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Why Can't Germans Say 'Squirrel' ?

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Arizona Hot:
I would like comment on this from our foreign-language members. Click on the image to view the video.

Renegade:
While I don't speak German, I speak Korean, and can comment in general on the issue.

The article does a decent job of outlining some of the issues.

STEP 1:
At the core, you have different consonants and vowels in different languages, and even in different consonants and vowels inside of a single language (dialect or accent).

For English speakers, try saying these 3 words:

1) Mary (the name)
2) Merry (as in merry Xmas)
3) Marry (as in get hitched)

The a/e there will sound the same to some, while sounding different to others, depending mostly on where you are from. You may hear 1, 2, or even 3 distinct vowels.

As another typical example, Americans typically pick out Canadians by the way they say "about".

STEP 2:
Next, you have different combinations of those vowels and consonants.


And that pretty much sums it up. Different combinations of vowels and consonants condition you with motor skills (very much like muscular memory, if not exactly that) so that when you go to step "outside" of those "rules", things can tend to get weird.

Again, for English speakers, try to pronounce this as a word:

Ng

If you can at all, chances are that you slaughtered it because the initial "ng" sound doesn't exist in English. Again, while that is a real word, it is used in other words as well, e.g.:

Ngoc

Which again, is very difficult for English speakers to pronounce.

There are tonnes of examples out there of sound patterns that don't exist in different languages, so "squirrel" in the mouth of a German speaker isn't very surprising. Though it may be entertaining! :)

tomos:
Funny, because, as a native English speaker in Germany, speaking German with a sort of a reasonably good local accent,* it's the 'r's that identify me as a foreigner. They roll them in a way that just doesnt seem possible: I either dont roll, or, if I make an effort, I sound like I'm trying to hack something up. (They sound somewhere in between - quite discreet.)


* I've got to admit, I also have trouble with vowels with umlauts. If I can manage to avoid the umlauts and the 'r's, they think I'm a native from somewhere else, far way. Or maybe they're just being nice to me.


Edit/ I've heard squirrel pronounced 'squirdel' by native English speakers, so as Renegade says, where you're from is an important factor. (If german native speakers knew that, they mightnt be so shy with their pronunciation!)

Deozaan:
As a Native English (American) speaker, I have a very difficult time saying "squirrel" in the Esperanto language.

"sciuro"

phitsc:
The topic says: Germans. It's only one of them in the video though.

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