How to pronounce "sch"

…I was wondering if any of you had/has this problem?
Before I started tutoring at Chatterbug, I was on my way thru the crowd of pedestrians on busy Müllerstraße in Berlin-Wedding as I heard a voice with American accent saying “Nicht so snell”…she wanted to say “schnell” :wink:.
I would recommend to pronounce “sch” like the “ch” in Chatterbug or Chicago

Talking about " I wonder?"…how would you say that in German? :thinking:

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Hi Melanie,

that is a very good question as I encountered the same challenge with a student a few days ago.

In English words with [sch]-sound that come to my mind are: ‘she’, ‘shush’, ‘suSHi’, ‘Chicago’ too I’d say. It might be helpful for the student to look at your mouth while you make the sound.

Isn’t Chatterbug rather pronounced with a [tsch] than with a [sch] sound?


I wonder - Ich frage mich…
to wonder - sich fragen
to wonder about sth. - etwas wissen wollen
I wonder whether you could…? - würdest du mir bitte…?
I shouln’t wonder - es würde mich nicht wundern

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Hi Nils,

you might be right thanks. Chatterbug might rather be pronounced with a “tsch” than with a “sch”…or is that just our German accent :thinking::rofl:
Good point to ask the student who has problems to pronounce “sch”, to look at my mouth while I say it, thanks :pray:

…and thanks for the perfect german translation of " I wonder"
I often get instead of “Ich frage mich”, “Ich wundere mich”…which you just wouldn’t say in german.

Cheers,
Melanie

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Let’s clear this up first: the ch in Chatterbug is a [tsch] (like many ch-sounds in English) while the one in Chicago is from a French transcription, thus pronounced [sch].

It obviously also depends on the student’s native language, but I’m not sure why some students don’t know how to pronounce sch, it’s exactly the same as the English sh…?

A word I like to use to help them practice is Schneeschaufel :snowflake: :wink:

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Hi antomorr,

great thanks for filling me in about how to pronounce Chatterbug :pray:
…and yes thanks again “Schneeschaufel” seems a good word to practice the sound. I"ll try that with my next student.

Best,
Melanie

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Hello, don´t forget the combinations like “st” or “str” or “sp” and “spr”, you also pronounce it with “sch” like Stadt (Schtadt) or Straße (Schtrasse) or Sport (Schport) or Spritze (Schpritze), always a “sch”…

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Schtimmt ( stimmt ) Brigitte :joy: :wink:
…greetings from Berlin to you in Argentina :hugs:

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Thank you, liebe Grüße nach Berlin aus Buenos Aires :heart_eyes:

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