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Syncletica
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| Posted: Nov 30 2010 at 1:17pm | IP Logged
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Can anyone tell me what word or words would use the " 'u' with the 2 dots on top"? DD has to find a word with that symbol as part of the pronunciation, and so far we haven't found anything in the dictionary. Nor can I figure out what sound it really makes. "rounded lips while saying long 'e'" is what my dictionary says.
Anyone know?
TIA!
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Nov 30 2010 at 2:02pm | IP Logged
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It is called an umlaut and is used in German regularly. A German word used quite commonly in English which has an umlaut is "uber" but since I don't know how to add the umlaut here, I think you spell it "ueber."
ETA: To clarify, the two dots are the umlaut and can appear over letters other than "u"
It is a prefix you could use as an elevation to any word. So, "ubercool" would mean "super cool."
Your description on how to pronounce it looks pretty accurate to me which you can see from the alternate spelling as "ue". It is a German sound and doesn't really have an English equivalent. I think that when used informally in English, most people pronounce it "oo", but that isn't quite right.
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Lindsay
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St. Ann
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| Posted: Nov 30 2010 at 3:10pm | IP Logged
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Yes, to all of the above.
über
gemütlich = cozy, comfortable
Fahrvergnügen = wasn't there a Volkswagen advertisement...?
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Stephanie
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Erin
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Oh my Lindsay, I'm in awe of you!
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pmeilaen
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| Posted: Nov 30 2010 at 10:31pm | IP Logged
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This site has a pronunciation of "ü":
ü pronunciation in German.
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margot helene
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| Posted: Dec 16 2010 at 6:28pm | IP Logged
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I'm late with this response, but I had looked for it, too!
: )
\ ü \ as in rule, youth, union \'yün-y&n\, few \'fyü\. As an unstressed vowel before another vowel, \ü\ is often pronounced as a schwa with slight lip rounding that is separated from the following vowel by the glide \w\, as valuing \'val-y&-wi[ng]\. This reduced variant is not usually shown at individual entries. Younger speakers of American English often use a more centralized and less rounded pronunciation of \ü\ in certain words (as news and musician), both in stressed and especially in unstressed syllables.
From Merriam Webster Dictionary
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Dec 16 2010 at 6:39pm | IP Logged
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Your dictionary is correct. To properly pronounce this letter, say "eeeee" while pursing up your lips like you would to say "ooh." (That's how we learned it in German class...)
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St. Ann
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| Posted: Dec 17 2010 at 1:19am | IP Logged
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That is one of the most difficult if not the most difficult sound for american language natives to speak in German. It is also harder for us to hear the difference between "u" and "ü" and therefore spelling becomes an issue...
Ask me how I know. 
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Stephanie
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Topic: pronunciation question
