Chapter 2: Basic Principles
A Consistent Language
You’re fortunate to be learning German rather than English. Consider the hapless English learner faced with the identical pronunciation of rain, reign, and rein. The English language is fraught with pronunciation inconsistencies. German is far more consistent and predictable.
German is a phonetically consistent language.
Phonetic consistency means that words are pronounced as they are spelled, with consistent sounds for a given spelling. In German, it does not matter where a letter, or letter combination appears in word—it will usually sound the same. Exceptions are rare and typically limited to loanwords.
Every Letter Matters
English speakers have a tendency to rush through or skip letters. Many British dialects like to drop the t in matter, Americans often ignore it in plenty. This is a bad habit when it comes to German and is best avoided.
German has (almost) no silent letters.
German leaves no letters behind – even consonants in clusters are typically all pronounced. This leads to stark differences in pronunciation between German and English for the same letter combinations.
Take, for instance, the English psychology, where the p remains silent. In its German rendition Psychologie, however, both P and s are pronounced distinctly.