The importance of pronouncing your target language rather more than less correctly is nicely shown in the following anecdote told by David Owen:
"Years later, at a restaurant in Paris, while travelling with my mother, he said something to a Frenchman sitting at the next table, and the Frenchman said something back. Neither man could understand the other, and my mother eventually identified the problem: the Frenchman didn’t realize that my father was speaking French, and my father didn’t realize that the Frenchman was speaking English.”
(Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/13/is-noise-pollution-the-next-big-public-health-crisis)
Apart from this slightly funny perspective on communication breakdowns there is also a serious side to insufficiently correct pronunciation. If, for example, you work with a German company and your colleagues do not really understand what you are trying to tell them, this will negatively effect not only your daily work but also your colleague’s respect for you.
Feel free to book a short course - between five and ten classes - on German pronunciation with us:
Our training in phonetics helps you twist your tongue the right way.
Irma Stolz / Nuremberg
The three words Baguette - Paket - Parkett might sound very much the same to your ears… but their meaning is completely different. When you’re able to pronounce the words as they sound in a native speaker you’ll also be able to tell them apart when you hear them!