How to pronounce the German "R"

[@FlashheadX]

It depends on the region you grow up in. The most common pronounciation of R is actually [ʁ], the voiced uvular fricative. It's not really "rolled", but somewhere between your rolled German R and a "Kehllaut" (I think you did a video on those few years ago, like the "ch" in "acht")

[@rewboss]

Sure; must people with a uvular /r/ realize it as [ʁ], either fully realized or as an approximant [ʁ̞]. But I'm looking at what is normally taught to students of German and what is helpful as a way of explaining it. In particular, [ʁ] is confusingly close to the voiceless velar and uvular fricatives [x] and [χ]. But since one way of looking at it is that the uvular /r/ is realized as [ʀ] in free variation with [ʁ] and [ʁ̞], I thought it would be sensible to describe [ʀ] (as the speaker in the MRI appears to be demonstrating, so far as I can tell with after they ran an aggressive noise removal over it). And one can argue that a uvular fricative is essentially a slightly more chaotic uvular trill. I don't know far that argument would take you, but I'd say that it's close enough to maintain the line that /r/ can be realized as [ʀ ~ ʁ].

[@wingedhussar1117]

@@rewboss 4:20 That was actually a voiced uvular fricative and not a trill. Some people say that uvular trills and uvular fricatives are basically the same thing, but in fact the two consonant sound very different for trained ears.

[@rewboss]

@@wingedhussar1117 It sounded more like a tap to me. The problem is that the sound quality is atrocious in the video: the MRI scanner makes a lot of noise, which they had to filter out using a software noise removal tool, and that's what degraded the sound so much.

[@mizapf]

People from the Ruhrgebiet take it to the extreme and pronounce the r almost like ch, like "Gebuchtstag" (Geburtstag) or "Chooo-bert!" ("Rooo-bert!)

[@jamesalles139]

@@rewboss yes, no high-end, or sibilance

[@xaverlustig3581]

For all Americans watching this: If anyone complains about your German pronunciation, just tell them you come from the Erzgebirge (the mountain chain south west of Dresden on the Czech border), because their dialect uniquely features an "American" sounding R. You can make your claim even more credible by knowing about the local christmas traditions.

[@ospero7681]

Alternatively, the Siegerland will do as well. (If Wikipedia is to be believed, their "r" is even closer to the American than in Erzgebirgisch.)

[@jamesalles139]

Thank you for the open source intelligence!

[@jacksonbiscuit]

I used to live in Upper Lusatia, where older people had a proper West Country R just like Rewboss! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4qyq5tohtOYotE

[@1LPMx1]

I once had a classmate from Bad Tölz and his r, at least to me, sounded just like the american pronunciation.

[@Tragantar1310]

@@ospero7681 can confirm, my grandpa is from there and always gets mistaken for an american

[@grawatto]

I'm a spy and I find this video only partially helpful, yet entertaining.

[@letoubib21]

Okay, spy Grawatto, to the garrotte! Your wrong "R" blew you *. . . ;-)*

[@scij03]

One big exception to pronouncing the R as a vowel. If you are the singer of Rammstein, you always want to roll the R as much as possible.

[@Antanana_Rivo]

Nun liebe Kinderrr gebt fein Acht …

[@uncinarynin]

For instructions on how to use the rolling tonguetip R as a vowel, listen to any song by Zarah Leander.

[@xaverlustig3581]

@@uncinarynin Or Nina Hagen kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3fRfYmcoMuLd5Y

[@uncinarynin]

@@xaverlustig3581 Rrrr!

[@qiziqkop_]

Leiht eueah Ohrrr einerrr Legende

[@minski76]

"Unless you are a spy!" And even then you can apparently get away with the heaviest possible British accent by claiming to be born and raised at the foot of Piz Palü... As long as you don't order three beers. *nerd mode off*

[@rewboss]

If you want nerd... No, it wasn't actually Hicox's fingers that gave the game away -- that was deliberate misdirection by Tarantino. It really was his accent, which is what brought Hellstrom over to his table in the first place. You can see that Hellstrom doesn't buy Hicox's story for one moment, and gets him drunk to keep him talking. The clincher is in fact Hicox's failure to identify an actress who was a household name in Nazi Germany but unknown anywhere else. The other characters speculate that it was because he held up the wrong fingers, but they are quite clearly wrong.

[@gulli72]

Suffice it to say that in the real world nobody will point a Walther at anyone's testicles over this.

[@Thiesi]

@@rewboss You never stop to amaze me with your profound knowledge, be it of the Berlin subway system or a Quentin Tarantino movie with Til Schweiger in it.

[@MrBlacksingh]

I was thinking of the same scene from Inglorious Bastards.

[@ssazerac]

Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind if I go out speaking the King's.

[@sinom]

In a dialect in my region "hören" is basically pronounced as "höan", so depending on where exactly you are and who you're talking to the vowel r is a lot more used than the normal r

[@letoubib21]

That's in nearly every German accent *. . .*

[@SD_Alias]

And the end syllable "er" is often pronounced with a short a. Like in northern Germany "Ey Alla!" instead of " Hej Alter!"

[@JoniWan77]

@@SD_Alias It's most often actually not a real "a", but something between an "a" and a schwa, also called a-schwa or r-schwa and is pretty much a vocalization/vowelization of the German "r".

Ruhrpott?

[@markusdonato9455]

I’m happy to hear this because this is what naturally happens when I try saying some German words

[@Pruegelknappen]

Sehr nett, die ganzen Begriffe noch mal auf deutsch in die Untertitel zu schreiben. Danke dafür.

[@isaacbobjork7053]

1:59 baa baa banküberfall!

[@AVKnecht]

Das Böse ist immer und überall!

[@zam1am]

baa baa ba ba ba - babbelgamm (Gershon Kingsley 1922-2019) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpmQeqZmd690jMU

[@unvergebeneid]

3:31 Saying "In German, the r can sometimes be a vowel" in a non-rhotic dialect of English sounds a bit ironic ;)

[@RAMAFASTENAMONATO]

A German linguist named Theodor Siebs introduced the first standard pronunciation in 1898. It was called _die deutsche Bühnenaussprache_ or _Bühnendeutsch_ or stage pronunciation. This kind of German pronunciation is unique. Every speech sound had to be pronounced clearly, with /p t k/ in initial position were followed by a clear /h/. An alveolar trill 'r' was the standard pronunciation, which means all r's had to be pronounced just like a Spanish 'r'. There was no vocalized /r/ that is heard like /ah/. There were no syllabic consonants for the pronunciation of -en and -el. Thus, such words as _reich_ , _über_ , _Urlaub_ , _arbeiten_ , _Wappen_ , _backen_ , _Apfel_ and Katze were just pronounced [raɪç], ['yːbər], [ˈuːrlaʊp], [ˈarbaɪtən], [ˈvapən], [ˈbakən], [ˈapfəl] and [ˈkhatsə] respectively. All people in German-speaking countries understood this stage pronunciation. Unfortunately, this artificial pronunciation was used formally in Germany until 1950s because the second type of standard pronunciation appeared: _Deutsche Hochsprache_ . Today, its name has been changed to _Deutsche Aussprache_ . The second type of German pronunciation is more difficult to many learners of German since a uvular 'r' is the standard pronunciation and it becomes a vocalized 'r' [ɐ] when the letter 'r' is at the end of words and before consonants. This means that 'r' is pronounced like /ah/ at the end of words and before consonants, but it is pronounced just like a French 'r' when it appears in other positions. The endings -en and -el become a syllabic-n and a syllabic-l respectively. Thus, _reich_ , _über_ , _Urlaub_ , _arbeiten_ , _Wappen_ , _backen_ , _Apfel_ and Katze should be pronounced [ʀaɪç], ['yːbɐ], [ˈuːɐlaʊp], [ˈaʀbaɪtn̩], [ˈvapm̩], [ˈbakŋ̩], [ˈapfl̩] and [ˈkʰatsə] respectively.

[@gordonross4542]

I am a phonetics teacher in Germany and this is a brilliant video, which I am very grateful for and which I acutally use in university classes but, as far as I know, the most commonly-used High German 'r' sound is ʁ​ (not R) which is a voiced uvular fricative (stimmhafter uvularer Frikativ) but maybe they use the uvular trill where you live?

[@Caledoriv]

How often did you practice the different "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" sounds? It was quite hard for me despite being a German antive speaker.

[@HiltownJoe]

It vastly differs in difficulty depending on you own dialect. Some dialects have all the Rs already there. Also having a look at the phonetic alphabet and playing around with the different sounds helps to loosen your tongue. Once the "Groschen is gefallen" it is suddenly really easy.

[@summerday1983]

I couldn't produce the alveolar trill until I was about 9 or 10 years old. And I'm from Austria. It felt a little bit disabled, actually.

[@Omnigrotesque]

I love those deep dives into language science. It's a lot of fun for me. Unfortunately, most of my friends become very quickly tired of the topic. :(

[@Chloe-qd5vx]

Me too😆

[@AvrahamYairStern]

I study linguistics and I'm surprized at your knowledge on phonology!

[@Toxicity1987]

Listen to a lot of Rammstein and then start to sing alongside.

[@dynaflow666]

Da kann ich nur zustimmen, sehr gut gemacht und erläutert! Danke.

[@andrealukacs7801]

I love that he doesn't put pressure on the German language learners saying they shouldn"t overthink pronunciaton just need to be understandable while giving useful tips and also serious scientific facts about the sounds.

[@dilbaum]

5:20 That is not correct I would say. The rolled R was actually very common in German lands and has died out over the last two centuries. In the 18th century you could find the R being rolled pretty much all over the place and as far as I know, middle high german also used rolled Rs.

[@dilbaum]

Also, fun fact: I'm from Bavarian-Swabia. Over here and also in eastern parts of Württemberg (Ulm for instance), the r is pronounced separately when it comes to certain words. The word "gern", for instance, would be pronounced as two syllables. Same goes for Tür, Turm, Stern, and so forth. I think in the Württemberg parts of Eastern Swabian the R isn't rolled but as for Bavarian Swabia, it even gets rolled! It's very interesting tbh and I think it's worth mentioning. I think in a lot of language courses they should point it out or teach it that way, if students take courses in the said regions. It's dying out and it's really sad.

[@BigBenGermany1983]

Sorry FC... =)

[@Freinersen]

One of your best videos. Very informative.

[@diefibo6905]

In reality I think I pronounce EVERY R that’s at the end of a syllable as a vowel. In your example Uhrwerk I would say „U[e]-we[a]k“. So there are even two different vowel sounds the R can make: After A, E, O it is a short „a“: Art -> „A-a-t“, Pferd -> „Pfe-a-rd“, Ort -> „O-a-t“; and after I and U it is like a short E-sound: Vier -> „vi[e]“, Kur -> „Ku-e“. 😄 At least that is the case in my region of Germany/NRW.

[@jaromir_kovar]

Me, a spy *sighs*

[@KaterMUC]

The rolling R is not only used in "Bühnendeutsch, but almost always when singing.

[@Galenus1234]

I am a speaker of (Southern) Austrian German, so... 1. I don't use the alveolar trill 'r' at all and I don't know any native speaker here who does that. In fact, I am not even able to make that sound. 2. As for the uvular r... Take a sip of water and gargle. That's the sound you are searching for. Try to make that sound with ever decreasing amounts of water. 3. I never thought of the 'vowel r' as an 'r' at all. To me it's rather an 'a' albeit a murmurous one. There's an 'r' in writing but in the pronounciation there is rather a vague 'a'. Non-rhotic varieties of English went a few steps further and turned -er into a clear -ah. 4. Don't spend to much time practicing your r's. Just use your familiar English one and you'll be understood.

[@Nova-Franconia]

Well, here in Franconia (Northern Bavaria), the vast majority of people still use the alveolar trill r‘s, both in dialect and when speaking standard German. I also usually pronounce it after every vowel that isn’t an /e/. So: Arbeit; Irland; Dorf; Burg; Lärm; Körper; Fürchten;… But there are also some exceptions like: Berg; Herz; Schmerz; Herr;…

[@mr._smash3982]

Thanks! really helped me out a lot! I'm talking to this Austrian girl and I always have problems with the R sound. Since I speak Spanish, the trill is easier for me. However, she's adamant about me learning the other pronunciation and using that one instead. Now that I know how to do it, I'll be able to impress her! Thanks a lot

[@hermannschaefer4777]

If you use a rolling r or a uvular trill ⟨ʀ⟩ or voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] at the end of a word (like Tor, Uhr or war (was)) instead of a Schwa (ə), you just sound a bit.. well.. strange, but it still sounds German, kinda. It just sounds a bit.. too German. Like when Brits try to imitate ze GeRRRRRRman Language.. But nevertheless, it's still better than the often heard american-r, the alveolar approximant [ɹ]... If unsure how to sound a r at the end of a word, use the English "better", which is also more of an a-sound (bett-ah), so a Tor=To-ah, Uhr=Uh-ah is fine.

[@felixro1006]

Even I as a German am not able to pronounce the rolling R. Sometimes it works depending on how much fluid is in the back of my mouth. In the front I'm just not able to roll it. The American R is not a problem at all. So if I try to pronounce the R and it's not like - er in the end (so that the R becomes a vovel) my R sounds a bit like the CH sound from the rear of your mouth. In Germany it's not a problem at all, but when I try to teach German to foreigners they are always confused about the pronunciation of the R and try my broken version.

[@botinhas82]

As a Portuguese living in Germany for 10 years I always found tremendously difficult to pronounce the "ch" like in "auch", "acht" or "Michael". On the other end no German (Michael or not) can ever correctly pronounce my name "João" so I call it even.

[@rewboss]

I used to have Portuguese neighbours with that name. Yep, there are a couple of things there that would cause Germans problems. I'm guessing the nasal vowel is the biggest.

[@melinalack6224]

How do you pronounce your name? I've seen it in books, but I've never heard the name spoken!

[@botinhas82]

@@melinalack6224 First syllabe is easy "Jo" where the "o" sounds like the English "oo", then the "ão" is an "u" like in "sun" followed by the nasal "oom" like in "zoom": Joo u-oom. Same sound applies to all Portuguese words with "ão" like "pão" (bread), "cão" (dog), "mão" (hand) or "chão" (floor).

[@melinalack6224]

@@botinhas82 thank you very much for replying! I tried pronouncing it the way you explained. That's cool!

[@jonkess2768]

@@melinalack6224 But the "ch" in "Acht"/"auch" and "Michael" are different sounds arent they? I am a native speaker and i pronounce them differently.

[@part9952]

In Austria in many regions and especially old people use an alveolar trill / tap :)

[@Nikioko]

3:20: unvoiced uvular fricatite? Only in the Rhineland, where you buy "Kachten fürs Konzecht".

[@eltfell]

In an area called "Lippe" - east of Eastern Westfalia - the "R" is pronounced as "A". Schirm = Schiam.

[@gretahaase5509]

I grew up in Lippe and have a horse called 'Dirk'. I had to repeat his name several times while talking to other people and really had to remind myself of the high German pronounciation, because if I don't think about it, I call him 'Diak' and people were wondering, what his actual name is - 'Dirrrrrk' oder 'Diaaak'. Language is a wonderful thing :D

[@andypre1667]

Ruhrdeutsch has the same feature. Aus Birke wird Biake mit überspitztem I.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

and here it's more like "schörm"

[@jonkess2768]

@@andypre1667 I pronounce Birke either Biake or Böake either way i am turning that R into a vowel.

[@RayyMusik]

Referring to the video, Westphalians use to say Uaweak, i.e. (also) the 2nd R is pronounced like A (while the first may be a schwa).

[@graham0]

Very helpful, started off a bit daunting but came together and made alot of sense towards the end!

[@stefaniel.]

Ok, jetzt rrrrrrrrrrrrollt es ganz schön in meinem Kopf

[@kanalisationerstellen]

You are a better German Teacher than my German teacher in my German school, when they teached us vowels... and i got confused in primary schools for reasons like that! Tor would be only one vowel... but isnt....

[@mathiaslist6705]

6:49 pretty good --- actually native quality but nevertheless I'd say most people pronounce hören as one syllable ... so again with turned up a like höan or better hööan as the ö has to be long

[@Weddei]

This guy is amazing!! I wish i had him as a professor at school.

[@mathiaslist6705]

6:21 perfect but doubt that I pronounce an "r" in -werk ... it's just the same a-like sound so I would even write it uaweak or uuaweak when I should explain how it sounds... I am really deaf for any kind of "r"s in that position

[@raythevagabond3724]

Again what learnd ;) Thank you

[@ratatosk8935]

As a Mecklenbourgian: Don't use "-er" at the end of a german noun. Just say "-äh". Normally other Germans don't recognize, that we're sloppy with our endings... Nobody ever has called my dialect a dialect...

[@rollstuhlmeister]

I don't think I can do either trilled German r. I always try the uvular, but I think when I say it it just sounds like a voiced velar fricative

[@rewboss]

...which is a very common pronunciation.

[@TheLookOf]

In The Hague the r is a vowel too, when at the end of any word. Lekker is lekkah, bier is bieah, etc etc.

[@nausimur6035]

"AND it goes RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" 2:56

[@reinhard8053]

Where I went to school (Austria) there is a valley where they speak a very rolling R. One student from there drove our French teacher nearly insane.

[@OLBarbok]

Don't worry about speaking perfect, we can barely understand each other's dialects, it doesn't matter if you have an accent.

[@robertnett9793]

That's just because most Germans don't speak / understand proper Bavarian :D (just kidding).

[@diesesphil]

I am a GErman speaking a Niederrhienischen Dialect that is almost high german, and have no Problem at all understanding German Dialects. like for real. The biggest problem is Swiss but even that isnt too hard

[@robertnett9793]

@Gernot Schrader Interesting take. Though, I would argue, that the Allemani are a different tribe than the Bajuwars and - to my knowledge have different languages. There IS an overlap between the more eastern allemanic tribes and western bajuwaric tribes though. In the Swabic and Allgäuer parts you have this influences from both sides But there are destinctions and I believe people from the eastern Bavarian parts, like the Oberpfalz or Nieder- or Oberbayern might take offense to that statement :D

[@kasetoast8354]

@@robertnett9793 "(just kidding)." That was pretty close to an escalation ;)

[@robertnett9793]

@@kasetoast8354 Well. I like to play with fire :D

[@aaron2709]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Scooby-Doo. As a ghost-hunting cartoon dog, he has a unique American dialect of pronouncing every word with an R.

[@haramanggapuja]

Love to see you do one of these on Danish phonology. Especially their pronunciation of the letters "r" and "v". ;-)

[@Blazeit-tm5vq]

I was looking for a video like this cause I wanted to know how people from other countries think our R is pronounced. This video explaines it to the point.

[@ursulazimmer1287]

That is so interesting, I had no idea that so many r's were spoken in German! I feel like the alveolar and uvular families are qualitatively very different, but once you are comfortable producing one sound in the family, you can much more easily learn to say the others of the same family. Coming from a language which uses the alveolar trill, I found it very difficult to learn to say the uvular r's that the Germans around me were saying. But once I learned to pronounce one of them - which in my case was probably the uvular trill, I was also able to adjust the pronunciation to match whatever I was hearing.

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

3:07 I recognize the first two ones from up to down but what is the third one that looks like a cracked V?

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

In English you sound alternating between the American and Westcountry retroflex and the home counties postalveolar. I pretty much use both in free alternation as well (home counties). In the constructed language Esperanto I seem to mostly reliably use a postalveolar to retroflex *trill*.

[@InTeCredo]

That reminds me of the tense dialogue between Major Hellstrom, Corporal Wilhelm Wicki, Lt. Archie Hicox, and Bridget von Hammersmark in the basement bar. Major Hellstrom was so hell-bent on figuring out the specific areas in Germany based on accents. One biggest mistake Lt. Archie Hicox was gesturing wrong fingers...

[@rewboss]

As I mentioned to somebody else -- no, that was deliberate misdirection by Tarantino, and the characters who later speculated that's what blew his cover were simply wrong. Hicox's accent was a dead giveaway right from the start, which is why Hellstrom joined their table. Hellstrom's tactic was then simply to get Hicox drunk to keep him talking. That they play "Who Am I?" is significant: Hellstrom engineers things so that he gives Hicox his character, who was a household name in Nazi Germany. Hicox's failure to guess was a very clear sign that he hadn't spent any time in Germany for several years.

[@AviationVid]

I've read the script and just looked it up. Of course the accent triggert the mistrust but the crux is that Bridget von Hammersmark overrates her persuasivness. She thinks that Hellström believes her, when she said that Hicox is from a village at the Piz Palü. So she agrees to play "Who Am I?" even when Hicox is saying to Hellström that he disturbs the group of old friends. Just because of that the conversation ist going on. During the following talk the mistrust grows because of several inconsistencies and erupts in the order with the wrong gesture. At this moment Hellström is totaly aware of the situation.

[@AviationVid]

I am sorry for my bad english and I hope nevertheless it is possible to understand

[@Johannludwigamadeus]

Highly interesting! _ What might also be interesting: the "g" at the end of a syllabe or of a word. "wenig" - some people say "wenik", others "wenich". Same with e.g. "Weg". etc.

[@MaskedBishop]

In 6th grade, German class, NRW, my teacher spoke about "Kriech" several times and I never knew what she meant, until one day she read the word "Krieg" out loud. 😅

[@SD_Alias]

@@MaskedBishop And some speak the "Ch" like in China or Chemie like Kina or Kemie. I think i heard that sometimes from Saarland people

[@bigscarysteve]

What can I say but "excellent"!

[@aaron2709]

You could say "rexcellent"!

[@sighisoaraa]

I'm surprised you didn't compare R as a vowel to the RP pronunciation.

[@mod100]

Quite interesting even for a native German speaker. Greetings from Neu-Isenburg!

[@timseguine2]

Actually in my experience, if you are American and don't speak using the American R, people in Germany tend to be disappointed.

[@matthewgraygublerswife9224]

why 😭💀

[@EllisGamingshorts]

Thank you for posting this video 👍 I found it very usefull

[@quagapp]

Re this, from NZ. My grandson's father is from Germany. When I tried to say a word I'd seen in a book, he couldn't understand. I agree with the fellow who says or said: 'It depends where you grow up...' And thinking of it, my accent in NZ is very different from many of the English even though both my parents were English....One from London, the other from the Midlands. Frequently some people from parts of England may as well be speaking German, almost. (More so as I get older as those all important high frequencies disappear of weaken). But the 'r', I am sure (A as I type this I wonder if I am fooling myself) French is easier to pronounce (I don't mean speak fluently and somehow...easier?). But I like to look at a poet's work, say Trakl, or Rilke or whoever (even the formidable Celan who invented words even in German) and imagine I can pronounce them. I can see what happens. Small children have some way of doing this, it is important for their survival to imitate the sounds of parents. So we form habits, later we add those of our friends. All this before you are over 20 preferably and much easier the younger one is....but older people can learn languages. But in any case, the 'r', speaking to a friend who learnt German....and hearing words spoken, I really struggled. I've seen those phonetic diagrams and the symbols. But clearly there are thousands of them. We use the main ones and with luck the main message of what one says will come through even if the 'r' is hard. And we have all made fun of the poor Chinese not being able to say the English 'r'...Of course, as there is difference, in the language, the sound, and they, we, are all habituated, using our words thousands and thousands of times.

[@vinsenwijaya6575]

Finally i can say the N word with the hardest R in the world.

[@martin.brandt]

As a German Northerner, I roll the "R" in the back. But I always wondered why I never was able to do the "R" of Bavarian dialect. You are the first to tell me that it is done with the tongue. Well, I still simply can't do it, but now I know what to look for!

[@sashaZ523]

love the medical imaging shoutout

[@taylolz]

I figured the difference between the [ə] ending in "eine" and the [ɐ] ending in "einer" would be an important distinction, at least if you're going for the standard pronunciation.

[@rewboss]

It's not one most people would clearly hear. The context would be a lot more helpful in correctly decoding that.

[@mizapf]

@@rewboss I guess we Germans hear that distinction between [ˈaɪ̯nɐ] and [ˈaɪ̯nə] very clearly, since it indicates an important grammatical topic (gender). Or, without IPA: Even when spoken very quickly, we'd know with high confidence whether "einer" or "eine" has been said. It may be difficult for people learning German, of course, but also a good advice to practice it.

[@rewboss]

@@mizapf I think it's more likely that you'd deduce the case and gender from context rather than pronunciation. After all, you never get confused between "der" as nominative masculine singular, dative feminine singular, genitive feminine singular or genitive plural.

[@Technomage1700]

Very helpful. I want to be understandable but also don't want to sound like a fool. Your video helped me understand the difference between the R sounds.

[@doesntmatter2017]

I'm wondering about the second line of IPA transcription at 2:30 I assume it referrs to the German pronunciation so why is there a [​ɔ] instead of [oːˈ]?

[@kiwi_kirsch]

you are amazing!!! instant follow. are you sure you're from england?? i have NEVER heard someone not german say EVERY sound of "uhrwerk" in SUCH a doubtlessly german way 0_0

[@kiwi_kirsch]

WOW wow. WOW!!! in your examples given amidst english flow of speaking, i can only seldomly hear your english origin, but the more stress you put into presenting pronounciation, the more i am amazed 0_0 can you even say eichhörnchen???! [i cannot say squirrel, i say skwwwrrrll]

[@moenchii]

Actually made me realize that we almost only use that vowel R in our dialect here...

[@berndf0]

I think it is bad advice to tell students not to worry about the /ə/-/ɐ/ contrast at the end of unstressed syllables. German differs from English here. In Southern British English there is /ə/-/ʌ/ in stressed and some unstressed syllables like in undone, which is /ʌn'dʌn/ and not */ən'dʌn/ or */ən'dən/, but /ə/ and /ʌ/ are merged in reduced context like -er in butter /'bʌtə/. In German, the /ə/-/ɐ/ contrast exists in all contexts and is important even at the end of unstressed syllables because of the high number of minimal pairs resulting of the contrasting declension endings -e and -er as in eine vs. einer.

[@woolver42]

I grew up in Lower Bavaria where the rolling 'r' is the most common. But I am unable to say it. I tried and tried, with differing methods, but I am stuck with the 'uvular fricative'. My parents can do it, my sibling can do it, I'm just the odd one out and obviously not cut out to be a spy it seems.

[@black.gallow]

Some people just can't do it. I've met Russians who can't, even though it's the only way to pronounce /r/ in their native language.

[@fabiansaerve]

I guess it’s just the same case as some Germans can’t say (s)ch properly

[@pawel198812]

@@fabiansaerve How do they pronounce the SCH instead?

[@fabiansaerve]

@@pawel198812 oh I see I wrote it wrong I meant the ch sound. The people can pronounce a single ch sound but in a word they struggle and pronounce it like a German sch. Example: Kirche (church) and Kirsche (cherry) can sound the same and you’ll have problems to figure out what they meant.

[@pawel198812]

@@fabiansaerve Oh, now I see. That [ç] [ʃ] merger is quite common among Central German speakers. But is it that they can't pronounce it, or is it that they can't be bothered to pronounce it (unless the situation calls for it)?

[@hei7586]

There's no shame in striving for perfection in your pronunciation. It's easto understand and people will appreciate it!

[@TheMKEWERBY]

Suffice it to say, Andrew, that the English sound most nearly equivalent to a German R sound would be that used by Scottish and northern English speakers. Right?

[@eisbombenterror]

Yes, in some Southern German dialects it is pretty close to it.

[@arthurjohnson9982]

Traditional Northumbria dialects use [ʁ] as the realisation of /r/.

[@indestructiblemadness8531]

Im always fascinated how we pronounce the same latter differently in different situations. Here with Uhr and Uhren. Never realized this. Last year it was "n" in for example "Wirsing" vs "Nürnberg". First one the tongue is back, the letter one is at the front.

[@ashrasmun1]

Fantastic video, thanks a lot! Now I can do weird R sounds alone at home 😅

[@ОлегБойко-щ6м]

The best video explaining "R"" sound!

[@gisellaroma8151]

This video helped me a lot!!! Dankee

[@philippkemptner4604]

True story, my girlfriend is from northern Germany and I'm from Austria, near the Bavarian border. We both can't do the r the way the other does.

[@emperoruniversalis9773]

Its even interesting for a native german to watch your videos :) greetings from Anhalt😉

[@Stellarainn]

Holy shit this is so helpful!!! I couldnt be sure when to use [R] or how to actually pronounce it but now i just put my tongue is the right position and like magic!!

[@PP-jx7lo]

Is that acceptable to pronounce /r/ like Spanish or Thai R?

[@beveragebrit]

Vielen Dank mein Herr, du has helped mich lernst Deutsch

[@gerhardrobertbieber4129]

The pronouncing of r is different in Germany, every Region every dialect every Accent are different in pronouncation. In Frankiona you hear an rolling R Sound.

[@ccityplanner1217]

I speak English with a labiodental R. Where I grew up in the Midlands, it was unusual, but when I moved to London I found it to be ubiquitous. When singing, though, I switch to [r] because I think it sounds nicer. I cannot for the life of me pronounce [ɹ]. My German pronunciation varies between [ʁ] & [r]. Typically I use [r] before [i] & [y] and [ʁ] elsewhere because I cannot pronounce ʁ before [i] or [y].

[@pawel198812]

In Swiss German the w-consonant is often pronounced as a labiodenatl approximant

[@a_tremereandsomeblood_just3642]

i never saught it would be that hard to speak german. I worked with the americans for some years and the Hausmeister talked the best. He said talkin the Bavarian way is the esiest. And 99,9 percent he was right. I never herd a non german talk such a great bavarian^^ What i wanna tell you is - Do not take your time for small things when better things could been spoken of.

[@marcelbork92]

If I had a say in that, I would fire all teachers who stipidly waste so much time on that "question", because they did not het the point. It DOES NOT MATTER how to pronounce the German r, the onny important thig is that the r must not be confused with, must be audibly distinct pronounced from l. That is all.

[@CrippleX89]

I live so darned close to the German border and I go shopping there weekly, I've had German classmates and friends yet still the freaking vowel R trips me out. I usually just use my Dutch (voiced alveolar trill) R instead and it's never caused any confusion.

I suspect so close to the border their dialect might be close to dutch that they understand.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

you have an _alveolar_ R in Dutch?

[@omma911]

If you're about to order three beers, be sure to raise the correct German fingers.

[@annabella1476]

Drei Gläser!

[@laprankster3264]

3:11 On that topic, do any languages besides English actually use any sort of labial/labialized articulations to their “r” sounds?

[@pawel198812]

Mandarin Chinese, Dutch, many Northern Indian languages, some varieties of Sicilian, some varieties of Spanish (especially in Puerto Rico)... can't think of any more.

[@3bydacreekside]

5:33 Ah ha! I heard it

[@johnmehaffey9953]

When I was learning German every time I tried to pronounce the r properly by rolling it against the back of the throat all I did was make myself feel nauseous so instead of trying to be German I said that I’m from Ireland and don’t speak German very well and I always got help with my pronunciation, I still try my best with rolling my r,s (that sounds a bit rude) but have never really conquered it, I’d an eleven year old boy teaching me and he wanted to improve his English and speak it without the classroom influence and he was delighted that he ended up with a slight Irish brogue to his English as that was exactly what he wanted, well perhaps not the Irish lilt but an inflection of a normal speaker plus his English language was first class and he was top of his English class because of his use of local language words, happy days when I worked in Germany

[@BigBenGermany1983]

That with the "R" in The Vidoe is not completely true. You will be surprised how diverse the German language is. Look at that Video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4qyq5tohtOYotE Its simular to the Amarican/Englisch R. There are also other accents of the R. Cologne dialect says CH e.g. Spocht = Sport. The German R does not exist, we pronounce it in full, depending on the region. The Irish R is also ok! =)

[@quirkygreece]

I’m amazed that I found that so interesting and enjoyable wow!

[@spirwes64]

Von Dir kann aber echt jeder noch was lernen! :-)

[@andreasrehn7454]

when I want to imitate an American accent, I change the Rs to were deep Roooh... and that is the main different. Start the R directly with the following vowel, not with a darker verdion of it. It s not Ruuiiesen, but riesen, rooasen but rasen...

[@berndhoffmann7703]

4:53 Germans will, Scots will, Spainardswill, but not a single French :) Great, really great vid!

[@mathiaslist6705]

7:06 most people won't even notice many of pecularities in pronunciation --- they just filter it out .... the usual something funny with the accent but can't tell what but I doubt that will happen to Andrew (he's already to good)

[@uncinarynin]

Und als nächstes die verschiedenen "ch", oder hatten wir die schon? Für viele ausländer ein großes problem. (Französischer akzent einfach gemacht: sprich sch statt ch und lasse ansonsten das h weg)

[@mizapf]

Ist im Prinzip dasselbe wie im Griechischen mit dem Chi, nur dass sich die Aussprache von ch im Deutschen nach dem vorangehenden Vokal richtet und nicht nach dem folgenden.

[@uncinarynin]

@@mizapf Oder auch nach dem nachfolgenden, wobei sich das regional unterscheidet (China/Kina).

[@cerberaodollam]

Thanks for this vid, it helps my accent insecurity :D

[@peterweiss123]

the most important letter for anglo-speakers to learn, not only german, but languages in general. Very important especially for americans.

[@ThePositiev3x]

You took a bit complicated topic and turned into much more complicated topic with those scientific words. Thank you.

[@pbworld7858]

Concerning the final r pronounced as a schwa, I think I hear it as an 'ah' sound, eg wieder -> wiedah. Maybe this depends on the region and the person. I used to watch German with Jenny and she pronounces it this way.

[@Atlantjan]

Unless of course you are in France and try to speak with a foreign accent, then a good chunk might either actually not understand you or refuse to listen. 😅

[@katoyukimaru]

hilariously ironic considering how tough it is to understand any other language spoken in a French accent, and this is before you add prejudice to the equation

[@ramamonato5039]

Just like _British Received Pronunciation_ , _Deutsche Hochsprache_ (=today's Standard German pronunciation of Germany) does not let us pronounce "r" is at the end of words or syllables, e.g. Müller, vier, Ohr, werden, wahr, etc. All is ended with a /ah/ sound. In other environments, "r" is pronounced just like that found in French. Long time ago, however, when _die deutsche Bühnenaussprache_ was still the standard pronunciation, all r's in all positions were pronounced just like Italian or Spanish "r", which is easier to many people.