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German phonetics

German Sounds Aren’t Binary: Long, Short, Voiced, Voiceless — or Just Felt?
German Sounds Aren’t Binary: Long, Short, Voiced, Voiceless — or Just Felt? | LEVITIN SCHOOL
Author’s Column | Tymur Levitin on Language, Meaning and Respect

German Sounds Aren’t Binary: Long, Short, Voiced, Voiceless — or Just Felt?

🔗 Choose your language We often teach students that German sounds follow clear categories: Long vs short.Voiced vs voiceless.Strong vs weak. But then students listen to native speakers — and none of those lines seem to hold. The sounds blur, shift, blend into one another.And they ask the most intelligent question a learner can ask:“Wait… […]

Tymur Levitin | LEVITIN SCHOOL Tymur Levitin
• 12.01.2026 • 2 min read
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German phonetics

When ‘st’ Becomes ‘sht’: What Textbooks Don’t Explain About German Pronunciation
12.01.2026

When ‘st’ Becomes ‘sht’: What Textbooks Don’t Explain About German Pronunciation

Author’s Column | Tymur Levitin on Language, Meaning and Respect

🔗 Choose your language How do you pronounce “Stadt” in German? Most students say [stat]. Some try [stad].But the correct pronunciation is [ʃtat]. And that small difference between [s] and [ʃ] reveals a lot more than a sound — it shows how German actually works. In this article, we’ll uncover one of the simplest and […]

Tymur Levitin | LEVITIN SCHOOL Tymur Levitin
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Why Not All German Words Are Really German | LEVITIN SCHOOL
25.07.2025

Why Not All German Words Are Really German

Author’s Column | Tymur Levitin on Language, Meaning and Respect

How Foreign Words Retain Their Sound — and Why That Matters “If it looks German, it must sound German… right?” Not always.Words like Job, Manager, Chef, or Visum may look like part of the German language — but they didn’t start there. And they don’t always sound the way you’d expect. This is why learners misread them. And why native speakers often […]

Tymur Levitin | LEVITIN SCHOOL Tymur Levitin
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Hitting the Wrong Note: Why Students Keep Saying “arbáiten” and “antwórten” | LEVITIN SCHOOL
23.07.2025

Hitting the Wrong Note: Why Students Keep Saying “arbáiten” and “antwórten”

Author’s Column | Tymur Levitin on Language, Meaning and Respect

(Author’s Column by Tymur Levitin – Levitin Language School)Language. Identity. Logic. Sound.🔗 Choose your language📂 Rubric: German Language – Pronunciation & Intonation What’s the Real Mistake? It’s not just pronunciation — it’s intonation.Most students don’t say “arbeiten” and “antworten” like Germans do.They say: But in German, the correct stress is always on the first syllable: It may look small, but this shift in […]

Tymur Levitin | LEVITIN SCHOOL Tymur Levitin
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