Does the accent of an American trying to speak German sound funny?

Question

I am learning German and have trouble with the accent. My teacher says I have a thick American accent, but he is from the United States and doesn't really have a German background, he has never lived in a German country for any long length of time. Would I be unintelligible for you?

Answer 1

German requires a good throat control, specially with vowels and deep pronunciation skills. I certainly can distinguish and American speaking German.........the accent is just as funny when a frenchman speaks english.

Answer 2

I've lived in Germany now for 14 years and speak German fluently.  I still have some accent, but not nearly as bad as other Americans I've heard.  As long as your grammar is correct, it doesn't matter if you have an accent.

Answer 3

Hi, I'm native Gerrrman.

Unintellegible? No, in no way. I'd break my tongue in saying "unintelligable" less than you'd probably do in saying "Eine Weißwurst und ein Bier, bitte". (Alright, I'm serving clichés right now, but what the heck.) -- See, I don't even know the spelling of that unitelligent word.

Alright, let's go to a decent lesson:

First thing, Americans and Brits (except the Scots) can't pronounce a German r decently. Watch a few episodes of StarTrek TOS and listen to Scotty at engineering, and you'll grab it. Practice.

Next most important thing is the ch. It sounds like a sore throat about to vomit. Practice, and try NOT to vomit. Only your larynx is involved, your tongue stays calm and unmoved. (If you find that diffcult, think about us Germans practicing the th sound trying not to bite off the tip off our tongue.)

The German umlauts, ä, ö, ü, are a bit difficult to explain, because there is no pronounciation equivalent in English. I always laugh about English speaking people talking about the "Führer", because almost nobody gets it right, not even the BBC in their documentaries.

But why do you care? I speak German with a distinct Bavarian accent, and I'm not ashamed of it. You'll be recognized by your accent, and that's a good thing. Use language the way you feel it's appropriate, and the way you feel good, and you'll be welcome. Everywhere.

Answer 4

Accents are cute....this is what I hear almost every single day. I am a German living in the US and I still have my German accent after lots of years living here...and people seem to like it.

My husband is American and when he speaks German he sounds cute to me....and I am sure he will never ever in his life sound like a German speaking German....

So do not worry about your accent...it is fine to have an accent!

Answer 5

i speak both languages as mother tongues and I gotta tell you shouldn't stop learnin it, it does sound funny but NOT bad or ridiculous, so don't listen to your teacher and continue learnin, watch german movies, try to speak lotsa german, maybe even to native germans and you're gonna be excellent at german someday!GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

I think that's OK, I really don't care where the people coming from and how they are talking the language, important is they try to learn and trying to talk. This is nice. I learn my German, was not easy too, but I got it. So just working hard with that and everybody can make it.

Answer 7

of course it's going to sound funny it's not your native language plus your changing the way you speak entirely when you speak another language and that's going to take some time

Answer 8

uhm not at all,maybe to some but overall americans  with any accents  sounds cute overall i guess germans dont care anyway as long you speak the sentence in the right order

Answer 9

American accent is very obvious but I wouldn't

call it funny and usually it's not hard to understand.

The German you learn in school is only spoken

by a minority natively anyway. A remotely normal

American accent is easier to understand than

some German dialects. So unless you want to

blend in there's no problem with an accent.

Answer 10

German is a rather difficult language. The grammar is awful.

And  - YES - it sounds funny for German proofed ears when an American speaks German.

Some even think that Americans are chewing gum while they're talking as it sounds a little like this.

I'm German and started to learn English when I was 10 years old - and still learning since 40 years. Cause there's always something new and you never stop learning.

I even can tell you if the person is either an American or Briton or an Australian or neither of these.

And AlwinE is right about pronouncing "ch". But there is another thing native English speakers can't pronounce: it's the "pf". They usually "forget" the "p" and pronounce simply "f" only. There is some practicing necessary until it works for native English speaking tongues.

As well as it is hard for us Germans to pronounce "th" which was really one of my first lessons - especially when there's a "s" close to it like in "months" and similar words. That nearly twists my tongue 180°.... but with some practice it's possible.

Answer 11

Hallo, Wie Gehts? no its not a problem....there are so many accents in germany there is no set german accent anymore,  most like it if you even attempt the language.  just speak clear and dont mumble and every german here will be able to understand you i guarantee it.  Lived her for 6 years now and never had a problem of someone not understanding me when I speak.  Most younger people like it clear nad most will find it a ''cute'' accent.  I live in bravaria and  the platt deutch (Hamburg) can seem a little strange( they like to say something like moing moing during midday) but there is no right or wrong german anymore seems it is all about correct grammatics.......Good luck

Answer 12

Does it really matter if you have an american accent ??? Important is, if you order a hot dog that you will not get a herring -- am I right ? There are so many accents in Germany an Amercan and a French more --- doesn't matter. But don't try to teach a German German like my friend Svetik from Russia. But this girls yeah they ever know everything better and us boys have no fair chance.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

Heinz

ps: If a Bavarian tries to speak --- is that a language???

Answer 13

After 30 years here in Germany I still have my Canadian Accent and all my friends here love to listen to me talking.

Answer 14

The accent of somebody who learns a foreign language sounds  ever funny. I´m sure it´s sounds funny, if i try to speek english (i´m native german), but it´s o.k. It´s not ridicoulous. It´s nice.

It doesn´t matter.

And, for example, i was born in Bavaria and i live in bavaria.

If i speek to one of north germany, for example Hamburg or Berlin, my accent sounds funny to the other and the north german accent sounds funny to me

I think speaking with accent is nice and it´s nice if people learn foreign languages.