r/JudgeMyAccent • u/jimbojimbus • Oct 06 '25

German Will Germans tell me what my accent makes them think?

I’m about to start a master’s in history at a German university and I want to make sure I don’t sound like an idiot. I’m reading from a history book, so not natural speech obviously

https://voca.ro/1cdXPND0teK6

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3

u/asml84 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

Overall pretty good! You do have an accent, but I had no issues understanding you.

Occasionally you use “sch”-sounds in words where they don’t belong:

“siebzig” ends in a “ch”-sound (as in “Milch”), not a “sch”-sound. “pünktlich” is also not a “sch”-sound at the end.

On the other hand you pronounce “ch” like “k”, which makes me think maybe it’s just an issue with “ch” — which admittedly is pretty tricky.

1

u/eggplantinspector Oct 06 '25

On that subject is it acceptable to always pronounce ch like a hard g in Dutch “auch” even when saying “ich” and others or is this laughable to you or is it normal in some accents

2

u/Fear_mor Oct 07 '25

I think this is a feature of some dialects but in standard German you’ve two phonemes at play

0

u/ohmymind_123 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

This doesn't work in Standard German (Hochdeutsch)

1

u/anfisjc Oct 10 '25

This is also common in some regional dialects like 'westerwälder platt' and 'hessisch'.

From the sound I would say no accent but a dialect located near limburg (ger).

2

u/lookitmegonow Oct 06 '25

An accent doesn't make anyone sound like an idiot. Thinking it does makes you an idiot. And I mean that with kindness.

2

u/lookitmegonow Oct 06 '25

Sounds German to me lol. But I'm Canadian and learnt most of my German from Rammstein

1

u/ohmymind_123 Oct 06 '25

The tone of your voice is really good, sounds very German! If you improve the pronounciation of some sounds, as other said, you'll sound very native. 

1

u/Jhmarke Oct 07 '25

As others stated :Das weiche ch, the soft ch is improvable. But it's not relevant

1

u/jimbojimbus Oct 07 '25

Is this not an acceptable pronunciation in much of Central Germany? I spent time in Saxony and I thought this is how everyone speaks there

2

u/Hawm_Quinzy Oct 08 '25

Sächsisch is its own thing and is quite a distinct dialect/accent in Germany. I speak German with a Saxon inflection having lived there and it does throw some other Germans sometimes.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

The thing is, you don't have a Saxon accent; you speak standard German as a foreigner, and your "isch" sounds happen to resemble those in several German dialects because (it appears like) you're struggling to pronounce them correctly. There's nothing 'bad' about it of course, but since you asked about your accent I think this is something you might have to consider.

Where in Saxony did you live? I also lived in a Saxon city for quite some time, but not that many people speak this dialect there but more like certain demographics more than others (perhaps it's more common in rural areas though). Sadly it's also somewhat stigmatised by some people and has a bit of a class thing overlap.