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I didn’t have a problem pronouncing these words, but I’m Dutch. We have even weirder sounds, like ‘schrijfschrift’ or ‘Duitsland’.

You two are adorable together and it makes me laugh all the time. I like when Ben is on with you.

I think "Füchschen" is a tricky one as you see the "sch" which in this case needs to be "separated" to "s" and "ch". Then also 2 different ways to pronounce "ch" within the same word and an "Umlaut" is a must of course 😅

I was in Germany 🇩🇪 for 4 years , I fell in love with 😍 the country and the people, there is nothing in Germany I don’t like 👍. Beautiful, I wish I could have stayed there.

Das wichtigste ist ä, ö, ü und der Unterschied zwischen ch und ck wenn ein Amerikaner deutsch lernen will. Wenn man das kann ist es enorm einfacher.

You and Ben are the best couple on KZfaq! Love this channel.

I had tears in my eyes from laughing! You two are unbeatable! Such a cool couple... and I think Ben is the most likeable American ever!! And Feli - the way you shine and the light in your eyes in every video just puts everyone in a good mood!!!

Feli and Ben, I grew up speaking German in Canada, as my parents wanted that to be my first language. I was thoroughly amused at this video. To be honest, I can follow some of the words in German but after I started school, English became my favored language and I lost the ability to understand much of what I learned as a toddler in the German language. I can still pronounce words but to actually know what they mean - probably not. I found this video hilarious and fun to watch and had to share it with my dad, who will also find it funny. Ben, you're doing an amazing job learning the language, I'm so impressed at how well you've picked it up but you also have a fantastic teacher! Thanks for sharing!

7:49 I could hear the smile in her voice as she said that, it was so cute haha!

You guys are adorable together. The Video was a lot of fun and struck home since I am 1 1/2 years into my German learning journey brought on in large part because of this channel.

I’m always amazed how well Ben plays along, he’s such a good sport! He perfectly represents so many non native German speakers! Well done, Ben, you’re the most wundervoll companion to Feli‘s show! Isn’t it interesting one of the smallest items in Germany owns one of the longest words? Streichholzschächtelchen, matchbox. Overkill, ja?

My dad‘s favourite word for our American visitors was always “Maiskölbchen” as we used to make Fondue or Raclette for them 😅 I used the word “Bleistiftanspitzer” in a fun German class for kids - I tought each group a different syllable and made them all say it really quickly together 😊

Ben did really well :)) The Swiss German equivalent zu Streichholzschaechtlchen is just as difficult Chuchichaeschtlituerli :))

Hey Ben, i grew up to the north of you in Kokomo Indiana and yes one of my friends said "collar crown" for color crayon. I had to ask him to repeat it about five times until i figured out what he was saying. I think a lot of southerners relocated to our town because of the auto industry so we would have the mix of dialects.

All of them. I struggled with all of them. I even told my friend when I got frustrated "That's not A word, that A sentence!"

Needed this tonight. Thanks, Feli and Ben! 🙂

This is great to see - you’re so encouraging toward him! And clearly both having fun. Experienced (decades of it) German learner here: the one I still have to slow down for (so as not to mess up) is fünfundfünfzig. :). Much much harder for me than Eichhörnchen etc.

Always such a breath of fresh air, Feli and Ben. Eure Videos sind immer klasse mit eurer engagierten Art. Besten Dank! 🤗

In addition to the words, thanks for the hints on the videos to watch! A few I am definitely going to have to check out!

You two are great together, please bring him more often!

It is often said that to learn about another culture and or language helps us learn about our own. This has happened here. When you were bringing up the 555 and how differently people in English pronounce it, it reminded me of just how often I try and keep an eye on my own pronunciation. As I finished typing that, I am also reminded of the most important thing about communications. As long as the other person understands what you are conveying, it matters not, how precise you communicate. lol

My German pronunciation is pretty decent on the whole, but one thing I have found difficult is when two rolled rs are joined by a short vowel, as in mehrere, schwerere, Lehrerin, etc. I can do it OK now, but it's taken a while. It's hard to do a rolled r as smoothly as a German native speaker, so I think that was the source of my issue

Thank you for the video. I can't wait for the next show.

Yay Ben! I love seeing him in your videos! Can't wait to watch!

I think the best way for me to learn German is to actually go to Germany which I may try to go in July and that will probably be my birthday/graduation gift.

I really love your channel, Feli, because you're helping me with my pronunciations. Feli, pass this on to Ben, but I grew up saying "crowns" instead of "crayons" because my maternal family is from West Virginia and my dad's mother was from Texas (not the German-speaking community, sadly, but my great-grandmother WAS from a German family!), and after a while, Mama just called all crayons "Crayolas" so my brother and I wouldn't get corrected at school.

Glad to hear they are still teaching that the „and“ in numbers refers to the decimal point. That‘s how I was taught as well. But the „and“ before the last number is indeed very common, especially in British English.

Coming from Massachusetts where we have a non-rhotic dialect I struggled with using the letter R, especially at the ends of words. One word in particular became the bane of my existence, rühren (or Rührei). While I had no trouble pronouncing anything with an umlaut and was proud of being able to use them without problem while my American friends struggled with them, that damn word gave me a lot of grief and since I am back living in the states and rarely speak German - only read, listen to music, and watch movies and news in German - I tried using it in a sentence out loud and I am back to struggling with it. lol If you do another one of these, please consider using it so I can see if I am not alone in this!

That was great. He may have the odd problem pronunciating the difficult words and sounds, but he can quite well make out the meaning of words/or even understand (written) words. Well done. It's defo not an easy language, but keep at it. You're doing so well! You got yourself a very willing and studious pupil here, Feli and apparently taught him well so far!

"Regisseur" and "Regie" are actually French, and were overtaken into the German Wortschatz(vocabulary), actually with the same pronouciation as in French. Indeed the German word for Regisseur was "Direktor" in old days. As a French-German, I'm really surprised that this isn't known in English, since English has overtaken so many French words (> 50%) with the same spelling but totally different pronunciation, e.g. important, messsage, information ....

Love watching the two of you together. The level of mutual affection shines through so beautifully.

Great show, my favorite work was Feli, Thank you Feli see you next time❤❤❤❤

I am German - i love this channel. Its fun watching it and i learned "legal expenses insurance" today ;) Dankeschön für die ganze Arbeit, die Du hier reinsteckst!

Superkalifragilistikexpialigetisch! (Mary Poppins)

I’m from Louisville and Lexington Kentucky, but I’ve lived in Germany for over 50 years so it is funny to watch you two.

You are a really good teacher! I love it! 😄💝

You guys are amazing, I had a great laugh here :) I am Dutch and have learned German in school for 5 years, so these words are not really hard to pronounce for me, except for Streichholzschächtelchen (holy cow). I know that the soft ch sound is really hard for most, I remember my German teacher really did a good job forcing us to pronounce it correctly...

ben‘s pronunciation got so much better. congrats!

Love how Feli sometimes nearly dies of laughter :D Should really include more of them :))

I lived in Germany with military for two years and loved every minute. I’m new to your channel but really enjoy watching you. Thank you!

Feli und Ben sind sehr ein süßes Paar 🥹🥹🥹 danke sehr für das Video, Feli! Edit: Numbers have 'and' here in England. Like "one hundred and one, one hundred and two etc"

It's funny that Eichhörnchen is about as difficult for English speakers as squirrel (pronounced the English way rather than the US one) is for German speakers. You do a very good job of it Feli!

Love your channel, I find if I hear the words spoken and just repeat it that's how I learn, if I see it written down I struggle, I have lived in Germany for 10 years on and off. I once sat with my brother and his wife in a German cinema in Bonn and watched Anatomie all in German and then I bought the DVD still watch it in German and have only watched it a few times in English oh and we then whent to see Körperwelten and I have taken my family to see this when it was in Canada.

Oh my goodness, you two are awesome together. He was fantastic. What a great sport! So fun.

The thing about "squirrel" in German reminds me of a running gag of Jeremy Clarkson. He says that the English word "Squirrel" was difficult for a German speaker to pronounce, and the British Intelligence agencies would use that word to catch a German Spy. I know it was done as a joke, but it was funny to see them try to use a stereotypical German Accent and fail spectacularly.

Feli, please coach your American boyfriend to learn German word pronunciation in REVERSE. What? Yes! That is the best way to learn ANY foreign word. Read the last syllable first. Then the second to last, and so forth until you get the whole word. Otherwise, it's overwhelming. Second, teach him to learn the vowels and consonants in German. "ch" in German can sound more like "sh" in English with more friction under the tongue. The important thing to know with any language is that the letters do not convert to obvious English pronunciation. One has to learn each language as its own letters-to-sounds combination. I always enjoy your videos!

You two are great together and Ben is very talented! 🙂👍

Good to see you two back.

Fun video :) Military terms in German were some of my more difficult ones. I study a lot of history, and there are a lot of compound words that were (and probably still are) used in the army. Panzerabwehrkanone (anti-tank gun), Fliegerabwehrbeschuss (anti-aircraft barrage), Schuetzenkette (squad formation line), etc, etc

Next time, can you add the indefinite article for reference? I find the hardest thing with learning German is learning the indefinite article because the sentence structure (nominative, accusative, dative) depends on knowing correct indefinite article. Other than that, I did not think those words were too difficult.

You guys are amazing. Cling on to this chap, seriously. I had my fair share of international relationships myself. When I see the glow in your eyes (both of you) I cannot help but feel you guys are carved out for each other. I'm a native German but left "my" country back in 2003. I have been living in Paris (let's say ... the French language and I will never become close friends) and London later on. Now, I live in Switzerland. English has become my first language (due to the job). I find myself looking for the appropriate word in German while having the English word right in front of my eyes. Crazy stuff really. But I'm leaving track here. When I was living in London I had an Italian girlfriend. She wanted me to speak in German occasionally and was interested in my native language. Her mom in Italy disapproved (Tedesco) 🙂 I found this funny, we overcame the language barrier without any issues, I learned Italian, and she German whereas we were living in an English-speaking society. My point is ... hang on to this guy, he is seriously interested.

This was funny, interesting and lovely to watch!

Als ich Deutsch lernte, wirkten die Wörter absolut traumatisch. Aber wann immer ich es endlich zum ersten Mal hörte, konnte ich es jedes Mal sagen.

The Eichhörnchen In Switzerland (Züri) they call it Hänsli

This episode is great fun. Danke.

Nice work Ben! Match box was definitely the most difficult, but once the compound was broken up and defined it was much easier. The -chen brought back many memories of High School German class. We used to call our teacher “Frauchen” because she was very short, under 5 foot tall. It was always rewarded to find new German words and phrases and share them with her, in context. One favorite was, “Ich tänze nackt für Gummi Bären!”

Learning German today apparently is very different from learning it when I was a kid. All the words you say all German learners will encounter, I've never encountered in my life. I never even learned the German word for squirrel, that's actually new to me, but I was able to pronounce it just fine.

None of the words in the video were difficult for me to pronounce, but then again I've been living in Austria for 20 years and often get accused by Austrians of sounding suspiciously "German" (that's not a compliment by the way). There is one German word however, that continues to humble me to this day - "Reichsbrücke". That's the name of a bridge here in Vienna, and no matter how much I practice, this is the ONE WORD that's almost IMPOSSIBLE for English speakers, including me, to pronounce effortlessly. I try and I try and I try, but "die Reichsbrücke" reduces me to tears every time. I can effortlessly say words like "Streichholzschächtelchen" or "Donaudampfschiffsfahrtsgesellschaftskapitän" in my sleep, but the minute I have to say "Reichsbrücke" I start to panic and break out in a sweat! Who knows? Maybe I'll finally get it in another 20 years or so... True story: a while ago I was getting to know a new client, a 6 foot tall guy with blond hair, blue eyes, basically your stereotypical looking German. Then during our conversation he said something about slow traffic on the "Reichsbrücke" and my ears IMMEDIATELY pricked up because despite his best efforts, I heard that slight struggle of the tongue that affects all native English speakers with that word, no matter how skilled he was at hiding it. I immediately asked him in English, "warte mal, are you an English native speaker?" He looked at me with astonishment and replied, "YES, but how did you find out?" I grinned and said to him, "because of the way you said Reichsbrücke". He was amazed because he'd always assumed his German was flawless. It turns out he was a white Jamaican who met a German woman who was vacationing in Jamaica decades ago, married her, then moved to Germany where he eventually became a corporate lawyer specializing in English Common Law for export/import companies. No one believes him when he says he's Jamaican, so over the years he tried his best to blend in as German. We had a good laugh as I also shared my 20 year battle with the Reichsbrücke. A few tips for English native speakers: if you're having trouble pronouncing the German "r", just roll it like in Spanish. To German ears you'll sound like a very refined speaker, similar to the way German speaking actors are trained to pronounce the German "r" on stage. Besides, the rolled "r" sounds far more articulate than the guttural "r" used by most native speakers. As to those terrifyingly looking long words, just break them down into their most basic syllables and then pronounce each of them slowly and carefully, e.g. Streich-holz-schäch-tel-chen. We run into a lot of difficulties when we try to speak German at the same speed we would speak English. Forget it! If you slow down a bit and break down those long German words, then they'll suddenly appear far less formidable and become easier to pronounce. Don't worry about how you sound speaking more slowly than you're used to - we think we sound stupid but to German ears we sound precise and meticulous.

Oh was ich es liebe diesen Dialekt zu hören😊 und dabei wirkt er auch noch so sympathisch 😊😊😊

I am American of German descent and I love your videos. I was on the waiting list for your Germany/Austria trip, but they never contacted me for your recent trip. I am hoping that you will do another trip in this coming spring, 2024. Please let us know what your future plans are! Cheers

Stichpimpulibockforcelorum (Kräuterlikör)

It has been decades since I had my first German lesson. 55 years. I have forgotten more German than I want to think about. That said, my pronunciation was near perfect. I still do some thinking in German, not as much as they used to but still enough. Numbers, days of the week, months, to me, those are German. I have to sometimes think about what the number is in English because I know numbers so well in German

As an American learning German.... the R sounds and short vowels always get me. My German teacher always laughs, but at least shes patient with me 😂

Hi Feli. Schöne Videos! Ein kleines Detail zum rheinischen "R" in "Porsche": Das R wird (innerhalb von Wörtern und nach Vokalen) in den meisten Teilen des Rheinlandes durch ein hartes "ch" wie in "Dach" ersetzt. Im Grunde sagt er "Poch-sche". Nur - ausgerechnet - in Köln macht man das kaum. Ein Beispiel: Der Wirt ist im rheinischen Umland der "Wicht" (hartes "ch"), in Köln aber der "Weet". Prost!

In Austria near Bavaria there is a dialect word as a fun test word, it's "Oachkatzlschwoaf". Below I have something from Switzerland, a nice but challenging one ;-) Back to my example here. People from Bavaria should be able to get it, from further away, it gets more difficult to pronounce and to guess ;-) Oachkatzl-Schwoaf. Eichkatzerl-Schweif. Eichkätzchenschweif. Eichhörnchen-Schweif. It also has to do with a squirrel, who would have thought ;-) It's a squirrel tail, the nice fluffy tail thay use to jump around and keep their balance. This word has no other meaning, it's just a fun test word like "Eichhörnchen", but in the next level of pronounciation to make it more complicated ;-) ---- Then in Switzerland they have a test word, that is "Chuchichäschtli". In Swiss German they pronounce the ch rather intense, almost like you would clean your throat ;-) Then it consists of two words, when I split it up, people from and around Bavaria might have a better chance to get it: Chuchi-Chäschtli. Chuchi Kuchi is a word in Austria. Kuchl is the same in Austria. Küche Chäschtli Käschtli Kastli (not a real word) Kasten So it is in German ein "Küchenkasten". It's a kitchen cabinet, typically a wooden cabinet on the wall of a kitchen, some could also hang higher on the wall so that you have your working area in the height between them. The trick is the pronounciation of the Swiss German word ;-) ---- And the number in Swiss German that was sounding most unusual to me was "Nünzähundatnünanünzg" ;-) Nünzäh hundat nünanünzg Nünzäh Nünzehn (not a real word) Neunzehn (19) Hundat Hundert (100) Up to this it means 19 hundred, that is 1900. Nünanünzg Nün-a-nünzig Neun-und-neunzig (99). So the whole word was 1999, like the year 1999. ----- You might find KZfaq videos with the words.

Germany is such a beautiful country!!! I would love to visit or maybe even live there😊😊😊🇩🇪❤Btw you and Ben are such a cute couple❤

This was a fun video! You two always make me laugh haha thanks for sharing! :)

Being dutch, grown up with german tv-series subtitled it's nice to learn some german words one would not use commonly like 4 instance eichhörnchen.. which is in dutch eekhoorntje.. so all in all quite informative but pronounciationwise nailed it 10/10.

I think that insurance might be called Public Liability insurance in the UK. Incidentally, I guessed the 555 and fruit but not many of the others. I have been trying to learn Spanish for many years but German is just too difficult for me.

In school in the US we were taught to NEVER use "and" when referring to a number over one hundred. 101 is "one hundred one", NOT "one hundred and one" and so on. But in the real world most of us actually do use "and". BTW, I'm assuming that Ben has a nice, private term of endearment he uses for you and really doesn't need to pronounce your first name (except in third person). I've heard you refer to him as "babe" 😉

I agree, I had a wonderful time watching it!

Great info

Many languages have regional differences for common words as you noted. One thing is German words is the long compound ones, something you don't see as much like in English. I have been watching a German made police detective drama set in the Berlin-Potsdam area on my local (NYC Area) PBS station 'Luna and Sophie'. It is spoken in German, but has subtitles in English. Another program on PBS I have been watching is 'World On Fire' set in WW II showing persons in Germany, French, English , Poland with home languages and captions in English as needed. I also recall a comedy sketch on TV a number of years ago where words that sound lovely in English but in German (and exaggerated) sound like something bad or ugly.

Great video. Ben did very well! As you mentioned the dialect of the Rhineland, did you know that we can pronounce the letter “g” in three different ways, even in one word? Flugzeugträger (aircraft carrier) will be pronounced as “Fluchzeuschträjer” 😉 Regarding the different dialects in Germany, you might check out a very old (ancient) clip from Peter Frankenfeld where he switches all kinds of German dialects announcing the weather forecast kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mNqcerBzppi8f2g.html

Feli that sweater looks great on you!

Beautifully done. Being from the Philippines, I have 2 Tagalog phrases for you: Kakabakaba ka ba? (Does your heart beat faster?) Maalala mo kaya? (Wil you remember?)

Ben literally looks more European than you lol

10:31 The fact that normally it helps when she says it, but this time he just looks more overwhelmed haha!

If you see the HBO show “Chernobyl” you will see the word “Röntgen” tossed around a lot. It is a measurement of radioactivity but I believe they said it is now outdated and or not used anymore because now everyone uses the Geiger counter and whatever units that uses.

6:20 I could definitely tell he had a strong accent, which I only realised after Feli pointed it out that that's maybe surprising given he's speaking a language I don't know, but I can still tell he has a strong accent. It somehow sounds like a very fitting accent for someone who works with cars haha!

Yes, for sure a fun video, need more like this, it was great. :)

Hello Feli and Ben. I always thought the way that German pronunciation was standard made the words straight forward, but the tables of sixteen words for "a" and "the" were so strange at first. Being from northern England, my dad said my grandad still used "eyen" not "eyes" as there is still Norse in the dialect, so the plurals never seemed strange. As a kid my favourite was "geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung" My girlfriend's relative married an Austrian and her family there say I speak German like a German, though I commented before that I reckon there is an Austrian joke in there.

Hallo Feli! I did great will all of them except for the "Chech" part of the small matchbox. I even was able to say the rest of them correctly mit Erkaltung.... Tschuss!

I studied German long ago, but yesterday was the first time I had heard "front ch" described as a cat hissing (in the context of singing auf Deutsch), and now it's two days in a row! Where I come from (northern Minnesota originally), "crayon" is often pronounced like the first syllable of "cranberry".

I struggle with something like "durchschnittliches Kraftstoffverbrauch", but most others seem easy, at least in my accented way.

I studied German for 5 years. And the easiest part for me was pronouncing German words - of any length. Alas, vocabulary and grammar were the hardest...

I have been many times to the Ab Nürburgring gas station. What used to happen is that I would catch a holiday coach to Austria or Switzerland in Kent in the afternoon and then take a ferry to Dunkirk. We would then sleep through the night on the coach and stop for breakfast at the Ab Nürburgring gas station. We would reach our accommodation in Austria or Switzerland in the late morning.

Ans we only call it Semmel in Austria. Not only Bavaria. And there were also Langsemmeln but they are not available anymore.

6:05 There's nothing difficult about a little unstressed schwa. I think people just overthink it.

Ben is such a good sport, kudos!

Your Trachten is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the colors!

The -ig is spoken [ig] in Southern German dialects, but like -ich in Northern German dialects. In 1898 Prof. Theodor Siebs et.al. published a standardized "German Stage Pronunciation" (Deutsche Bühnenaussprache), in which they generally took the southern pronunciation for the ending 'g', except if there was a 'i' before the g. This rules are still the base for broadcasting and thereby "official" pronunciation.

Very nice video! I wonder how he would have pronounced "Oachkatzerl", the bavarian variety of Eichhörnchen. I reckon, this might even be easier! My favorite german word is "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" 😎

When I got to Germany for my first 40 month tour, I would watch Sesame Strasse. Was a great help. (I lived in Hesse, so the pronunciation is a bit different....)

You should keep him around. You two are fun to watch. Being from Kentucky I also have odd English habits. Now on my 8th? Month of Babbel and some of my pronunciations were better than Bens! And he has an instructor lol. C’mon Ben pick it up!!!😊

My parents taught me German and English at the same time when I was little. We had some friends over, and my mom was trying to teach me how to say Pfirsich. I kept saying "pirsit". Our friend finally asked my mom why she didn't teach me a simple word like peach...

The simple secret for English speakers to master the ö sound - round your lips like you're saying "oooh", but say a long e instead. With practice, the resulting "eeewww" sound will come through. Thank you Miss Fuchs, German I, 1972 Carteret High School

Hallo Feli, du hättest auch ein bayrische Wort nutzen können - Oachkatzlschwoaf und als Steigerung zu fünfhundertfünfundfünzig - fünfhundertfünfundfünzigtausendfünfhundertfünfundfünzig und für die generelle Verzweifelung dann - Donau­dampfschifffahrts­elektrizitäten­hauptbetriebswerk­bauunterbeamten­gesellschaft aber ansonsten ein sehr lustige Video Danke und mach weiter so

Love you guys. My first German word was from my mom who for some reason said Gesundheit when anyone sneezed, even though she wasn’t a German speaker. But my favorite German word is Fahrvergnügen, which was used in some funny, and or cool, VW commercials way back when. KZfaq it for a laugh. Cheers!