learning English. You have practised using the past tense and know that regular verbs add -ed. Writing these verbs is easy, but saying them can be difficult because -ed can have different sounds. Here are the three different sounds and how to know when to use them.

/ɪd/

We use this sound when we add -ed to verbs ending in a d or t sound. This /ɪd/ sound makes another syllable at the end of the verb.

wanted: “want-id”
found: “found-id”
ground: “ground-id”
land: “land-id”
visit: “visit-id”
paint: “paint-id”

What counts is the last sound, so even if the last letter of the verb is an e, if it sounds like a d or a t, we add /ɪd/ .

taste: “taste-id”
waste: “waste-id”
promote: “promote-id”
code: “code-id”
shade: “shade-id”

/d/

We use this sound when we add -ed to verbs ending in voiced sounds. A voiced sound is a sound we use our voice box (in the throat) to create. There is a simple test to check if a sound is voiced. Place your fingers across the front of your neck and say one sound or letter. If you feel a vibration in your throat, the sound is voiced. All vowel sounds are voiced. The other voiced sounds are:

/b/ “b”
/d/ “d”
/g/ “g”
/ʤ/ “j”
/l/ “l”
/m/ “m”
/n/ “n”
/r/ “r”
/v/ “v”
/w/ “w”
/j/ “y”
/z/ “z”
/ð/ “th” in this
/ʒ/ “s” in vision
/ŋ/ “ng”

When we add the /d/ sound, there is no extra syllable, so a verb with one syllable still only has one syllable in the past form. Some examples of verbs that ended in a voiced sound and add the /d/ sound are:

logged: “log-d”
thrived: “thrive-d”
advised: “advise-d”
planned: “plan-d”
called: “call-d”
played: “play-d”
tried: “try-d”
measure: “measure-d”

/t/

We use this sound when we add -ed to verbs ending in unvoiced sounds. An unvoiced sound is a sound we do not use our voice box (in the throat) to create. We just use air and the shape of our mouth, tongue and lips to make the sound. If you place a finger across the front of your neck and say an unvoiced letter or sound, there is no vibration. Unvoiced sounds are:

/f/ “f”
/h/ “h”
/k/ “k”
/p/ “p”
/s/ “s”
/t/ “t”
/ʧ/ “ch”
/ʃ/ “sh”
/θ/ “th” in three

If a verb ends with one of the above sounds, we say the -ed as a /t/. Again, we do not add an extra syllable in the past tense, just the /t/ sound. Here are some examples:

packed: “pack-t”
stopped: “stop-t”
missed: “miss-t”
watched: “watch-t”
wished: “wish-t”
mixed: “mix-t”

Extra practice: When you learn new verbs, practise using them in
the past too. Here are more tips on learning vocabulary.

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Tag / Pronunciation