ß is just a “ss” sound. j sounds like the English y. w sounds like the English v. v sounds like the English f.
The German ligature (additional character): The letter ß, is also known as the "sharp S", "eszett" or "scharfes S", and is the only German letter that is not part of the Latin/Roman alphabet. The letter is pronounced (like the "s" in "see").
The double s (after a short vowel) and the ß (after a long vowel) are both pronounced like the -ss in the English word “pass”.
The German letter ß is a ligature and is also called a “scharfes s” (sharp s). But it's simpler than it sounds–it actually just means “ss”. The best thing about this letter? It sounds exactly like the “s” sound in English!
ß does not exist everywhere that German is spoken—the Swiss dropped it years ago. But its purpose is to help readers figure out pronunciation: A ß signals that the preceding vowel is pronounced long, instead of short, and that you should make an “ss,” not “z,” sound. It's also written to signify “ss” after a diphthong.
Spelling. The ß is used only in German and never at the start of German words. The uppercase ß (ẞ) exists only for typesetting, such as in a dictionary. Instead of lowercase ß, one can also write ss.
A glyph, U with umlaut, appears in the German alphabet. It represents the umlauted form of u, which results in [yː] when long and [ʏ] when short. The letter is collated together with U, or as UE.
It is because of the typewriter. A Swiss typewriter needs to support three languages: German, French, and Italian. Therefore on the Swiss typewriter, there was no ß key. It also has only lowercase umlauts ä, ö, and ü.
Modern IPA: bɪ́jtə Traditional IPA: ˈbiːtə 2 syllables: "BEE" + "tuh"
In German, the letter ß is known as the eszett or scharfes (sharp) S. It's a special character, similar to the German umlaut you're probably used to seeing by now. But unlike those two dots above a, o or u, the eszett is written as a capital B-shaped character with a tail: ß.
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 Eszett letter is used only in German, and can be typographically replaced with the double-s digraph ⟨ss⟩, if the ß-character is unavailable.
Germans and Austrians definitely still employ the ß in their writing (as do some other countries with German-speaking minorities). Merely Switzerland and Liechtenstein have done away with it and use 'ss' instead. “ss”and “ß” are not the same and therefore are not interchangeable.
The last umlaut in the German language is the Ü. Similar to the Ö, there is no sound in the English language which is the equivalent of this umlaut. The way to pronounce the Ü umlaut is by making the sound “ee” and pursing your lips as if you were whistling, almost completely shut.
There are a few possible reasons for this: the 'H' might stand for 'hart' (German for 'hard') or, it could have just been a mistake in early sheet music, owing to the fact that the B flat symbol (♭) looks a bit like a 'b', and the sharp symbol (♯) looks a bit like an 'H'.
Dummkopf – Sh*thead
This insult comes from dumm – dumb, stupid and Kopf – head. This is one of the rare cases where a German swear is harsher than its English equivalent. Be warned this section contains direct, specific, and oftentimes severe insults.
Ich bin gut implies that you're good (at something) rather than that you're feeling good. This is a common mistake many English speakers make, and it's important that you avoid it. Always say Mir geht es gut.
The letter o with umlaut (ö) appears in the German alphabet. It represents the umlauted form of o, resulting in [œ] or [ø]. The letter is often collated together with o in the German alphabet, but there are exceptions which collate it like oe or OE.
Ö or ö is one of the 4 extra letters used in German. It can be replaced by using the letters Oe or oe. In English language newspapers it is often written as O or o but this is not correct.
The most common way of saying “hello” in German is “Hallo”.
The Letter Ä With Two Dots Is an Umlaut. If you've ever wondered what those two dots above an “ä” are about, they're generally called umlauts. Particularly common in German, they're used to modify the suggested pronunciation of the letter a.
"ß" and "ss" are, as you correctly guessed, not really interchangeable. The current rule is that "ß" is written after a long vowel or a diphthong (a diphthong being two vowels together to make one sound, like "au" or "ei"), while "ss" is written after a short vowel.