Well some of you might already know some German words but don´t know how to pronounce them correctly.

The basics are usually pronounced as follows:

Hello = Hallo (pronounce the "a" like the second "a" in camera, the "o" ist somewhere between the "o" in colony and the "o" in coal; it´s quite short)

My name is... = Mein Name ist... ("ei" in Mein sounds like "i" in I, the "a" in Name is like the "a" in Hallo above and the "e" at the end of Name is pronounced like the last "a" in breakfast)

Where do I find...? = Wo finde ich...? ("w" in Wo is pronounced like "v" in vote, the o is a little shorter than in vote, the "i" in finde is like the "e" in eagle and the "e" at the end of finde is like in Name; the "i" in ich sounds like the "i" in finde, the "ch" sounds a little like in Charlotte but more hissing... sry, hard to explain )

I am = ich bin (ich like explained above, bin like the dustbin)

You are (singular) = du bist (the "u" of du sounds a little like the "oo" in cool, the "i" in bist is short and sounds sharp like in hiss, the "s" sound like in hiss as well, the t is quite short as well like in Tom)

He/ She is = Er/ Sie ist (the "e" in Er is like in Name, the r is pronounced without tongue, a little throaty; the "s" in Sie is quite soft like the "zz" in buzz, the "ie" is like the first "e" in eagle; "ist" is pronounced like in bist above)
---> the "Sie" here is SINGULAR

We are = Wir sind (the "w" is like in Wo above, the "i" in Wir like in Sie and the "r" like in Er; the "s" in sind is like in Sie, the "i" is like in ginger, the "d" is supposed to be soft)

You are (plural) = Ihr seid (Ihr is like "ir" in Wir, the "s" is soft, "ei" like I and the "d" like in sind)

They are = Sie sind (the Sie like Sie (singular), the sind like sind in Wir sind)
---> the "Sie" here is PLURAL

ok, im here and no i cant pronouce anything

So I hope this here helps you a little^^
Can you imagine how "Hallo" or "Mein Name ist..." is supposed to sound?

Or is it too confusing explained???

could you try and explain it better, simpler?

I tried to do it with phonetics but it doesn´t work on the board...
I have no idea how I could make that clearer...

The underlined letters are pronounced the same in each pair.

If the meaning of the two words in a pair differ:

the word in braces is the translation of the German word.
e.g. my - Mai (may); my - mein
---> the "y" in my is pronounced like the "ai" in Mai but Mai means may
---> in the word pair following the semicolon ( ; ) is the English word and its translation.

If there´s nothing behind the pair, the German word is already the translation of the English word

boat - Boot
(to) do - du (you); to do - tun
jungle - Dschungel
friend - Freund
(to) go - gehen
hotel - Hotel
young - jung
kiss - Kuss
left - links
mother - Mutter
no - nein
thing - Ding
pair - Paar
run - rennen
list - Liste
(to) shake - schütteln
tea - Tee
Dutchman - Tscheche (Chzech (person)); Dutchman - Holländer

vocabulary - Vokabeln
Loch Ness - Loch Ness
zoo - suchen (to search for sth.); zoo - Zoo


short vowels

cat (BE) - Katze
cat (AE) - Kätzchen (kitten)
bed - erster (the first); bed - Bett
above - Sache (matter, object); above - über
list - Liste
lovely - Zitrone (lemon); lovely - reizend, schön etc.
not - Schrott (trash); not - nicht
(to) come - Kamm (comb); to come - kommen
(to) put - kaputt (broken); to put - legen, setzen, stellen etc.


long vowels

arm - lahm (lame); arm - Arm
fair - mehr (more); fair - schön, gerecht, angemessen etc.
her - Gehör (sense of hearing); her - ihr, sie
beast - Biest
talkshow - Talkshow
too - Tuba (tuba); too - auch, zu etc.


diphthongs

my - Mai (may); my - mein
now - schlau (smart, clever); now - jetzt
(to) say - Reh (doe); to say - sagen
no - Floh (a flea); no - nein
(to) hear - hier (here); to hear - hören
toy - Steuer (tax); toy - Spielzeug
poor - Tour (tour); poor - arm (without money)
fire - Schleier (veil); fire - Feuer
sour - sauer

I hope that helps... what a mess...

that not a mess at all I uderstood that

Gooooooooooood *sigh*
But I still have no idea how to explain the pronunciation of Ich...

lol

Yes well^^ I thought about it today but I still have no idea.... gave me quite a headache...

awww *gives you an asprin*

Thank you *takes aspirin* ahhhhhhh

youre welcome

Maybe you can just listen to the right pronunciation???
Next to each word there´s a speaker where you can listen to it(
I recommend thaking the one saying "das Ich":

http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&chinese=both&pinyin=diacritic&search=ich&relink=on

I hope that helps^^

Oooh great lesson.
That helped a lot, thanks!

oh, vielen Dank (Thank you)^^