German speakers, please help

[little_bopeep]

Could one of y'all please give me a phonetic pronunciation of the name Roentgen? I can't make an umlaut over the "o" on my keyboard. I've also seen it spelled Rontgen with an umlaut.

Many thanks!

[AndreaU]

Perhaps Bethany (badunnin) can be of more official help, but here's a link I found, provided you have speakers hooked up to your computer: http://education.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/p.../r0283500.html

[little_bopeep]

Andrea, you ARE the woman! Thanks very, very much for your help!

[sneezles]

Originally posted by little_bopeep
I can't make an umlaut over the "o" on my keyboard.

Sure you can! Just go to Start, the Programs, then Accessories and scroll down to Character Map. A window will open and give you all sorts of choices! ö is made by holding down the Alt + typing 0246 on the number pad at the same time!

[beckms]

Ooh, this will be tough to do without you being able to hear it.

First, the R in German is very gutteral, not like an English R at all. The best I can say is to say it with the back of your tongue all the way at the back of your throat. Almost like you're gargling. In fact, it's pretty much exactly like gargling. It's pretty hard when you're first starting out, so don't worry so much about mastering the R right off the bat.

Then, o with the umlaut (and yes, that's what is represented by the oe in the middle of the word) is pronounced almost like a long u. To practice the pronunciation of this vowel, start by saying eeeeeeeeeeeee and then keep saying it as you purse your lips as you would if you were saying oooooooooo, but with your tongue still saying eeeeeee inside your mouth. Does that make any sense?

The "-ntgen" part of the word is, for all intents and purposes, pronounced "-ndjen" or "-nchen". Easy peasy.

Hope that's helped! German is very hard to describe in words!

[little_bopeep]

Originally posted by sneezles


Sure you can! Just go to Start, the Programs, then Accessories and scroll down to Character Map. A window will open and give you all sorts of choices! ö is made by holding down the Alt + typing 0246 on the number pad at the same time!

OMG...I had no idea all that was there. This will be a big help, thanks to a fellow Susan!

In the words of the incomparable Kelly Bundy, "The mind wobbles."

Oh, and check out the site that Andrea found...incredibly helpful.