Japanese → German
German uses 43 sounds. You already own 19 of them from Japanese. The other 24 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: bilabial → labiodental
German: father · written "f", "ff", "v", "ph"
Native v = /f/. Loanwords keep /v/ (Vase, Vitamin).
Your /ɸ/ is the one in ふゆ fuyu (winter).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
German: school · written "sch", "s in st-/sp-"
Your /s/ is the one in さかな sakana (fish).
the move: palatal → velar
German: stream · written "ch after a, o, u, au"
Ach-Laut — from the back of the throat.
Your /ç/ is the one in ひと hito (person).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
German: German · written "tsch"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: close → near-close
German: child · written "i (short)"
Your /i/ is the one in いま ima (now).
the move: rounded
German: beautiful · written "ö (long)", "öh"
Your /eː/ is the one in せんせい sensei (teacher).
the move: rounded
German: good · written "u (long)", "uh"
Your /ɯː/ is the one in すうじ sūji (number).
the move: rounded
German: door · written "ü (long)", "üh"
Your /iː/ is the one in おじいさん ojīsan (grandfather).
the move: close-mid → near-close
German: mother · written "u (short)"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: alveolar → labiodental
German: water · written "w", "v (loans)"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: alveolar → labiodental
German: horse · written "pf"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in つき tsuki (moon).
the move: uvular → velar
German: to sing · written "ng", "n before k"
No /ɡ/ after it, unlike English 'finger'.
Your /ɴ/ is the one in ほん hon (book).
the move: open → open-mid
German: bed · written "e (short)", "ä (short)"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: open → open-mid
German: cheese · written "ä (long)", "äh"
Many speakers say /eː/.
Your /aː/ is the one in おばあさん obāsan (grandmother).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
German: sun · written "o (short)"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: close → near-close, rounded
German: five · written "ü (short)", "y"
Your /i/ is the one in いま ima (now).
the move: fricative → lateral
German: love · written "l", "ll"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
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 あさ asa (morning).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: house · written "au"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
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 あさ asa (morning).
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 Japanese 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.
can
Closest thing you own: — but open → open-mid, rounded.
red
Uvular like French. Bavaria/Austria roll it.
Closest thing you own: — but alveolar → uvular.
new
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → open-mid.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Japanese | German | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Mora-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | No stress in the English sense — syllables are not louder or longer, so a Japanese speaker reading English tends to flatten it, and an English speaker reading Japanese tends to hammer syllables that should be even. | 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
12 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 Japanese 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.
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