Basic German Pronunciation Practice - using iMovie to edit a teaching demo

Some pronunciation practice recorded from my first year teaching. Yes, the board is a little disorganized - again, this was my very first year teaching! Also: the accent. We teach students different ways of pronouncing things, but oftentimes in order to overcome an American accent, we have to exaggerate certain sounds to make them more perceptible. I learned German in mostly northern Germany, and I usually teach students to at least be able to mimic the sounds I use, but I always allow students to pick which accents or regionalisms they want to use when they speak. This video is an example of ideas on how to use iMovie to create a short teaching demo, which we require of our graduate students. If I were to create a series on pronunciation, I'd do it a little differently.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• German
• pronunciation
• beginning

[konigreichprussia]

Whay is the difference between 'ss' and 'ß'? I am feeling confused...

[fignitz]

@konigreichprussia after the spelling reform, ß is written after long vowels or diphthongs like in weiß, Straße, but ss is written after short vowels as in dass, müssen

[Niklo74]

Hmm, in the Southern German you speak "-ig" as "-ig" or "-ik". So for "richtig" I would say "richtik". The Duden prefers a mixed norhtern German pronunciation. In middle and northern Germany man "g"s are spoken "ch". Duden mix the pronunciation a little bit so there is e.g. "richtich" but "richtige". I would prefer to teach the southern "-ig" pronunciation.

[fignitz]

@Niklo74 We teach students all the different ways there are to pronounce it, but then remind them that each instructor has their own accent. While they can stay with a Southern accent if they choose, they need to choose one accent. I let my students know that I learned German in Köln, Berlin and Kassel, so those are the accents I tend to have when teaching. However, if the goal of the student is to sound as fluent as possible, any accent is fine as long as they pick one.

[VioSnaibaf]

-ig can also be pronounced like "ick". For example "-tig" (from Richtig) can also be pronounced like the english word "Dick".

[fignitz]

@VioSnaibaf Of course, and we teach this as well, but it's important for students to focus on one accent at a time.

[111iAm111]

Thank god for this video, literally the only one i could find breaking the ch sound down like that. Dankee

[Chlamydialight]

Very useful, thank you for posting!

[shesascha]

i really love the vedio i learned german langguage more

[seanmolley1]

ICH LIEBE DEUTSCH!!!!!!!~!!@

[SuperDamon1985]

she is a very good teacher wish i had her....

[Michael10391]

i love english accent :D

don't get a german accent :(

(Im from germany)

[badabadaboom7]

omg this is really good!

[maxflyingcowboy]

this is a very good teacher

[albedoshader]

@konigreichprussia: it’s originally a ligature of long s ( ſ, also known in English texts set with Antiqua typefaces) and round s or z: ſs or ſz. After long vowels and diphtongs you use ß, after short vowels you use ss, so it’s Maße ['maːsɘ] (long “a”, measurements) or Masse ['masə](short “a”, mass), for example. Mase (not an actual German word) would be pronounced ['maːzɘ].

[piacs04]

Thank you teacher ;).. Danke!!

Her Chilean student!!