Exercise: German Abbreviations  

To practise the different letters of the German alphabet, look at the following well-known German abbreviations and imagine how you would say them. Then click on the sound icon next to each name to listen to a native speaker saying them. How many of these abbreviations have you heard of? Look up any abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar.

German abbreviations      1. VW  (= "Volkswagen")      2. BMW  (= "Bayerische Motorenwerke")      3. HSV  (= "Hamburger SV")      4. SPD  (= "Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands")      5. BRD  (= "Bundesrepublik Deutschland")      6. ÖVP  (= "Österreichische Volkspartei")      7. BASF  (= "Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik")      8. CDU  (= "Christlich-demokratische Union")      9. ISBN  (= "Internationale Standardbuchnummer")      10. USA  (= "United States of America")      11. EKG  (= "Elektrokardiogramm")      12. FDJ  (= "Freie Deutsche Jugend")      13. TV  (= "Television")      14. LKW  (= "Lastkraftwagen")      15. QED  (= "Quod erat demonstrandum")      16. Aktenzeichen XYZ  (= "German TV programme similar to BBC's Crimewatch")

Alphabet and Pronunciation Exercises

German alphabet and pronunciation exercises   Alphabet exercises Spelling your name Listen to some German names being spelled and see if you can write them down. MFG - mit freundlichen Grüßen Watch a video for a German rap video made up of abbrevations and then sing along to the instrumental!     Pronunciation exercises Anglicized German words How to pronounce German words that have made their way into the English language. Similar words in English and German These words in this exercise may look familiar to us, but are spoken very differently in German. Anglicized German names How should the names of these famous people from the German-speaking countries actually be pronounced? German names for cities How do native German speakers refer to the following towns and cities? German tongue-twisters Listen to and then try to repeat a collection of German tongue-twisters.

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