German pronunciation books?

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German Phonetics and Phonology: Theory and Practice by Mary Grantham O’Brien & Sarah M. B. Fagan

Postby aravinda » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:05 am

Revived this thread rather than opening a new one to mention a recent book on German Pronunciation.

It is German Phonetics and Phonology: Theory and Practice by Mary Grantham O’Brien & Sarah M. B. Fagan published by Yale University Press.

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300 ... -phonology

I glanced through the Preview and the companion website and liked what I saw. The parts I read were very systematic and clear. The companion website has practice audio and other resources.

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/germanphonetics

Although very much tempted, I didn’t buy it (for the reasons given below).

I have not seen anything like this book for German. However, it’s quite comprehensive and many beginners would consider it overkill. Most of the detail would be of no immediate use to a beginner and the price is substantial at $65. Also, there is no mention of the length of total audio. At present, you need to give a word from the book to access the audio. However, when I checked sometime back, (some? of the) audio recordings were freely available to listen. If the practice audio is rather short, it might not worth the price.

As evident from previous posts, there are two main ways to go about learning pronunciation. One is to start with phonetics and phonology. The other one is to learn the pronunciation as you go (as described nicely by Soclydeza). In my opinion, both methods have their merits. As the two approaches are not mutually exclusive, one can do a combination of them. I am very far from being a language learner worth emulating but that is what I actually do when I start learning a new language even when my focus is on reading.
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby FattyLumpkin » Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:47 pm

Listen to German as much as you possibly can. I am not sure of a specific book but unless it has audio reading about pronouncing German isn't going to be as good as listening to a native speaker pronouncing it. The letters in the German alphabet each have a specific sound and the pronunciation is pretty consistent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6vquyjxImk <- The alphabet
http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ <- Deutschland Funk radio (listen even though you won't understand a lot of it, it will get your mind used to the language).
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby zjones » Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:16 pm

Does anyone know of resources that are suitable for an absolute beginner in German pronunciation? Most of the resources I'm seeing are more suitable for intermediate learners. I started French with basic pronunciation and I really liked that approach. I'm having a much harder time with German sounds, so I want to supplement Assimil German with a pronunciation-specific resource (book, website or otherwise).
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:00 pm

German Pronunciation for English Speakers
First off, I would say that German pronunciation is quite accessible to a native-speaker of English and that completion of any introductory course should suffice. Of course, even upon completion of an introductory course, you will still have a noticeable accent, but I would bet my pension that, for some portion of the English-speaking world, you have a noticeable accent in English, as well.

Previous Discussions
Here are a couple of discussion threads concerning the pronunciation of German:

German pronunciation – LLORG – June, 2016
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3048

German pronunciation books? – LLORG – November, 2016
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4935

Quick Fix
I would not bother with any of the specific German pronunciation resources mentioned in the above discussion threads. As a “quick fix” for an absolute beginner, I would recommend:

DLI German Headstart, Lesson 1.
In fact, the whole course is extremely well-prepared!

Pimsleur German I, with particular attention to the “Reading Guide”.
The Reading Guide for Phase I is, for all practical purposes, a guide to German pronunciation. If you’re having difficulty locating a lending library nearby, just let me know, and I might be able to help you.

FSI German Programmatic
This self-study course was designed as a preparatory step for students who were about to enter the FSI German Basic programme. Although it can be a little confusing a times, it does cover the basics of German pronunciation. I would not recommend going beyond Unit 20 as, at the time the authors were working on this course, the FSI underwent a change of teaching philosophy and budgeting which resulted in the final units being rushed and, to my way of thinking, poorly prepared. To be used as a last resort.
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby smallwhite » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:57 pm

zjones wrote:I'm having a much harder time with German sounds, ...

Which sounds or which aspects are you finding difficult?
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby zjones » Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:17 pm

Speakeasy wrote:German Pronunciation for English Speakers
First off, I would say that German pronunciation is quite accessible to a native-speaker of English and that completion of any introductory course should suffice. Of course, even upon completion of an introductory course, you will still have a noticeable accent, but I would bet my pension that, for some portion of the English-speaking world, you have a noticeable accent in English, as well.


Phew, thanks for confirming that it isn't inaccessible to me. I'm honestly not sure what to expect from German. I know I'll speak with an accent and I'm totally okay with that. I'm not, however, okay with speaking German with a false French accent or being incomprehensible.

Speakeasy wrote:Quick Fix
I would not bother with any of the specific German pronunciation resources mentioned in the above discussion threads. As a “quick fix” for an absolute beginner, I would recommend:


Thanks for these recommendations, this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I'll get started on the DLI German Headstart, or see if I can find Pimsleur German at my library.

smallwhite wrote:Which sounds or which aspects are you finding difficult?


It's hard for me to pinpoint what is tripping me up, but I think it's primarily the consonants, like Rs, CH, QU, SP, Z, etc. I'm never sure where to put stress in a word or sentence. Visually, German looks very confusing to me. I hope that these problems sort themselves out as I spend more time hearing and speaking the language.
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby Speakeasy » Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:15 pm

zjones wrote: ... It's hard for me to pinpoint what is tripping me up, but I think it's primarily the consonants, like Rs, CH, QU, SP, Z, etc. I'm never sure where to put stress in a word or sentence...
Hmm, sounds to me like you've been listening to Michel Thomas. :D
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby smallwhite » Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:23 pm

> I think it's primarily the consonants, like Rs, CH, QU, SP, Z, etc. I'm never sure where to put stress in a word or sentence.

I see. Sounds like mainly difficulty in remembering pronunciation rules rather than in pronouncing sounds.
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Re: German pronunciation books?

Postby hedgehog.chess » Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:25 am

zjones wrote:Does anyone know of resources that are suitable for an absolute beginner in German pronunciation? Most of the resources I'm seeing are more suitable for intermediate learners. I started French with basic pronunciation and I really liked that approach. I'm having a much harder time with German sounds, so I want to supplement Assimil German with a pronunciation-specific resource (book, website or otherwise).

Praxisbuch Phonetik. Aussprachetraining für Deutsch als Fremdsprache by Daniela Niebisch
I've given a review in my log. I think i may be better suited for a classroom environment but you can check the sample chapter and read more about the book here: http://www.phonetik-deutsch.de/das-praxisbuch-phonetik.It’s also almost completely in German so I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for.
zjones wrote:I'm never sure where to put stress in a word or sentence.

The book has chapters that tackle specifically those topics.
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