Pronouncing Vowels with Umlauts German Letter Phonetic […] The phonetics of the German language is quite simple: the rules of pronunciation and reading of words in German do not cause difficulties. Just remember that that pronunciation changes a bit when any of these letters are paired! But the right lessons with the teacher and independent work will allow you to learn the language, to speak with little or no accent. Umlauts slightly alter the sound of the vowels a, o, and u, as outlined in this table. German vowel pronunciation a a stressed before one cons. The German word for those curious double dots over the vowels is Umlaut (oom-lout) (umlaut). Pronouncing German. When you know how each letter is pronounced, things get a lot easier. Vater a unstressed before one cons. To replicate the “gargled” pronunciation of the German r, try making a gargling sound before saying aahh, so you’re saying ra. The Basics Of German Pronunciation The German Alphabet. The easiest and best place to start mastering German pronunciation is with the German alphabet. Of course, there are exceptions and features too. Pronouncing the German r and l. You pronounce the letters r and l differently in German than you do in English:. ); you can nearly always pronounce a word or name correctly from seeing it written. German spelling is phonetic (unlike English! These sounds have no equivalent in English. maximal aa (generally found stressed) Saal ah (generally found … The German pronunciation of the words is actually one of the simpler parts of the language to learn.. German has three extra vowels: ä, ö, and ü. German might sound like a difficult language to learn when you hear a fluent native speaker, but it really is not too difficult.