The Umlaut “Ü” in German: Exercises Based on chapter 5.8 of Rundblick 2 and online Speaking Practice Chapter 7.8 and 9.9

Please pause or go back/forward whenever needed Please pause or go back/forward whenever needed Feel free to pause this recording at any time or go back to any point of the recording when required. Simply use the following “Screen-O- Matic” buttons: Press button to pause Press button to start Sliding bar to go forward or backward in the recording

Umlaut “Ü” and “U” –contrast: Whilst the mouth position of both “u” and “ü” is pretty similar, the position of jaw and Adam’s Apple changes: For the “u”, the lips are even more pursed than the “o” and slightly pulled back, the teeth are apart, the bottom jaw is dropped, the tongue loose in the bottom of the mouth. For the “ü”, the lip position remains the same but the lower jaw draws back into the mouth even more, the Adam’s Apple moves slightly up, the tongue presses against the bottom teeth and the sound is higher in pitch. This difference is best practised in front of a mirror: place your fingers softly on your Adam’s Apple and say a few times: “Mutter”(mother, singular) – “Mütter” (mothers, plural) “Stuhl” (chair, singular) – “Stühle” (chairs, plural) U Ü

Test Yourself 1: what do you hear – “u” [ʊ/u:] or “ü” [ƴ/ƴ:]?. Hut Kuchen musste Mund Gruß würde früher Hügel Küche Müsli Mütter unter

Test Yourself 2: what do you hear – “short ü” [ƴ] or “long ü” [ƴ:]? “short ü” [ƴ] “long ü” [ƴ:]? Das Müsli Die Mütter (plural) Das Stück München Die Stühle (plural) Der Hügel führen Der Müll müde Die Übung

Your turn to practise 1: the Ü/ü [ƴ/ƴ:] sound Please repeat the following words after me (I say each word 2x): berühmt Brüssel das Gemüse frühstücken Das Büro die Übung müssen die Küsse (plural)

Your turn to practise 2: using both the ”Ü” [ƴ/ƴ:] and the “U” [ ʊ/u:] sound: Please repeat the following words after me: über - unter - über Büro – bunt - Büro Küsse – Kuss – Küsse München – munter - München wurde – würde - wurde Stuhl – Stühle - Stuhl mutig – gemütlich - mutig Kuchen – Küche - Kuchen

Thank you Thank you Thank you very much for listening to this recording. Remember, you can play this screencast as often as you like. You may wish to save the link to this recording. All materials used in this screencast were produced by the author, Eva Staiger.