Pronouncing the 10 German Words that Non-German's CAN'T Pronounce!

Añadido: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.

[00:00:01]We're be checking out a video that was recommended by Kristoff and um basically the recommendation is uh it led me to another YouTuber's um video and the the title of that video was pronouncing the 10 German words that non-Germans can't pronounce, right? And um I'd imagine some of you guys do know this. Some of you guys do know this guy. His name is Ryan was. So, that's the original channel that um the link was used to send me to, but Ryan also left a source in uh in his video description, which that source then leads to the 10 difficult German words and how to pronounce them. So, link will be in the description for this website as well.

[00:00:45]And um I do have my Google Translate out because though I have a thing for German and I do believe I might do uh three out of 10 of these words correctly, I would love to know how the translator pronounces them um entirely. So the website also has a brief description of these words. So and it also tells what the word is in English. So that is pretty good. But um we're gonna use a translator so we can hear some sort of um pronunciation as well. Right. So yeah, that's what we're gonna be doing right now. So thank you for watching this video. If you have any recommendations, leave those in the comment section down below or perfectly that link in the pin comment section where you recommend videos about Germany through that uh link in the description.

[00:01:31]Um it's a Google form and you can recommend videos about Germany and I'll check them out as soon as possible.

[00:01:36]Without further ado, let's get right into this video and um see if I can actually pronounce at least three out of the 10 hardest German words to pronounce.

[00:01:55]Go.

[00:01:59]Ah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:02:01]Go. There we go. Should be able to hear the click. Okay. So the first word is each. That's definitely each.

[00:02:16]That's that sounds Chinese or Japanese.

[00:02:23]Okay, I'm butchering the hell out of this. Although squirrel is also tough word to pronounce in English. Um, people actually say squirrel. Squirrel.

[00:02:31]Squirrel. Yeah, there is actually a lot of different ways to pronounce that said word actually. Um, it's a classic when it comes to difficult German words to pronounce. Many English speakers struggle and some even consider this the hardest German word to pronounce. Before you make up your mind, wait until you see and hear the rest of the list. Well, um, I think I butchered this pronunciation, so we're going to just copy that and we're going to take it over to the Google Translate. We're going to enter that. And um we're going to use this little thing here for the pronunciation.

[00:03:04]Or should I allow for the sound to come out? I don't know. I think I'm going to use this so I can hear properly. And you guys are still going to hear it either ways, so it doesn't matter. Um but let's give it one more try.

[00:03:19]It hunchen it. Okay, I know it's not that >> So the is so more like I rather than >> E.

[00:03:47]Holy [ __ ] >> Holy woly. Uh, yeah, that was actually tough. I said ish, but it was. Okay, not a bad start. Very bad, though. It wasn't very good. Oh my gosh. Okay, let's take this off so I can hear myself properly.

[00:04:06]Stress.

[00:04:14]Damn, I can't I can't. No, I can't hit that one. Uh, want to ask someone for a box of matches? Uh, you better be prepared for a tongue twister. Yeah, definitely. There's a reason this makes the list of hardest words in German. If you want to complicate it even further, add chen.

[00:04:36]Chen. Chen.

[00:04:38]How do you say that in German? Let me see some. I want to hear that thing sound like in German.

[00:04:45]Let me see some. Let's hear this.

[00:04:48]>> Chen.

[00:04:49]>> Chen.

[00:04:51]Okay, we got to do this in a German manner. Uh, let's look German.

[00:04:58]>> Shen.

[00:04:58]>> Shen. Shen.

[00:05:00]>> Shen.

[00:05:00]>> So like the shenyen like that Europe thingy that y'all got going on. So Shen, right? So you got to add the word shen right to the end of it and and and to the a. Oh my gosh. This turns the meaning into small box of matches. Okay.

[00:05:24]Which is written. Oh god. No. That word is too damn long.

[00:05:30]No. No.

[00:05:33]No.

[00:05:35]What? Okay. Let's try this.

[00:05:59]No, the tongue work on that thing is disgusting.

[00:06:05]>> I'm actually getting beaten by a freaking AI.

[00:06:11]>> St has high hate.

[00:06:16]Holy smokes, that was tough. That was tough.

[00:06:21]Let's get this part of the word, though.

[00:06:23]I like this one.

[00:06:26]Let's see what this is all about.

[00:06:30]>> Huh? It sounds different.

[00:06:36]That was tough. Friend, friendship relations. Okay, that is even a longer word. For what reason? Germany. Okay.

[00:06:46]Another classic compound noun in German language is a word for friendship relations. Ricking this word up, you've Oh, god.

[00:07:00]F frronsk I don't know that that kind of sound like a real word. Hold on. Let's check it out. Frun scarf.

[00:07:20]Frun scarf. Fun scarf.

[00:07:26]>> Fine shaft.

[00:07:27]>> Fraft.

[00:07:30]>> Fine shaft. It's saying they saying it like shaft.

[00:07:33]>> Fine shaft.

[00:07:36]>> Fine shaft.

[00:07:37]>> Fine shaft.

[00:07:38]>> Fine shaft.

[00:07:39]>> Fine shaft. Okay. Not bad. Meaning friendship. And oh my gosh.

[00:07:50]Flipping hell, boy.

[00:07:53]Okay, let's hear this one.

[00:07:57]>> What?

[00:08:03]>> Betsy >> I can't get like it's like jugen for me.

[00:08:13]Like I just can't get the G to sound different.

[00:08:19]>> What?

[00:08:23]>> I can't get it the exact same way.

[00:08:28]>> How do they make the G not sound?

[00:08:37]>> Wow, that's really hard.

[00:08:41]>> Betsy. Okay. Okay. Okay. We got that. Uh meaning relation. Sometimes we love the logic of German, but that doesn't make the pronunciation any easier. Yeah.

[00:08:52]Let's get the word all together. And one, two, three, go.

[00:09:03]>> Not bad.

[00:09:09]>> It's actually just a compound actually.

[00:09:12]So yeah, it's not that crazy um to put it together if you know how to say both words actually.

[00:09:29]Finan shafts.

[00:09:40]>> Okay, I think I got that one. We solid, baby. We solid. Okay. Scrambled eggs.

[00:09:44]Okay. Oh, we Okay.

[00:09:49]Raw.

[00:09:52]Okay. Just just cut to the chase and just check it out. Dude, you're bullshitting. Uh, okay.

[00:10:02]>> It sounds like are you high? Oh my gosh.

[00:10:10]>> Holy moly. That's actually pretty good.

[00:10:19]>> Holy [ __ ] That That actually sounds literally like are you high. Like when you when you dumb it down, you slow it down just a little bit, right? You just do a little twist with the with the R.

[00:10:31]It's like >> ori or not too bad, bro.

[00:10:44]Every time we try to pronounce this one, it comes out as a strange sound rather than an actual word. The German R at the beginning of the word followed by U with those thingies is what makes this one hard to pronounce. In fact, this may be one of the most difficult German words to master. We are still practicing.

[00:11:04]Okay, I think I got it though. I think ain't I got it? I ain't got it. I ain't got it. I think I got it though. Are you >> I think I got it though. I don't know. I think I got four and three. I think I think I think my pronunciation >> ain't Whoa.

[00:11:28]Unemployment insurance. Good god. No.

[00:11:32]Gee, it was a cave of it. Like who does that? Never seen that before. But let's hear what it is. Unemployment insurance.

[00:11:38]Another brilliant logical compound noun here. Although this is the longest German word on the list. I had no idea.

[00:11:46]I didn't even notice it. I thought the friendship word was longer, but nope, it isn't. Okay, this is the longest. That's probably like about I don't know, maybe 15 to 20. Hold up. Letters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. I'm so wrong. This is about 20 24. Um 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 This is now 20 uh 9 uh 25 26 27 28 29.

[00:12:21]That is crazy. It just got longer and longer. That's almost a 30. Wow, that's insane. Anyways, uh it's actually not that bad. The hard part comes when you try saying it all together as one word.

[00:12:37]Who knew a single word could be a tongue twister? Yeah, it's it's crazy, right?

[00:12:43]Um, okay. Let's try it first.

[00:12:49]Albert loses.

[00:13:15]Okay.

[00:13:17]Okay.

[00:13:19]Okay.

[00:13:25]Okay.

[00:13:27]Okay.

[00:13:49]Okay. The last part that part I don't know.

[00:14:01]What? The last part is bullshitting me, man. I can't deny it. It's bullshitting me, man.

[00:14:12]Yeah, the last part is bullshitting me, man. I can't get it. I I just can't.

[00:14:16]X-ray. Okay. Ron Roen Genen Ronen.

[00:14:25]Uh, okay. I'm thinking like English and and thinking that the N would be silent, but like roten.

[00:14:36]Um, but I don't know. I don't know. The O might be a raw roten roten. Uh, I don't know. I don't know.

[00:14:45]I'm trying to I'm bullshitting myself right now. Okay.

[00:14:50]What? What the hell is that pronun that translation? That's not what it is. It's X-ray. Anyways, um, okay. What's the final thing I'mma choose? Rodken. Rodken. Rodken. Does that sound German?

[00:15:05]Uh, thank No, that sounds like I was talking Polish, man. I don't know.

[00:15:18]Roken.

[00:15:20]Does the N make a sound? Okay, let's just get to it.

[00:15:24]>> Runen.

[00:15:25]It's literally what it says. Rken.

[00:15:30]Well, you wouldn't say gen. It would be more like Jen.

[00:15:35]Rankin.

[00:15:36]>> Rankin. Runkin. How does he It's the same [ __ ] >> Rankin.

[00:15:41]>> Rankin. Runkin.

[00:15:43]>> Rankin.

[00:15:44]>> Runkin.

[00:15:45]This is actually easy. I think that's the third one I got. I I think that one wasn't too difficult. But maybe I'm just bullshitting and I cannot tell that I'm actually sounding like a fool. But um let's hear what they say. Um what's more, uh daunting going for an X-ray?

[00:16:00]Some would say trying to pronounce the German word for an X-ray. In this case, you can blame Wilham um Conrad. Okay.

[00:16:10]Rottken. Rottken.

[00:16:13]The doctor who patented the procedure in the late 19th century. Um to honor his medical contribution, his name landed into the German dictionary as both a verb and a noun. Although a great honor, his name turned out to be one of the hardest words in German. That is crazy.

[00:16:32]Shout out to him. Rodken. Rodken.

[00:16:37]>> Renkin.

[00:16:37]>> Oh [ __ ] I was saying the wrong thing.

[00:16:40]>> Renkin.

[00:16:40]>> Ronsken. Holy moly. I was saying bull crap. Okay, we at number seven. This is actually a really fun video. I will not deny it. Damn, we've been here for so long. Oh my gosh.

[00:16:53]Is it actually a rubber duck? Oh yeah, it is a rubber duck. to help pronounce this one. Remember that Q qu is more of a uh question breakdown would be uh plus once you get the hang of it, it's actually not that bad. In fact, it might actually Jeez, I don't think I can get that, buddy.

[00:17:24]Okay.

[00:17:28]>> Huh?

[00:17:32]>> I thought they say is KV. The qu is KV.

[00:17:36]I don't hear >> KV.

[00:17:52]Okay, that's not too bad.

[00:17:55]Wow.

[00:17:58]Wow. Okay, it's not the same word. Okay, whatever. Or another one of our highly anticipated hard German words to pronounce. If you ever want to talk about a vacation plan, talk about vacation plans, you better prepare your mouth.

[00:18:17]Brother, what?

[00:18:20]Anyways, uh, three consonants in a row is never a good sign. Never mind it being at the beginning of the word.

[00:18:33]Okay. All right. Let's just hear what it is, baby. Come on.

[00:18:44]>> That ain't bad.

[00:18:49]>> Shaheen.

[00:18:51]Sounds like I'm saying Shane. Shaheen.

[00:18:55]I mean, that's not bad.

[00:18:59]>> I mean, that's definitely not bad. Oh god. Talk about not bad. Oh, okay.

[00:19:07]Screwdriver. A screwdriver.

[00:19:10]So, you're trying Oh, so if I was like a a guy doing a little bit of, you know, work in Germany, right? Because we need screwdrivers for everything. This is what I got to say. If I was an engineer in Germany, I got to say that every day.

[00:19:21]Nah, bro. Nah, bro. I just quit. Okay.

[00:19:27]Uh, this one you definitely want to break up to help pronounce it more easily.

[00:19:34]Schlitz still it may be the hardest word in German for many native speaker English speakers. Yeah, you think let's hear it, buddy.

[00:20:13]I think I got it. I think I got it.

[00:20:23]>> Okay, now I'm just tripping. Okay, I'm tripping now, but I think I got it. I actually like how that sounded, too.

[00:20:30]It's like I'm mad. I'm like, "Yo, hand it over, man. What's up?" I like it.

[00:20:34]Actually sounded pretty cool. Actually, out of the entire words thus far, this is my favorite.

[00:20:44]Yeah, probably [ __ ] in the pronunciation, but I like the word. It just sounds really cool, actually. Anyways, um, next on the list, we have the final one, number 10, Tennessee. Anyways, ice skating is what this one means. Okay, something that I actually wish I could actually do, want to learn, but unfortunately, I got to protect my ankles because other sports need my ankles. So, yeah. The tricky part about um of this German word is to not also pronounce with an i in there. Okay. Once you pronounce and together over and over, you'll already got gotten the hang of this word. No, I haven't. Admittedly, the words the worst driven words look very scary and hard to pronounce because we write them all together. Indeed. However, the main tip for mastering those compound nouns is to break them up into syllables, of course, up into component parts. Take each part slowly and then when you've got the hang of it, use your German accent. I don't have one, to pronounce them all together. Once you've mastered them, put them into practice by speaking to a native speaker.

[00:22:07]That's exactly where tandem comes in.

[00:22:12]Tandem. I've never heard tandem outside of sports. Cannot deny that. Tandem is easily easy to find German language exchange partners to chat with. Wait, what?

[00:22:25]Ah, the website is Tandem.

[00:22:29]Hi. Holy [ __ ] I thought he was like, "Okay." Okay, that's pretty cool. So, shout out to Tandem, bro. Like, that's actually pretty cool. So, you actually can learn German through these folks.

[00:22:38]Um, but wait, wait, wait, wait. Last word, man. Laen. I know the last part of this is definitely laen. I know that for sure. But let's hear this word because it's my favorite word. It's my favorite.

[00:23:06]Love it. Okay, let's try this one. Lenin has to be the last part of this word.

[00:23:12]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:23:15]Hold on now.

[00:23:27]Wow.

[00:23:44]>> Dude, I mastered this, bro. Master class, bro. I'm I'm the I'm the guy, bro. I'm that guy, bro. Anyways, this was hella fun. Um, I cannot deny it.

[00:23:52]This was hell of fun. Like some of you guys probably know I'm, you know, trying to learn Finnish and [ __ ] like that.

[00:23:57]Like if I actually wasn't trying to learn Finn actively, I would actually learn German. It's my second uh favorite language to learn outside of um Finnish.

[00:24:07]So yeah, I would actually like give my time to it like on Duolingo. Like I'm on day probably what 500 probably on D doingo.

[00:24:20]Um, let's see. What am I?

[00:24:24]Uh, day 494 on Dualingo. That's where I'm at. I can actually show you guys proof just in case y'all think I'm bullshitting.

[00:24:35]Yep. There we go. Uh, come on. Focus.

[00:24:38]494.

[00:24:40]Yeah, buddy. Um, but yeah, pretty cool.

[00:24:43]Um, I enjoyed this. So, check out uh Tandem. Uh, seems like a pretty solid app and website. Let me know how my pronunciation were. I know I bullshitted a lot of them, but I still think I did okay for a person who does not say German words on a day-to-day basis. So, yeah. Thank you guys for watching. I'm out of here.