German Pronunciations for Hindi speakers

The phonetics of German are relatively easy for more Hindi speakers except for a few sounds that are more nuanced.

1. a on its own is pronounced /ə/ ( अ) while after a consonant it has the impact of /æ/ ( आ).

2. ä (a-umlaut) is pronounced ( ऐ).

3. ch has multiple variations

   1. tsch is pronounced /tʃ/ ( च).
   2. sch is pronounced /ʃ/ ( श).
   3. ch if preceded by i or e or ö sound is pronounced /ç/. This sound is non-existent in Hindi. One can approximate it to /h/ ( ह). A more accurate pronunciation would be to say ह while touching the back of one’s tongue to the upper palette (ceiling of the mouth).
   4. In all other cases, it is pronounced /x/ ( ख़).

4. d at the end of a word is pronounced त while everywhere else it is like /d/ ( द). So, kind (child) is किंत while kinder(children) is किंदर.

5. eu is pronounced ओ ॅ ए. This is a diphthong. This sound is not native to Hindi. It is halfway between ओए and औए.

6. ei is pronounced ( आइ), This is a diphthong.

7. e, if it is the first vowel sound, is pronounced ई. If it is somewhere in the middle, it is ॅ. And if it is at the end, it is अ(schwa).

8. ie is pronounced /i/ ( ई).

9. h is like English h /h/ ( ह) except after vowels, it acts as a sound extender like the Sanskrit avagraha ऽ.

10. j is pronounced like English y /j/ ( य)

11. g at the end of a word is pronounced as क. Everywhere else, it is the same as English g /g/ ( ग).

12. ng is pronounced like English ng /ŋ/ ( ङ).

13. r, just like English, if preceded by a vowel extends the previous sound ( ऽ). Otherwise, it sounds like English retroflex r(Sanskrit ऋ).

14. s when followed by a vowel is pronounced ज़. s when followed by consonants is pronounced श. s at the end is pronounced स.

15. t is pronounced त - like Spanish.

16. o is pronounced ऑ. Think of the first sound in मॉडल. This sound is not native to Hindi either and it is halfway between मोडल and मौडल.

17. ö is pronounced like i in bird. This sound is non-existent in pure Hindi. And the ॅ is used to donate it these days.

18. u is pronounced /u/ ( ऊ).

19. ü is pronounced /Y/ ऊ with the sound pronounced more in the throat

20. v is pronounced like English f, that is, /f/ ( फ़). And that’s why Volkswagen is pronounced फ़ोल्क्सवागन. While such consonant clusters might be rare in English, they are common in German. German has f as well, and that’s pronounced like English f too! Now, for the English loan words, v is pronounced as /v/.

21. w is pronounced like English /v/, ( व़)

22. y is pronounced like English y if it is at the beginning or the end. In the middle, it is pronounced ü.

23. z is pronounced /ts/ ( त्स)

24. ß is pronounced as a long s sound - सऽ. This is the only non-Latin alphabet in German.