How are you supposed to pronounce "ch" in the German language?

Question

I'm somewhat confused on what is the correct pronunciation of the "ch" sound in German. In some words, it sounds like an English "ch" to me, like in the German name for Munich. Other times it sounds like an English "sh", as in the word "ich". And sometimes it is like a hard h, like in the word "nacht".

On top of all that, I've heard some words pronounced both with the "sh" style "ch" and the hard h style. Examples of that would be the word "ich" again.

What is the normally accepted pronunciation? Also, is there a way to tell from the spelling of the word how the "ch" is supposed to be pronounced?

Also, what is the difference between "her" and "hier," when they're both pronounced the way?

Answer 1

There are only two "ch" sounds in German.



The hard "ch" in the back of the throat and then the soft "sh/ch" sound at the roof of your mouth.



The rule is:

The hard "ch" sound comes after a, o, u and au.

The soft "ch" at the roof of your mouth comes after äu, e, ei, eu, i, ie and ö.



German has two "ch" sounds because after a certain vowel, one is easier to pronounce than the other.



Example: The word "ich", you pronounce the softer "ch" instead of the hard "ch".

But if you try to switch it around and pronounce it with a hard "ch" you'll notice it's a whole lot harder to say it that way than the other way around. Same goes for the word "nacht", it's very hard to say it with a soft "ch"



PS: Native Germans don't pronounce "ch" like the English "sh" sound. That is just the American way of saying it because most of them can't pronounce it since that sound doesn't existed in English. (If they say the 'sh' is right, I don't they've met a true German.) :P Lol

Answer 2

There are two different ways to pronounce ch, depending on the vowel before.

i => ich, lieblich... more like a sh in English

Same for e, ä, ü, ö, eu, ei and at the beginning of a word



a => Bach, lachen, like in your example with Nacht. The Scotsmen do the same sound in Loch for instance

Same for o



The variations you describe for München and ich have more to do with local accents or sloppy pronounciation. In the southwest you hear hardly a difference between sch and ch, which makes Kirche and Kirsche more or less sound the same.



A rather exotic variation is the Bavarian way. They pronounce words starting with ch like K (chemie = kemie, chiemsee = kiemsee)



Her and hier are not the same thing whereas there English counterparts are.



I am here - Ich bin hier



Komm her / or komm hierher -> come here, so her means 'in direction to here' if you like

Answer 3

Watch this, if you have YouTube:



How To Pronounce The German "CH" - YouTube

In this video I show you the different ways the german " ch" is pronounced + the rules when to pronounce it in a certain way

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnFQdLOjiZ4

Answer 4

In high German it is reported just like the Scottish ch in loch. There are some dialects which pronounce it ish. In Berlin it alterations to ike said eekay. In Bavaria and Austria it reduces to I stated ee.

Answer 5

The rule of "only two ways of pronouncing" is just nonsense ...



I doubt if you can satisfy a person who is learning German by only two ways of pronouncing ...



I agree with the 1) hard sound like "Dach" (roof), "lachen" (to laugh), "machen" (to make), "noch" (still), "Loch" (hole) etc.

I agree with 2) the soft sound like "Sicht" (sight), "Gicht" (gout), "Gericht" (court/dish) etc. but what about ...

3) "Lachs" (salmon), "wachsen" (to grow), "Fuchs" (fox), "sechs" (six), "Flachs" (flax), "Wachs" (wax), etc. sounds somehow like a ["ck, k or g"] ?

and 4) Some proper names & borrowed words ??? like ...

"Chatten und Cherusker" ["k"] (Germanic tribes), the "Chiemsee-/Chemie"-thing which isn´t just a local phenomenon ...

"Christ", "Orchester & Choreographie" ["k"] borrowed by the Greeks, "Charme", "blanchieren & chauffieren" [somewhere between the soft "ch" and "sch"] taken from the French etc.



If you want to have an audio test ... http://www.dict.cc/?s=Lachs

Answer 6

"ch" in German is like the "h" in "hue" or the "h" in "human"