Pronunciation 's' vs. 'z'?

[antomorr]

Hallo meine Lieben,

here’s a tricky one. I’ve noticed that many German learners, English speakers especially, have trouble distinguishing s and z. Either they mix them up or make them sound the same.

The best example can be heard in sauber (clean) and Zauber (magic). If a word starts with s, it buzzes like the English z. A German z however is pronounced like ts in ‘hats’.

Here’s a video so you can hear it. Can you tell the difference? (yes, I have a dinosaur on my wall )

Try saying ein sauberer Zauberer (a clean magician) And once you can do that, try seufzen (to sigh)

[Janina]

This is a great explanation @antomorr and the video helps so much! Thank you for uploading this

[Megan]

Nice vid @antomorr! It is so much easier to grasp certain things when you hear/see them, rather than just reading an explanation.

[SKrausser]

Not to forget that “zt” (like in “Arzt”) is generally pronounced as “tzt”…