
I'm a simple emigrant and I am learning the German alphabet
Yes, yes, this is not a typo, I really first passed the B1 exam, and now I've made it to the letters. To be precise, first I started speaking in the language, then brushed up the grammar, then there was the exam, and now the pronunciation of the letters. This is the linguistic Benjamin Button I am. In German there are letters whose names are somewhat non-obvious; for example, V is called 'fau', but is pronounced like 'f'. And every time I call some service, they ask me for the contract or order number, or the funniest thing β my mind-boggling full name spelled out letter by letter, and I sit there as if in front of a red button, trying to separate different alphabets in my head and guess how that letter might sound. But you can't say 'double-u' and hope that the German letter sounds the same; you already feel that, one way or another, it's definitely not the same. And these poor operators try to understand what I dictate to them there. In especially bad cases I switch to English or to 'S as in dollar', but I am very ashamed in those moments. The dumbest thing is when the phone support is answered by a robot. I'm sitting there, three beads of sweat have already dripped down, while I dictated a 48-digit order number, and the robot says 'I didn't understand a thing, say it again'... I want to throw the phone out the window. Let's put aside the fact that bots in support bother me in principle. And you? Do you already spell things out letter by letter? If not yet, then catch in the comments a chart with the alphabet, pronunciation, and examples of pronunciations in words, which I made. And here's another masterful video I dug up for audio practice: video #useful #language