You think you’ve got it bad with German pronunciation? Consider the baffled Italian, Spaniard, or Rumanian learning English. What is this poor learner of English to do with “threw” and “through”? And if these words aren’t difficult enough, what about “rain,” “reign,” and “rein”—three words with different spellings and meanings, but with identical pronunciations. You’re going to have a much easier time learning German pronunciation, because what you see is what you hear. German words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled. You don’t ever have to wonder if the “e” at the end of a
word is silent, which it sometimes is and sometimes isn’t in English. In German it is always
pronounced. Before you can pronounce German words correctly, however, you’ll have to learn the difference in the way the vowels are read because the sounds of vowels in German are significantly different from the sounds of the same letters in English.
Pronunciation in German is very important.
