Comments on: Need help with a German pronounciation

Question: Need help with a German pronounciation

bondgirl53001 — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:10:44 -0800

How do you pronounce the "sz" in a German word or name that begins with it, such as "Szigen" (like the festival) or "Szaggars"?

By: TomMelee

TomMelee — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:19:24 -0800

Just mostly as a Z, but there is a hint of a T in there.

Instead of the smile you usually make with your mouth when you say a Z, like ZEE-bra, your lips start in sort of a post-kiss shape, teeth together, tongue behind your teeth.

Szigen would be almost "Tseegen", but the t is barely perceptible.

By: Dee Xtrovert

Dee Xtrovert — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:26:15 -0800

Are you sure you don't mean "Sziget" festival? I can't find anything about a "Szigen" festival.

The short answer one would probably pronounce both as a simple American "s" sound. But I doubt either of those words are truly German. The Sziget Festival takes place in Budapest, where Hungarian is spoken and where "sziget" means "island." It's pronounced like "seeget," more or less.

The only real hit I come up with for "Szaggars" is in relation to Robert Redford's girlfriend's name. This is a fairly unusual name, and it could be from another nationality or corrupted in some way from something else. I'd pronounce it with a straight "s" as well.

By: Dee Xtrovert

Dee Xtrovert — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:28:47 -0800

Actually, TomMelee is probably right. My main point was really that I don't think this "sz" is especially German in those usages.

By: snownoid

snownoid — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:34:39 -0800

"sz" isn't really a combination of letters that occurs in German words. I'm a native speaker of German and I'd just ignore the "s" and pronounce the "z" as "ts" .

By: krautland

krautland — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:37:14 -0800

Szigen and Szaggars aren't traditional german words, they sound more polish to me, though I am speculating, I don't know these particular two words. my point here is that you wouldn't commonly have german words starting with sz when speaking german.

on its own the german letter "ß" -which I think is what you're referring to by sz - is pronounced "ess-zett," which kinda sounds like sz. within a word becomes a very sharp s. you can also use "ss" to replace ß but not always vice versa. you have to use "ss" when using all caps.

the two words you referenced sound like they should be pronounced as if they began with "ts-" to me.

By: glip

glip — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:44:33 -0800

sz is a hungarian letter, and it's pronounced as the s in sat.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:02:05 -0800

sz in Polish is pronounced as a hard "sh", just FYI.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:18:12 -0800

To echo others, those are not German words, and it's impossible to say how they should be pronounced without more information. What context have you seen them in?

By: oaf

oaf — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:16:16 -0800

"sz" isn't really a combination of letters that occurs in German words.

"Szene" being a notable exception.

By: kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:55:40 -0800

Germans pronounce the word "szene" as [stsene], where [ts] is an affricate along the same lines as ch (= t + sh). It's not such an easy combo for English native speakers.

Here is the pronunciation of "die Szene".

By: krautland

krautland — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:39:43 -0800

"Szene" being a notable exception.

Verdammt, Du hast Recht.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 24 May 2008 07:23:07 -0800

True, but Szene is a German word and these are not, so its pronunciation is irrelevant. Still waiting for the poster to clarify.

By: kosmonaut

kosmonaut — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:17:28 -0800

@languagehat

The original question was "How do you pronounce the "sz" in a German word or name that begins with it"?

So, I believe "Szene" is quite relevant.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:48:03 -0800

You're quite right, and I apologize for my "irrelevant." I guess I was fixated on the examples the poster gave. The poster doesn't seem to care enough to clarify, however.