How to do a German accent (by a German native!) | Feli from Germany

Summary

Join Feli from Germany as she humorously uncovers the secrets of mastering a genuine German accent while speaking English. Highlighting common pitfalls and nuances, Feli delves into pronunciation challenges Germans face, such as the English 'th' sound and the differentiation of 'w' and 'v'. With her engaging narration, she shares tips on vowel pronunciation and emphasizes certain grammatical quirks native Germans often encounter. This video not only aids those wanting to mimic a German accent but also assists second language speakers in perfecting their skills. Feli's friendly and entertaining approach ensures that learning these linguistic subtleties feels more like fun than work, leaving you ready to try out your newfound skills.

Highlights

• Feli points out hilarious Hollywood misrepresentations of the German accent. 🎬
• Learn the rib-tickling truth about Americans mimicking Germans saying "wunderbar" and "schnitzel". 🇩🇪
• Discover the secret to German vowel pronunciation, making you sound like a native! 🎤
• Master German accent sounds like the tricky 'th' and 'w', making others go 'wow'.
• Understand the fun behind German grammar mistakes that can 'Germanify' your English. 📚

Key Takeaways

• Master the German 'th' sound by replacing it with 's' or 'z' for authenticity.
• Differentiate between 'w' and 'v' sounds to enhance your German accent realism.
• Pronounce vowels as single sounds: "a" becomes "ah", 'e' holds steady.
• Adopt typical German grammatical quirks such as using 'since' for 'for'.
• Sprinkle in 'to make' for 'to do' for a true-to-nature German touch.
• Emphasize the first syllable of words to mimic the German pronunciation style.

Overview

Feli offers a humorous glance at the classic German accent, as depicted by Hollywood. She smiles through the exaggerated renditions, offering genuine tips on what a real German accent entails. From 'wunderbar' utterances to clunky 'schnitzel' mentions, she shares a piece of her world living in the U.S.

In an engaging breakdown, Feli highlights sounds Germans find tricky in English. She tackles the infamous 'th' sound, escalating your understanding of swapping 'w's with 'v's, and helps decode the nuances of German vowels for authenticity. Her presentation is lighthearted yet educational, making the learning process enjoyable.

Not one to miss, Feli adds a splash of her own experiences overcoming language hurdles. By dropping entertaining nuggets about German grammar quirks and common errors, she leaves viewers chuckling and informed. Her goal isn’t just to help viewers recreate a German accent but to give them the linguistic tools for both English and German mastery.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Video Overview The chapter introduces Felicia, a YouTuber originally from Munich, Germany, who now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. She starts by addressing her audience's curiosity about speaking with a German accent, assuring them it's easy. Felicia mentions her recent video reacting to Hollywood portrayals of 'German characters,' often criticizing their poor German language skills.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Sounds Unique to German Speakers The chapter discusses the unique sounds and accents associated with German speakers, particularly when they speak English. There's mention of a request from viewers for guidance on how to mimic a genuine German accent, as opposed to the stereotypical fake versions. The narrator shares their own experiences with American friends, who often attempt to imitate the German accent in a humorous way, typically using phrases like 'wunderbar' and mentioning activities like skiing in the Alps or eating schnitzel.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Pronunciation Challenges The chapter discusses pronunciation challenges when trying to mimic a German accent. It highlights the common mistake of sounding funny or overly feminine, which does not necessarily result in an authentic German accent. The chapter suggests focusing on specific aspects to achieve either a strong or lighter German accent.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Vowel Differences In this chapter, the focus is on adopting a German accent while speaking English. This involves applying German pronunciation patterns to English, which can also aid in improving your German accent as a second language. Understanding and applying these pronunciation rules can help in sounding more like a native speaker in German. The chapter discusses specific sounds that are present in English but not in German, emphasizing the importance of being aware of these differences.
• 08:00 - 11:00: Grammar Mistakes and Recommendations The chapter explores common grammar mistakes made by native German speakers when speaking English, specifically focusing on pronunciation challenges. It highlights the difficulty Germans have with the English 'th' sound. Many Germans tend to replace 'th' with 's' or 'z,' as in 'zis is' instead of 'this is,' or with 'd,' as in 'dis is' instead of 'this is.' The chapter uses examples like 'zis is the best weaser' or 'dis is the best weader' to illustrate these pronunciation issues. The narrative also touches on imitating a German accent by intentionally using these substitutions.
• 11:00 - 13:00: Pronunciation of 'German' and Conclusion This chapter discusses the pronunciation challenges faced by Germans when speaking English, particularly with the 'w' sound, which is pronounced like the English 'v'. It humorously advises that using a strong German accent would result in phrases like 'Vat a vunderful day wis amazing weaser' instead of 'What a wonderful day with amazing weather'. The chapter concludes by acknowledging that not all Germans face this issue, as some are perfectly capable of pronouncing English sounds correctly.

How to do a German accent (by a German native!) | Feli from Germany Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 You want to know how to make a German accent? Don't worry this is easy I teach you. Hallo, Servus and welcome back to my YouTube channel! My name is Felicia, I’m originally from Munich Germany but I’ve been living here in Cincinnati Ohio on and off since 2016. So a few weeks ago I made this video of me reacting to scenes in Hollywood movies ans TV shows with "German characters," which spoiler alert in a lot of cases speak terrible German
• 00:30 - 01:00 or even their German accent when speaking English is obviously fake. And I asked you guys if you'd want me to make a video about how to d a real German accent and I got a lot of comments saying that you'd love to see that so here it is. I've been living in the US for over 4 years now and my American friends love making fun of Germans around me by doing a German accent and they all sound something like this for some reason. "Oh yes, that is wunderbar. I will go ski in the Alps today and eat some schnitzel." Don't get me
• 01:00 - 01:30 wrong it definitely sounds funny but it doesn't necessarily sound like a particularly German accent to me. And I don't really understand why a lot of people do this thing where they try to sound extra feminine in order to sound German. So let's go through a few different things that you should pay attention to do when trying to do a real German accent so that you can easily sound like this or you can also have a lighter German accent like
• 01:30 - 02:00 this. Now we're going to focus on how to have a German accent while speaking English, but this will actually also help you with your German accent when speaking German as a second language because it all goes back to Germans applying pronunciation patterns from their native language to the foreign language. And when you're aware of these patterns and pronunciation rules you can actually sound more like a native when speaking German as well. A lot of these things go back to sounds that exist in the English language but don't in German and therefore
• 02:00 - 02:30 people who grow up speaking German as their native language oftentimes struggle making these sounds. And one of those sounds is the English "th." Many many Germans can't really pronounce that and instead will either replace the "th" with an "s" or "z" sound as in "zis is the best weaser of the year." Or with a "d" sound as in "dis is the best weader of the year." Instead of "this is the best weather of the year." When I want to imitate a really strong German accent I usually do the first one though. Another sound that we don't have
• 02:30 - 03:00 in German is the German "w" sound, where you don't even really touch anything with your lips or teeth.And this one is definitely easier to learn than the "th" but many German still struggle with it and therefore just use the German "w" sound which is the same as the English "V" sound so it's "vvv." So if you want to do a strong German accent you can say things like "Vat a vunderful day wis amazing weaser." Instead of "what a wonderful day with amazing weather." Now some Germans are totally capable of pronouncing the English
• 03:00 - 03:30 "w" but they falsely assume that in order to sound more English and less German they should avoid the German "vv" sound at all times and they don't realize that the English 'v" is pronounced "vvv" as well. So then it oftentimes happens that Germans will pronounce both "ws" and "vs" as the English "w" wooo so they would say "the wolume of the TWee is wery loud." Instead of "The volume of the TV is very loud." I hear this a lot with the
• 03:30 - 04:00 word "very" so to all German watching this don't be afraid of the "vvv" sound it does exist in English as well you just need to know when. "W" is wooo as in "where" and "v" is vvvv as in "very." Another tricky one is the English "r." The German "r" is pronounced like this, rrrr, which of course is really hard to make for everyone who learns Germans as a second language. But believe it or not the English "r" can be tricky for us too.
• 04:00 - 04:30 Especially for people who learn English later in life which is why you'll sometimes hear German immigrants who came to the US decades ago still use the German "r" sound. So if you want to sound extra German you can just pronounce all "r"s the German way if you can pronounce that and say something like "These are really great red roses" instead of "These are really great red roses." And as you could hear I didn't really pronounce the "r" in the word "are" at all which is also something that German do in German a lot especially
• 04:30 - 05:00 when words end on "r." It's kind of what you would do in a British accent too. Instead of "car" Germans might say "ca." Now some Germans who can't pronounce the English "r" but can pronounce the "w" will then try to replace the "r"s with a "w" sound because they think it's the closest sound to an English "r" and they'll say things like "These are weally great woses." This is kind of like what native English speaking kids also do when they first learn how to speak so it's kind of like English baby language in a way. Another thing is in German we don't really make a difference between a "d" and a "t"
• 05:00 - 05:30 at the end of words. I've mentioned this before in my false friends video, German usually pronounce a "d" at the end of the word as a "t" whereas in English that is a very big difference. So instead of brand will say "bran" instead of "crooked" Germans will say "crooket." Instead of the name "Ted" germans will say "Tet." You get the idea so if you do that with all of your "d" endings in English you'll already sound a lot more German. You can do that with other word endings too by the way so just pronounce them more harshly than you
• 05:30 - 06:00 normally would and "devoice" them, so instead of saying Germans say Germans. Or instead of cars say cars. Or if you apply the "r" rule as well as "cars." This applies to other endings too like a "g" ending you can say "dog" instead of "dog." Now lets talk about vowels. German vowels like in most languages just make one sound per vowel, one sound per letter. The German vowels are "a" "e" "i" "o" and "u." Now this reason why I'm putting
• 06:00 - 06:30 so much emphasis on this is that even though you might not realize doing it English vowels are actually diphthongs for the most part meaning that for one vowel you actually make two sounds so you move your mouth while saying them, like in "aaaa" see my mouth moving "aaa." Then "eeee" is pretty straight like you don't move your mouth here "eeee." Then you have
• 06:30 - 07:00 "iiiii," "ooooh" and "uuuu." So in order to sound more German you'll need to pronounce your vowels more like one vowel, one sound, straighter as I like to describe it. We do use the word "okay" a lot in German for example but instead of saying "okay" like in English we tend to say something like "ok" or "okay." Or you'd say hello instead of hello or paper instead of paper. Germans also tend to pronounce their vowels pretty short like saying "cats"
• 07:00 - 07:30 instead of "cats" or they might replace some of them with the German sound like say "end" instead of "and." We just use the German "e" sound instead of an English "a." Or Germans might say "ambition" instead of "ambition." And just use the German "a" instead of the English "a." My last major pronunciation tip in order to imitate a German accent is about the "l" sound. Now in English there are two different "l" sounds, a dark l that is pronounced more in the back of your throat, and a light l that is pronounced more with the tip of
• 07:30 - 08:00 your tongue like telephone. In German we don't have the dark l at all, so id you just replace all dark l sounds with a light l you'll sound a lot more German very quickly. So instead of saying "I need to call all of my middle school Latin students" you'd say "I need to call all of my middle school Latin students." Now that was with only the "l" part of the accent if I were to to do the whole accent it would sound like this: "I need to call all of my middle school Latin students." And last but not least lets talk about grammatical
• 08:00 - 08:30 mistakes that Germans tend to make in English because it's not just the pronunciation that makes an accent it's also the way that people phrase things. I actually made a whole video about mistakes that Germans should avoid when speaking English, I'll link it down below, so basically if you just go through that and make all of those mistakes that I told people to avoid you will sound pretty German. One thing I mentioned in there is that Germans can't really tell the difference between the word "since" and "for." As in "I've lived
• 08:30 - 09:00 here since 2016" vs. "I've been living here for four years." Germans tend to always use since. Another thing is that English has some uncountable nouns that we don't have in German and therefore Germans tend to use plurals of these nouns that don't actually exist in English. And example would be the word information for example or also the word hair. German might say I need some more informations or I'm getting my hairs cut. What I didn't mention
• 09:00 - 09:30 in that video is that Germans tend to use the word "to make" in contexts where you wouldn't really use it in English. So if you just use that word a lot it will make you sound more German too. Just say something like: "I have to make a photo" instead of "take a photo." Or to "make sport" instead of to "play sports" or "to exercise" or "I'm making vacation." instead of "on vacation" or "Making the apartment cleaning" instead of "cleaning up the apartment." In general just replace the verb "to do" with "to make" every now and then and you'll sound
• 09:30 - 10:00 pretty German. Another thing that German struggle with are English time modes. We don't have a progressive form in German for example so "I'm" going instead of "I go." And Germans actually tend to use the progressive form way too much. And we'll say things like "I'm living in Germany" instead of "I live in Germany" or "I'm going to the University of Cincinnati" instead of "I go to the University of Cincinnati when they just mean to attend. So overusing the progressive form is one thing and then Germans also use the present tense a lot for
• 10:00 - 10:30 example instead of using the present perfect progressive as in "I have been living here for 4 years" Germans might just say "I live here for 4 years" or actually they would say "I live here since 4 years." They also like to use the present tense instead of the future tense because that's also what we do in German. So instead of saying I will go to the movies with you tomorrow we'll just say "I go to the movies with you tomorrow." Or instead of "I'm going to apply for that job next week" Germans might say " I apply for that job next
• 10:30 - 11:00 week." And last but not least Germans oftentimes make statements and then turn it into a question by adding "oder" or "or" at the end. You can do that in English too but you'd probably add something like "right." As in "you're in fifth grade now, right?" or "You're in fifth grade now, aren't you?" If you want to sound German though just add the word "or" to the end of your sentence and say "You're in fifth grade now, or?" The last point that's
• 11:00 - 11:30 probably pretty important to know is how to pronounce the word "German" or "Germany" with a German accent. If you want to do it really strongly you can say German or Germany. German, Germany. We basically pronounced it with the o umlaut letter, ö. Which probably doesn't help you a lot but just try and say German. Also, Germans tend to pronounce every single letter that's written down so don't try to drop any word endings. THat's not going to
• 11:30 - 12:00 sound particularly German. And also in German we tend to emphasize the first syllable of each word unlike in French for example where they emphasize the last syllable usually. I think with these tips you should be able to do a pretty decent German accent, maybe sounding somesing like zis and as I've said throughout the video you can also do different degrees of a German accent simply by either applying all of these points all at once or only applying a few of them, or by making some of the more adwanced pronunciation mistakes.
• 12:00 - 12:30 If you have something to add please feel free to do so in the comments below. I'm sure there is a lot that I didn't even think about for this video but I hope it was helpful for adopting a German accent while speaking English but also for those of you who are trying to work on their German accent while speaking German as a second language. If you want to hear an American who learned German in 10th grade and totally mastered the German accent and actually now sounds like a native speaker, you should check out the videos with my friend Josh or check out our podcast that we host together. You can find all the links down below. Thank you guys so much for watching I hope you enjoyed this video. Don't forget
• 12:30 - 13:00 to subscribe and as you guys know you can support my channel on Patreon and BuyMeacoffee.com and for more content just follow me on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok! If you want to see more of my videos on language and pronunciation just click here and you'll get to the whole playlist. And with that I hope I’ll see you next time! Tschüss!