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