If you’re learning French or German (or a few other languages for that matter!), you may have had difficulty with the vowel u or ü in words like these:
French
rue, tu, perdu
German
über, hübsch, müde
This vowel doesn’t exist in English, but it’s actually quite simple to pronounce. Technically, it’s a high (or close) front rounded vowel. What that means is that it’s pronounced with the tongue brought forward. In other words, it comes from the “front” of your mouth.
Compare the English words peal and pool, and you’ll see the difference. With peal, your tongue is tensed and brought forward, and with pool, it retracts to the back of your mouth. So the vowel in peal is a front vowel, and the vowel in pool is a back vowel.
What makes a vowel high or close is the fact that the jaw is only slightly open when you pronounce it. Say this sequence: beat, bait, bet, bat. With beat, your mouth is closed the most, so your jaw is “high,” and with bat, it’s open the most, with a “low” jaw. Bait and bet fall in between.
Now here’s why the vowel in rue, über, and buur is easy to pronounce. The vowel in peal and beat is identical to that vowel in all ways but one: the vowel in peal and beat is unrounded, while the vowel in the French, German, and Dutch words is rounded. Say English peal, beat, pool, boot in front of a mirror and you’ll see and feel the difference. Peal and beat are unrounded, but pool and boot are fully rounded, like you’re puckering your lips.
So, to pronounce the vowel in rue, über, and buur, all you have to do is say ea as in beat, but round your lips as if you were saying oo as in boot. Simple!
