Italian → German
German uses 43 sounds. You already own 20 of them from Italian. The other 23 are the work — and 21 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: palatal → velar
German: to sing · written "ng", "n before k"
No /ɡ/ after it, unlike English 'finger'.
Your /ɲ/ is the one in gnocchi (gnocchi).
the move: close → near-close
German: child · written "i (short)"
Your /i/ is the one in vita (life).
the move: close → near-close
German: mother · written "u (short)"
Your /u/ is the one in luna (moon).
the move: longer
German: father · written "a (long)", "aa", "ah"
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: longer
German: lake · written "e (long)", "ee", "eh"
Your /e/ is the one in sera (evening).
the move: longer
German: cheese · written "ä (long)", "äh"
Many speakers say /eː/.
Your /ɛ/ is the one in bello (beautiful).
the move: longer
German: love · written "ie", "i (long)", "ih", "ieh"
Your /i/ is the one in vita (life).
the move: longer
German: bread · written "o (long)", "oo", "oh"
Your /o/ is the one in sole (sun).
the move: rounded
German: can · written "ö (short)"
Your /ɛ/ is the one in bello (beautiful).
the move: longer
German: good · written "u (long)", "uh"
Your /u/ is the one in luna (moon).
the move: alveolar → labiodental
German: horse · written "pf"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in pizza (pizza).
the move: postalveolar → palatal
German: I · written "ch (after front vowels, consonants, in -chen)", "-ig"
Whisper a 'y' (as in yes) hard. Ich-Laut.
Your /ʃ/ is the one in pesce (fish).
the move: close → near-close, rounded
German: five · written "ü (short)", "y"
Your /i/ is the one in vita (life).
the move: plosive → fricative
German: stream · written "ch after a, o, u, au"
Ach-Laut — from the back of the throat.
Your /k/ is the one in chiave (key).
the move: rounded, longer
German: beautiful · written "ö (long)", "öh"
Your /e/ is the one in sera (evening).
the move: rounded, longer
German: door · written "ü (long)", "üh"
Your /i/ is the one in vita (life).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: my · written "ei", "ai", "ey", "ay"
ei is always /aɪ/ (like English 'eye'), never 'ay'.
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: house · written "au"
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: new · written "eu", "äu"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in cosa (thing).
the move: open → near-open, front → central
German: mother · written "-er (final)", "r after a vowel"
Vocalised r — sounds like a light 'uh'. Tür /tyːɐ̯/.
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
Words you may say identically
Two or more German sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Italian sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Italian | German | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed + long consonants | Stress-timed |
| Stress | Contrastive. The default is the second-to-last syllable, and the accent is only written when the stress falls on the LAST one (città, perché). Words stressed on the third-from-last (àncora, prìncipi) are common and unmarked — the dictionary is the only way to know. | Contrastive in a very German way: with separable-vs-inseparable prefix verbs, the stress tells you which grammar you are in — and therefore what the sentence means. Otherwise stress sits on the stem syllable, and the unstressed prefixes (be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-) never take it. |
What you have that German doesn't
10 sounds with no job in German. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Italian has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned German from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
Other first languages: English · French · Spanish · Portuguese · Georgian · Russian · Hindi · Mandarin Chinese · Cantonese · Vietnamese · Korean · Japanese · Malay · Turkish