Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Hello! My name is Alisa. Welcome to the Top 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce in German. Let's do this!
1. ähnlich "similar"
Ich sehe meinem Bruder ähnlich. "I look similar to my brother."
And in the ähnlich, the CH, which you kind of pronounce it here, CH, and I always explain it as the snake-like *hiss*
So, ähnlich.
2. das Eichhörnchen "squirrel"
Yeah this one is very hard because there's a lot of CH and Ö.
Ich finde Eichhörnchen sehr süß. "I think squirrels are very cute.” So Eichhörnchen.
Hörnchen is the cute form of horns; so if you refer to something kind of cute and little, you always add CHEN.
3. die Etikettierung "labeling”
Etiket is the “label”; and Etikettierung is if you’re labeling something.
Mein Schulranzen hatte eine Etikettierung. "My school bag had a label with my name on it."
4. die Hose "pants"
Ich habe heute eine Jeanshose an. "Today I am wearing jeans."
5. die Streichholzschachtel "matchbox”
It’s die Streichholzschachtel. So Streichholzschachtel consists of three different words; Streich means “rub”; Holzs is “wood”; and Chachtel is “box”.
Um Feuer anzuzünden, brauche ich eine Streichholzschachtel. "To make a fire I need a match box."
6. über "over"
Ich finde mich übercool. "I think I am supercool.”
Ich springe über den Zaun. “I jump over the fence."
So über can be used as in “over a fence” like über den Zaun; but also I am übercool, I’m super cool.
7. die Überwachung "monitoring"
You really have to watch something very closely or so Überwachung.
Gefängnisse benötigen Bewachung. "Jails need monitoring."
8. die Umweltverschmutzung "pollution"
Umwelt means “the environment”, and verschmutzung means “dirt” or “dirtiness”.
Heutzutage sollte sich jeder Gedanken machen über Umweltverschmutzung.
"Nowadays, I think it's very important that everybody should think of pollution."
You don't pronounce every single letter, so Umweltverschmutzung, but the, that’s why it’s hard to pronounce.
9. wettbewerbsfähig "competitive"
fähig is something you add to a lot of things if you are capable of doing it. This one is hard as well because the HI is not a very common, fähig.
Der Arbeitsmarkt ist sehr wettbewerbsfähig. "The work world is very competitive."
10. zuhören "listening"
Ich hoffe, ihr hört mir zu. "I hope you are listening." Now!
Usually the ö is pronounced very clearly, like Öl, “oil”; but in this case, since the H is before, and the R is after, so it’s like zuhören.
Thank you for watching the Top 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce! What was your hardest word to pronounce? Leave it in the comments below. And don't forget to subscribe to watch more videos with me. Bye!

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