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German pronunciation

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Nado
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 Message 1 of 9
23 June 2008 at 8:40pm | IP Logged 
How do you correctly prounce ich in German?
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ElfoEscuro
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 Message 2 of 9
23 June 2008 at 10:53pm | IP Logged 
<ich> = [ɪç]
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Rameau
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 Message 3 of 9
24 June 2008 at 6:01am | IP Logged 
In the event that you're not up on your IPA, the ch sound in "ich" roughly corresponds to the h at the beginning of the English word "human".
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zerothinking
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 Message 4 of 9
25 June 2008 at 4:42am | IP Logged 
Hmmm... the Hochdeutsch 'ch'

Let me help you. These aren't too helpful. The 'h' in 'human' is a decent approximation but it is harsher and more fricative.

The approximate mouth position is that of the sound 'y' in 'yellow' it is the unvoiced fricative of approximately this mouth position on the ridge just behind your teeth. You make the friction sound on this part of your mouth by just letting through enough air. It's the same principle as all the fricative sounds such as 's' which lets through the air to make the friction noise you hear. Don't pronounce it on the roof of your mouth.

Edited by zerothinking on 25 June 2008 at 4:44am

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Biene
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 Message 5 of 9
01 July 2008 at 12:37pm | IP Logged 
I had been looking for this link (http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/), since it not only gives auido examples but also instructions with visual aid. It seems that you have to know some German to naviage and understand the instructions, so here a little guideline:

for "ich":
click on "Frikative (Reibelaute)"
the "ch" in "ich" would be the [ç] in the column "stimmlos"
the step by step instruction translates roughtly:
1. The (tongue)-blade forms a narrow (air)passage at the hard part of the palate.
2. The velum is lifted and closes the nose cavety.
3. The vocal cords don't move.
4. The air flow streams through the narrow passage in the mouth cavety and creates a fricative sound.

What this instructions mean is nicely illustrated in the animated instruction film. Though I wanted to add that when I say "ich" the tongue-blade is actually touching the hard part of the palate and just leaves a very narrow passage in the middle for the air to flow through.

The other German "ch"-sound is [x] just beneath [ç]:
1. The (tongue)-blade forms a narrow (air)passage at the soft part of the palate, the velar.
2. The velum is lifted and closes the nose cavety.
3. The vocal cords don't move.
4. The air flow streams through the narrow passage in the mouth cavety and creates a fricative sound.

It might be a good idea to exagerate at the beginning. When you do that the soft part of the palate will actually start to vibrate a bit and touch the tongue. It's almost as if you try to clear your throat, but not exactely as if.

There is a useful explanation about the usage of the "ch" as in "ach" and as in "ich" on Wikipedia.

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Earle
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 Message 6 of 9
06 July 2008 at 12:34pm | IP Logged 
It seems to me that the "ich" I heard in Hesse (and from the Darmstadt native who lived next door to me for nine years) was more up front. Sounded almost like "ish" in English...
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Marc Frisch
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 Message 7 of 9
06 July 2008 at 2:01pm | IP Logged 
Earle wrote:
It seems to me that the "ich" I heard in Hesse (and from the Darmstadt native who lived next door to me for nine years) was more up front. Sounded almost like "ish" in English...


That's quite common in Central German dialects from Thüringen to the Saarland.
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nhk9
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 Message 8 of 9
01 June 2009 at 1:49am | IP Logged 
Just pronounce the y sound in 'yippie' without a voiced sound (ie. not moving your vocal cord). This sound corresponds to the 'ch' in 'ich'.






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