Hello German-speaking colleagues,
I would like to take up ftafner’s idea once again and suggest starting a thread here about tips and tricks for singing in German. So: How do I reproduce German phonemes and certain words as authentically as possible with the languages available?
Unfortunately, I can’t contribute too much worth knowing myself at the moment, but perhaps we can help each other out here in the long term!?
Bye, Ralf
bei - b(English), b(Japanese), p(Mandarin), p(Cantonese), b(Spanish), b(korean) (for the -ben ending like haben I would recommend spanish capital B instead of lowercase b)
nach - k(English), k(Japanese), kh(Mandarin), x(Mandarin), kh(Cantonese), k(Spanish), x(Spanish), k(Korean)
ich - hy(Japanese)
dann - d(English), dh(English), dx(English), d(Japanese), t(Mandarin), t(Cantonese), d(Spanish), D(Spanish), d(Korean)
für - f(English), f(Mandarin), f(Cantonese), f(Spanish)
gut - g(English), g(Japanese), k(Mandarin), k(Cantonese), g(Spanish), g(Korean)
hat - hh(English), h(Japanese), x(Mandarin), h(Cantonese), x(Spanish), h(Korean)
Jahr - y(English), y(Japanese), j(Mandarin), j(Cantonese), I(Spanish), j(Korean)
kann - k(English), k(Japanese), kh(Mandarin), kh(Cantonese), k(Spanish), k(Korean)
Leben - r(Japanese), l(Mandarin), l(Cantonese), l(Spanish), l(Korean), 4(Korean)
Mantel - u r (Japanese), e r (Japanese), i\ l (Mandarin), e l(Spanish), e_o l(Korean), M l (Korean)
Mann - m(English), m (Japanese), m (Mandarin Chinese), m (Cantonese Chinese), m (Spanish), m(Korean)
großem - ax m(English), u m (Japanese), e m (Japanese), N m (Japanese), i\ m (Mandarin Chinese), m= (Cantonese Chinese), e m (Spanish), M m (Korean), e_o m (Korean)
Name - n(English), n (Japanese), n (Mandarin Chinese), n (Cantonese Chinese), n (Spanish), n(Korean)
beiden - ax n(English), N (Japanese), N n (Japanese), i\ n (Mandarin Chinese), i\ :n (Mandarin Chinese), @ :n (Mandarin Chinese), M n (Korean)
lang - ng(English), N g (Japanese), N (Mandarin Chinese), N (Cantonese Chinese), :N (Cantonese Chinese), N(Spanish), N(Korean)
Person - p(English), p (Japanese), ph (Mandarin), ph(Cantonese), p(Spanish), p(Korean)
Pfeffer - p f(English), ph f (Mandarin), p f (Mandarin), :p_} f (Cantonese), p f (Spanish)
reden - this depends on the voicebank. For Liam and maybe some other male voicebanks, I would recommend Cantonese :k_}, sometimes by itself and sometimes followed by English l. For female voicebanks maybe some combination of x and 7 from Mandarin Chinese?
lassen - s(English), s (Japanese), s(Mandarin), s(Cantonese), s(Spanish), s_t (Korean)
schon - sh(English), sh (Japanese), s`(Mandarin), sh(Spanish),
Tag - t(English), t (Japanese), th(Mandarin), th(Cantonese), t(Spanish), t (Korean)
Matsch - ch(English), ch(Japanese), ts`h(Mandarin), ch(Spanish), ts_h (Korean)
was - v(English), v (Japanese)
Zeit - t s(English), ts (Japanese), tsh(Mandarin), tsh(Cantonese), t s(Spanish), t s (Korean)
Sie - z(English), z (Japanese)
beʔamtet - cl (English), cl (Japanese), cl(Mandarin), cl(Cantonese), cl(Spanish), cl(Korean)
Dschungel - jh(English), j(Japanese), ts`(Mandarin), ll(Spanish), d ch(Spanish), dz\ (Korean)
Genie - zh(English)
Spray - r(English). z`(Mandarin Chinese),
r` (Mandarin Chinese)
Motherboard - dh(English), D(Spanish)
Thatcherismus - th(English), C(Spanish)
Web, Linguist, Pointe - w (English), w (Japanese), w(Mandarin), w(Cantonese), U(Spanish), w(Korean)
alles, aber - a (Japanese), a(Mandarin), a(Cantonese), a(Spanish), 6(Korean)
Ende, hätte, spät - eh (English), ae (English), e (Japanese), E(Cantonese), e(Spanish), e_o(Korean)
ist, eben, Element - ih (English), :\i (Mandarin Chinese), e (Mandarin Chinese), I (Cantonese Chinese)
Liebe, Italien - iy (English), i (Japanese), i(Mandarin), i(Cantonese), i(Spanish), i(Korean)
kommen - ao (English), o (Japanese), uA (Mandarin Chinese), O(Cantonese Chinese), o (Spanish)
und, oder, originell - U (Mandarin Chinese), U (Cantonese Chinese), o(Korean)
Hut - u (Mandarin), u (Cantonese), u (Spanish), u (Korean)
öffnen - 9 (Cantonese)
Österreich, Ökonomie - ax (English), u (Japanese), u@ (Mandarin), 8 (Cantonese), M (Korean)
müssen - i` (Mandarin), yE (Mandarin), u@ (Mandarin), ue (Mandarin), 8 (Cantonese),
über, Etui, Psychologie - y (Mandarin), i` (Mandarin), y (Cantonese),
ein - ay (English), a y (Japanese), a j (Mandarin), a :\i (Mandarin), a j (Cantonese), a :i (Cantonese), a I (Spanish), 6 j (Korean)
auf - aw (English), a w (Japanese), AU (Mandarin), a w (Mandarin), a w (Cantonese), a :u (Cantonese), a U (Spanish), 6 w (Korean)
Euro, Häuser - o i` (Mandarin),
o i` :\i (Mandarin), oy (English)
immer, Uhr - 6 (Cantonese), ah(English), aa(English), 6(Korean)
Name - ax (English), @ (Mandarin), i\ (Mandarin)
Mail - ey (English), e y (Japanese), e j (Mandarin), e :\i (Mandarin), e j (Cantonese), E :i (Cantonese), e I (Spanish), e j (Korean)
Code - ow (English), o w (Japanese), @U (Mandarin), uA w (Mandarin), O w (Cantonese), O :u (Cantonese), o u (Spanish), o w (Korean), V w (Korean)
surfen - 9 6 (Cantonese), 7 (Mandarin)
2 Likes
for the ch as in nach, you have to change the shape of the " |\ " mark so the left edge touches the previous phoneme, otherwise it will just sound like a “k”
3 Likes
Good idea, ill’be obviously testing 
I havn’t worked on german yet, but I started to try some french, and there are two german sounds that are either the same or very close to some french phonemes:
German ü (as in “über”) vs French u (as in “tu”): Ive got that sound working in french using the english phoneme “uw” in the french word “perdu”, which I made as “.p e r” (spanish) and “.d uw” (english). This might possibly work for german ü.
German ö (as in könig) vs French eu (as in “deux”): i’ve got success getting this sound for the french word “ceux” using Korean M, might work for German ö.
Wow, that’s been some really great, helpful input so far! Thank you very much!