The German language normally uses ⟨f⟩ to indicate the sound /f/ (as used in the English word fight) and ⟨w⟩ to indicate the sound /v/ (as in victory). However, ⟨v⟩ does occur in a large number of German words, where its pronunciation is /f/ in some words but /v/ in others.
V is pronounced as “f”, with the letter itself rhyming with "cow". This can be seen in words like vor, verkehren, and Verlust. W, meanwhile, takes the pronunciation of an English V — hence the confusion. The letter W is pronounced as “veh” and can be seen in words like Wetter, Woche, and warten.
In most instances the German consonant 'v' is pronounced in the same way as the letter 'f' in the English words 'fish' and 'face'. Although remembering to do so often requires a little practice, the articulation of the sound itself is quite straightforward.
It has to do with the articulation of the consonant. Germans pronounce the “V” sound (written W in German) without fully connecting the lower lip with the teeth, and that gives it a sound halfway between V and W in English.
The five letters A, E, I, O and U of the German alphabet are called Vokale (vowels), the other letters are called Konsonanten (consonants) – for example: B, C, D, F, G, … and so on.
Only the “t” is pronounced. The “th” sound in English (theta) does not exist in German. This letter is called the u-umlaut.
The German letter w is generally pronounced like an English “v” . In words borrowed from other languages, the same sound is often written as a v. Note: the letter v is most often pronounced like an “f” .
Because, in some languages, such as German or Polish, this is the normal and correct pronunciation of this letter. In German, for example, “w” is pronounced like the English “v” and the letter “v” is pronounced like an “f”. There is no “w” sound in the language at all.
Since these languages, such as Old French, were widespread at the time, the people adapting the Latin alphabet for continental Germanic languages saw C as an unneeded complexity and opted for the simpler option, K.
J in Dutch is pronounced with an English y sound, as in year. V in Dutch sometimes makes an f sound, depending on the placement and regional dialect. W in Dutch w is a cross between an English w and v sound.
/f/ and /v/ are pronounced with the same mouth position of the top teeth biting the bottom lip, but with /f/ pronounced with more air and no use of the voicebox.
In Standard Dutch v is often a voiced fricative [v], unlike German where it is almost always a voiceless [f]. In the western Netherlands and especially the Amsterdam region consonants are pronounced somewhat sharper than the Standard, so v sounds closer to [f] (and z sounds closer to [s]).
The gargling R is clearly pronounced. In standard German, the pronunciation is a rasping, throat-clearing sound, like a less extreme version of the sound made when gargling. Note that the gargling R is a rather short sound. Avoid the common temptation to exaggerate the gargling R sound.
Russians may have noticed that many cognates pronounced with /w/ in English, such as 'Wagon', are pronounced with /v/ in Russian, such as 'Вагон'. For this reason, they might 'reverse' the change when speaking English and apply it to any word with /w/.
The German Letter “s” is pronounced like the English “z” in most cases. Whenever the letter “s” occurs at the beginning of a German word, and is followed by a vowel, it is pronounced as if it were the English “z”. It also is pronounced in this way when it occurs between vowels.
The following languages historically used ⟨w⟩ for /v/ in native words, but later replaced it by ⟨v⟩: Swedish, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Ukrainian Łatynka and Belarusian Łacinka.
Pons Sanz, that says North and West Germanic are thought to have split around 500 AD or later. So it seems at some point between 500 AD and modern German, there was a shift of [w] to [v].
The problem is that the sound [w] does not exist in German and indeed there are many German speaking people who are unable or unaware to pronounce this sound and use [v] instead. This is what makes the traditional German accent. Germans can pronounce the English 'v' just fine, they happen to write it as 'w'.
The German consonantal 'r' is described as a 'roll' or 'trill', by which we mean that the speech organs strike each other several times in quick succession in the articulation of this sound.
In German, the ß character is called eszett. It's used in “Straße,” the word for street, and in the expletive “Scheiße.” It's often transliterated as “ss,” and strangely enough, it's never had an official uppercase counterpart.