GERMAN PRONUNCIATION 9: How to PRONOUNCE the GERMAN R? 😳😳😳 

"Oh my god, Umlauts are hard" R : "allow me to introduce myself"

when i try to pronounce the schwere R, i sound like i am dying...

Phew! Never knew until today that, German 'R' is the efficient way of clearing the throat.

OH MY GOD I FINALLY GOT IT!!! I still can't pronounce it every time I want to, but at least sometimes it's there! Thank you so much! And yeah, it's 2am, student dormitory and I'm learning German pronunciation... I think my neighbors love me ♡ :D

For slavic languages natives this german "R" sounds like a speech impairment or defect. =)

I just LOVE Ania when she says her usual "Jaaa??" haha so cute :)

I was studying arabic a few months back and there was this one letter I couldn't pronounce no matter what and here I am trying to pronounce that sound in German. Man ...

4:23 "put your tongue a little bit back..." that's all I needed. I did it! Vielen Dank :D

I burst into laughters when, for the first time in my life, I was able to pronounce the R in German. Your tips work really well for me, a Chinese living in England. Both Chinese and English don't have this sound. After watching your video, I found it is not very difficult at all. Thanks, nice one.

I DID IT, finanlly. Thank you so much girl!!!!!!!!!!! Can't believe what's happening. I texted everyone " I achieved the agressive "r" "

For everyone who has problems with the german R sound: I have some good news for you! Besides the "easy R" presented in this video, where the "-er" at the end of a word sounds similar to "a", there are actually three ways you can pronounce the R in german. If you're familiar with the IPA, it's [r] (the one she explained in the video), [R] (that sounds really similar to [r], I think) and [​ʁ]. It doesn't matter which sound you use, there is no difference in the meaning. So you're good either way! The r sound she did here is typically used in southern Germany, but the rest of us usually use the [ʁ] sound, wich is easier to pronounce, since it's not a trill (I hope this is the right english translation...) but a frikativ. Basically, it's like a lazy version where you don't go that deep in the throat when you pronounce it... That's the best way I can discribe it ^^'

I absolutely love how ridiculously silly you are! It really gets me involved even though I'm 44 years old and I should be able to do that anyway! Lol. You're fantastic teacher and I've enjoyed watching you over the years and I can't wait to see what else you have in store for the future! Thank you so much for all of your help and your fantastic tutorials!

Thank you Anja!!! As an American who's been trying to improve their German accent, the difficult "R" has always been my Achilles heal.

Im honestly thankful for this video. What you do switching between languages is cool because I can learn common phrases and not only grammar.

This is the first time I feel lucky to be an Arab person. Very easy and thanks a lot 🙏🙏

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! I can tell the differences between the usage of the R and ofc the pronunciation.Your tutorial on how to pronounce R is really easy to follow, and the explanation and how you showed us the tongue position really helps! Danke Schoen Anja!

It's so nice to learn german with you

I love it. You're sound like a very nice person. Your videos are brilliant and funny at the same time. I'm starting learning German and your videos have been so helpful. Thank you very much for your work.

I was trying to do that for years. I took German classes from 5 different teacher, watched tons of explanation videos for "R". And finally I can do it thanks to you! Your tongue position explanation is the best. Danke Schön!

My mother tongue is Spanish and, I don't know why, but I could pronounce the English, Russian, French, German and Icelandic "R" at the first try without problem, my best wishes for those trying! Keep practicing and know that you can do it, that's key :)

I'm here 4 years later and i find this video so helpful! Danke!!

I’ m Italian, I’m 16 and I go in the third year of high school. On September I started to study German at school and I can’t pronounce the letter R, but with your video now I can do it a little better… Danke!!!

I've been learning German for years now, even living in Hamburg for over a year and up till now I just kind of "cheated" and used the trilled R sound which is OK, but is more common in the south of Germany as far as I know. Gargling the water helped me to become more aware of the part of my throat where I needed to form the sound, and then finally trying to repeat the words I found that "grün" was the one that cracked it for me. Something about the transition from the g into the r meant my tongue was naturally dropped and relaxed enough to get a bit of vibration happening for the throat r sound. Vielen Dank für das Video, das hat echt viel geholfen!

Thank you very much for making this video. I took German many years ago in high school, but lost pretty much all of it. I am diving back in, and this R sound was definitely something I had forgotten how to do. Seems like I got it now!

THANK YOU SO MUCH I WAS OVERTHINKING THIS SO MUCH BEFORE! I’m a few days into enlarging German and my OCD wouldn’t rot me continue until I at least got the basic pronunciation down

That was an eye-opening for me as for Russian. We have strong R like in Italian. Sometimes my throat is so dry, that I can't pronounce it. Dankeschön Ania.

You're awesome Anja! I am finally grasping the German R! Thank you!!

Can't believe it was this easy! I have been stressing on the R pronunciation for so long. Thank you so much!

I'm not even learning German, I'm just really into linguistics and never figured out what exactly the German R was. It was interesting to note that the difference between the "harsh" R and the reduced one is exactly the same difference between the pronounced and reduced R in British English (for instance, the R being reduced at the end of words like car, there, here, near, etc)

I have sore throat after practicing this fml

What amazing instructions! Thank you, Ania!

Super helpful! Especially the point about relaxing the tongue. Thanks!

"You take some water, you drink it, and you Google it."

Hi, Ania! Could you please make a video teaching us how to pronounce the German "CH"? You've got not only a new subscriber, but a huge fan! Your congeniality is contagious!! Greetings from Brazil!

Thank you so much for explaining when to pronounce the difficult R and how to make the sound - very helpful! I've been learning on DuoLingo for about a month, but the platform doesn't show this kind of detail. While it's good, nothing like a real teacher! You grabbed a new sub! Danke und Tschüss!

Thank you Anja, although the R is really difficult, your video clearly demonstrates how to do it. Will practise it.

Danke this video really help me to pronounce " R"

All I know about German pronunciation is this: The first Standard German pronunciation was called "die deutsche Bühnenaussprache" (German stage pronunciation), standardized by Theodor Siebs in 1898 under the order of Prussian Emperor at that time. He compiled a pronouncing dictionary with the same title. This dictionary had been used in German-speaking countries until 1950s. Standard German is actually based to a large extent on its written form, namely High German (Hochdeutsch). However, its spoken form uses a largely Low German pronunciation (Niederdeutsch) of this written form. Therefore, "die deutsche Bühnenaussprache" has often been aptly described as "High German with Low German sounds". Now, according to "die deutsche Bühnensprache", all German "r"'s should be pronounced as alveolar trill r's, like the Spanish "r". Roy Black and Heino are examples of Germans employing this Spanish "r" when speaking German. Moreover, stage pronunciation did not allow these difficult sounds: the syllabic consonants /n/, /m/, /l/ as in arbeiten, Wappen, Apfelstrudel respectively. Then appeared the second Standard German pronunciation in Germany: Deutsche Hochsprache. This type of German German pronunciation is very famous outside the German-speaking countries. This "modern" type of German pronunciation employs the French "r" [ʀ] and the Australian English vocalized vowel of the ending -er, which is heard like /a/ to Indonesian ears. In Indonesia, senior-high students were not taught to employ these two sounds. We, students of senior-high school (Oberschule), were taught in the class to employ the Spanish "r" all the time when speaking German, thus we used stage German pronunciation. It happened in 1991-1993.

this is by far the most efficient way to learn the German R! Thank you Anja!

Hallo, Ania!! Ich bin seit eine Monaten nach einem Deutschkurs und habe ich nicht verstanden die pronunciation, aber das Video war perfekt fur mich! Danke!!! Keep going.Bomb of positive energy.

Technically, there are two ways to pronounce the German R (or three if you count R's that are at the end of a word). There is a *voiced uvular fricative* [ʁ​], at the beginning of words or after a voiced consonant; and its counterpart, a *voiceless uvular fricative* [χ​], when it is positioned after a voiceless consonant. For example in the word _sprechen_ at 6:44. Yes, this is pretty much the same sound as _ch_ in words like _acht_ , _schwach_ , etc.

As a native german speaker, I have no clue how I ended up here, but it does make me feel better about my efforts in learning the rolling r...

You are an amazing teacher, by the way. I really enjoyed this lesson! Subscribed.

Thank you Anja!

5:28 reminds me of the Jim Carrey stand up bit about impersonating an angry St. Bernard. :D

Very helpful video teacher Ania! I'm a Filipino and I want to learn Deutsch. Vielen dank

really thanks for your enthusiastic teaching!

I'm glad I found this video, I was clueless on how to pronouce the German "r" but now I know how to practice, I'm sure I'll master this soon. Vielen Dank!

Thank you for this video! Out of context but it always amazes me how just because of your mother tongue letters may be very hard to pronounce!😂 I’m Arabian so this was pretty easy for me to learn but just because of your *note* I got to know why it’s easy for me but maybe not for others.

For French it must be easy. It's the same "r" For Arabic it's the same as غ

The whole water garggling thing was a very helpful analogy! My pronunciation is still awful, but this should help ;) Thanks Ania

I really love the style you teach! Thanks for making this video! :D

1:41 You said, "It's not zu easy" That's funny at some point :D

oh my god ! i did it =) . Vielen Dank

Great video! It's really helpful. I'm a Brazilian and I find this german R difficult to pronounce. But now your tips will make it a little easier. 😆 Danke.

You're awsome Ania! The best German teacher so far I've found :)

What am I doing here I have an exam tomorrow .-.

Danke Ania! I wanted to ask about the rolling of the R in German, i.e. with your tongue at the front of your palate. I know that Austrians certainly do this ( albeit not as strong as the roll in the Spanish R). I think some other German speakers roll their Rs ( I saw an interview with Willy Brandt from 1964 on youtube and he gently rolled some of his Rs and he came from Luebeck). The problem is that I find that, while I can pronounce the guttural Rs exactly as you suggest while practising, when I am engaged in a long conversation or reading out a long text, I find that my throat finds it difficult to pronounce the guttural R, almost like suddenly running out of breath. For example, saying "restrukturieren" in the middle of a long conversation. Is it really so wrong to gently roll a R from time to time - is it simply a matter of regional preference, as with the A in British English? I do find rolling the R easier of my throat. Or does a rolling of a R sound weird, unless the person has an Austrian or Bavarian accent? I would be grateful for your thoughts.

This is a great video, Anja! I haven't had a problem with R personally though I can see how it can be challenging or even strange to get used to with the way we pronounce it in English. I have experience with Sanskrit and some of the sounds in that language have guttural and palatal pronunciations, so let it be said that nothing we learn is a waste of time because we never know when we can use the information/experience! It's also interesting to switch back and forth between how it's pronounced rolled at the front of the mouth like in Spanish versus some of the times it's pronounced in German with the sort of guttural throaty R in certain words. Practice makes perfect! By the way, "Lehrer" and "Lehrerin" are two of my most challenging words even though the other ones are usually easy for me!

I have seen quite some videos trying to explain how to make this sound and this was the best by far :) thank you

Thank you!

it feels more like the 'g' sound when I pronounce the difficult 'R'

Thank you so much, this video was incredibly helpful, as an Australian I have quite a bit of trouble trouble pronouncing these sort of sounds 😂But hopefully I will get the hang of it after a bit of practise!

Dankeschön Ania. Love your lessons. You make a great Lehrerin 👍

“No mom I’m ok I am just learning R”

Y acá yo pronunciando la R mal todo este tiempo :'( En español posicionamos la lengua levantando la punta, haciendo que toque el paladar rápidamente, mientras que la parte de atrás de la lengua se mantiene baja. Es completamente distinto!

I've been "dabbling" in German with varying degrees of intensity for most of 30 years now, and I've always made the Hard R by rolling it with my tongue against the roof of my mouth. I've never been called out on it. On the contrary, I've received compliments from several different Germans on my pronunciation and accent. However strangely, this is the first I've heard of forming the Hard R in the throat, like a growl. I'll have to pay closer attention to that from here on out. Just adore Ania. Thanks for all of the videos.

Thanks Ania, it was helpful. I was really confused about the pronunciation of German R

So basically, it's like snoring?

I just pretend I'm gargling mouthwash or something and then the sound comes out😂 Edit: I now realized you mention this later in the video haha

You are amazing Ania. It's fun to learn with you. Thanks for these videos. ♡

Your way of explaining is so easy to understand

im turkish no matter how hard i try i cant make this sound! when i say it it sounds like a slightly sharper h.

Thanks god my mother language is arabic

Dankeschön! I've finally learnt how to pronounce it thanks to you :)

você é um professora excelente! (you are an amazing teacher!)

Ich finde, dass das "schwere R" wie das "französische R" klingt. Wohingegen das "einfache R" wie das "britisch englische R" klingt. Ich sage "britisch englisch", weil das "amerikanisch englische R" ungleich ist. Zum Beispiel: fat*a* (deutsche Aussprache von "Vater"), fath*a* (britisch englische Aussprache von "father") und fath*er* (amerikanisch englische Aussprache von "father"). Es gibt eine Unterschied zwischen dem "deutsch einfachen R" und dem "britisch englischen R". Die Unterschied ist, dass das "britisch englische R" nicht ausgesprochen wird, wenn es nach keinem "e" ist. Also "for" wird als "foh" ausgesprochen und *nicht* als "foa". Wohingegen das deutsche "für" (oder "Tür") als "füa" (oder "Tüa") ausgesprochen wird.

I like this girl :D

This helped me a ton, but I am going to keep watching this time a couple times a week trying to get this. Whatever happens I will learn German one day. God Bless und Danke

This was a very helpful explanation! Thank you very much.

je l'adore mdrrr elle est trop drôle 😂😂😂

When I practice this, my parents think I am crazy, when I teach them, them are crazy hahahahaha

5 years later and you’re still a GEM! Thanks so much for this! Now, I must go find a lozenge ;-)

Your videos are instructive, fun, and funny! I always have a good laugh! Viele Dank

are German "r" and French "r" the same?

there was a moment I was like : OMG!!! Can't believe my German listening has improved so much Then I realised this video is bilingual...and my German listening sucks as always😒

Thanks a lot for this tongue exercise! It really helped a lot!

The best lesson I have ever seen for the "r" sound, still couldn't stop me from making it sound like I was choking :)

the R is the letter(غ) in Arabic

As a person from Rio (Brazil), this R is not hard at all. The english one is though

I like the way you speak. You made it so easy! Just listening I am able to understand. Zuhören Wiederholen.

Thank you so much!! I think it improved my 'r' sound:)

5:00 "Relax the back of your mouth ;)" The wink face changes the whole meaning of that sentence.

To me, it seems like that I necessarily need at least a little bit of saliva on the tongue to speak it properly. Is that a correct assumption for a native or am I "cheating"?

Thanks for the help and energy in the video

Danke schön! Thank you very much for this video! I really managed to do that with your help 😊

dieser lehrer ist so süß!! :)

*Caution:* YOU MUST NOT PRACTICE THE GERMAN R IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE.

I never had so much fun learning German as with this video! Thanks for sharing :-)

3:59 you expained it so well, I think I did it well first time :) !