What sort of accent does an American, speaking German, have?

Question

I asked this question earlier in the languages section and didn't get many responses.

Anyway, I am currently an American with American English as my native tongue. I have heard all sorts of foreign accents speaking English. Some of them are very beautiful while some are mostly annoying. What I was wondering is, from the perspective of native German speakers, what Americans sound like speaking your language? Does it sound pretty, or what? If you want to talk about specific characteristics of American accents, speaking German, feel free. I would love to know more.

Answer 1

I am an American who was born in Berlin, Germany and learned both languages while growing up here in the states.

The most difficult parts of speaking German, from an American English perspective, are the "rolling" of the hard "R" which comes from the back of the throat, and the fact that each letter of every word should be pronounced.  This, however, does not apply to those who have learned to speak what is known as "The King's English."  Those who have learned English in their respective countries such as Great Britain or Australia and any of their English speaking territories do not have the same problem as Americans do when speaking German.  Americans sound rather flat when speaking German unless they can master some of the pronunciation techniques.

There is a famous journalist on CNN whose name is Christiane Amanpour.  We share the same first name, which is German.  On the air, her name is pronounced Christiahn which leaves out the "e" at the end.  In German my name is pronounced Christiahneh giving the last letter a softened "a" sound but not an "ah" or "e" sound.  It's very difficult for an American to get that last part right, for whatever reasons.

Answer 2

I am fluent in both German and English, and I hang around in both language environments with people that speak one language well, and not the other.  An American accent does not sound bad if the person actually knows some German and tries to fit in.  The "Ugly American" syndrome is usually a combination of being rude, shouting, and not really knowing any foreign words at all.  My husband and my sister speak only a little German, but they are kind, quiet, and observant.  Most Germans and Austrians think their attempts at German sound fine.  There is nothing particularly off-putting about an American English accent.

Answer 3

I'm German, and I love the American accent! Some people I know even have almost mastered the German "ch", which I find quite impressive. One guy I knew (he's back to the States, unfortunately) could handle that sound quite well, but still he tried to avoid words with a ch in them. May well have improved his language skills, keeping searching for synonyms... ;)

I find the American accent quite pretty, but that's not just because of the accent. The Americans I knew during my lifetime so far (most of them were G.I.s) just had no inhibition to talk in a language widely unknown to them, but that's the only way to learn. We taught us each other's languages, and hat lots of fun doing so. I made the experience that people from other countries don't like to talk German unless they are absolutely sure that the phrase they want to speak out corresponds to what was written in their schoolbooks -- which, of course, mostly isn't colloquial use of language.

> If you want to talk about specific characteristics of American accents, speaking German, feel free.

Oh, I'd have a thousand questions. If you like, you can send me mail, and I'll answer back when I find the time.

Answer 4

According to my German boyfriend, "a total inability to pronounce a proper 'r', there's something different about the vowels as well... some have trouble with the 'ch's"

Answer 5

Do you play the sims?

well it sounds like the sims....when they speak simolish....

Answer 6

That is an interesting question.

It probably is one of those things which, if you have to ask, you will never really know ;-).

American English is also my native tongue.  I spent 2.5 months in Europe this spring/summer, and much of it in German-speaking countries, 'attempting' to speak German.   The feedback I recieved a couple of times when people discovered I was from the USA, and not England, was that my 'German' accent didn't sound 'British'.  They were kind enough not to say if that was good or bad.

If one's interest happened to be academic, it might be possible to work the question into a thesis topic, although I am not sure what the thesis statement might be.  One could actually record people of different native tongues speaking German, and then let native German-speaking people rank them based on a rating scheme.  To complicate things a little, I believe the regional differences in German-speaking areas might influence what sounds 'nicer' to people from different regions.  My guess is that native speakers probably sound best to native speakers, and anything else sounds a bit odd.

While in Austria, I met a gentleman from Tennessee, who had been stationed in Germany in the early '70's.  He married an Austrian woman and became an Austrian citizen.  After 30+ years of speaking German, I could not detect a 'Southern' accent in his English, and I doubt it was apparent in his German.  The years of total immersion in a different (but closely related) language seemed to erase the influence of his Southern heritage.

Sorry about the long response.  It is an interesting question.

Answer 7

i LOVE it!

Answer 8

my grandma is German. she has the most trouble understanding us talk when we talk too fast and when we use very "americanized" phrases.

Answer 9

Right now there are only two things that come to my mind:

The rolling 'R' in a lot of words

And the difficulty of pronouncing words with 'ch'. A lot people from Britain or the U.S. turn 'ch into 'ck'. And that is really typical for an English native speaking person.

Answer 10

For me it sounds very ugly.

Another thing is that most US americans are not able to use our cases which is just pain in german ears who love our language.

Romantic, poetic, lovely are the opposite of how it sounds.

Germans who begin to speak english sound exactly so stupid.

Answer 11

Americans and Canadians usually seem to have strong 'drawls' and this often comes through when speaking other languages. (I have a pronounced Welsh accent and my French friends tell me I sound 'Dutch' when speaking in French.)

To sound like a native German you will have to immerse yourself in the spoken language. Listen to German speech as much as you can, noting the emphases they put on words and the 'tempo' of the language. And of course the sounds which are not commonly present in English, notably the 'ch' sound which is pronounced similarly to that in Scots 'loch'.

Good luck!

Answer 12

Depends a bit on where you come from (the farther South in the US the worse, generally).  Bue we all basically sound like hillbilly hicks when we speak German, and have trouble with their soft, uvular "r", as well as the umlaut "u" and the "sch" sound.  Just speak slowly and clearly and they will understand you.

Answer 13

they sound soooooooo cute . I really like it :)