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German "i" | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5362 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 7 18 July 2010 at 7:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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Looking for some help on the proper pronunciation of the "i" vowel in German. In the German word "Kind," for example, it seems like the i takes a sound sort of like in the English word "big" (American accent). But for the word "Ihnen," for example, it seems like it sounds more like the "i" in Romance languages or pronounced as the English words (again w/ American accent) "tea" or "free." Most importantly, I have heard "ich" said sounding like both "i" as in "big" and "ee" as in "ihnen." Which is correct? Am I mishearing this?
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| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5354 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 7 18 July 2010 at 8:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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I never had a phonetics course, so this is just what I hear with my hearing, from one American to another.
If I was approximating, I would agree that the i in Kind does sound like the i in big. With Ihnen, I think it is because it is followed by an h, which changes the sound. I just know that is how the word is pronounced, but do not know the technical reason behind it. I have heard "ich" pronounced both ways, think it is just different accents. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5329 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 3 of 7 18 July 2010 at 8:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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When a vowel is followed by an "h" in German it makes the vowel long.
I'm not sure about "ich" though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LangOfChildren Tetraglot Groupie Germany Joined 5429 days ago 82 posts - 141 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Swedish Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Russian | Message 4 of 7 18 July 2010 at 10:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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Every vowel can either be long or short.
As johntm93 correctly pointed out:
A short i sounds like the i in big, while the long i sounds like the English ee. Now, you only need to know whether the vowel is short or long and this usually follows certain rules that you may or may not have come across already. Here is a little table for all the long and short vowels. And these are some of the rules for long and short vowels:
(found here.) Edit: The i in ich is a short i. Edited by LangOfChildren on 18 July 2010 at 5:20pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5362 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 5 of 7 18 July 2010 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks, LangofChildren. So then "Ich" would always be pronounced with the short vowel as in "mit"?
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| linguamaniac Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5327 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Italian, French, Latin, Portuguese | Message 6 of 7 18 July 2010 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Although there are some exceptions to that rule, especially when the word is only one syllable or the "i" is in the last syllable, such as "mit", "in", and also any word which has a feminine suffix, i.e. "Lehrerin", "Studentin", or "Kanzlerin". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| urubu Pentaglot Groupie Germany Joined 6608 days ago 49 posts - 72 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch, Portuguese, Indonesian, English | Message 7 of 7 18 July 2010 at 11:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Normally yes. Lengthening the vowel - with a dropping voice - can be used for emphasis (Ja, ihich! - Yes, me!). A combination of a long vowel with a rising or falling-rising intonation, like a Mandarin 2nd or 3rd tone - can indicate surprise or incredulity (Iich? - What, me?). But I think that works with quite a few (monosyllabic) words, not only pronouns. Edited by urubu on 18 July 2010 at 11:16pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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