# Gerolsteiner, hard G or Soft?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 22, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515 "2009-11-22T11:38:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515/1 "2009-11-22T11:38:44Z")

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I’m just curious if the mineral water is pronounced with a hard G or Soft in Germany.

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**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515/2 "2009-11-22T12:22:31Z")

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the same ‘g’ you use in green.

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**Author:** ![Found\_In\_Translation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@Found\_In\_Translation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Found_In_Translation)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515/3 "2009-11-22T12:27:55Z")

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I assume that by ‘hard g’ you mean the sound as in ‘go’ and by ‘soft g’ the sound as in ‘Gerald’ (IPA [g] and [dʒ] respectively). Gerolsteiner is pronounced with a [g] sound. Offhand I can’t think of any instance where a word-initial ‘g’ is pronounced [dʒ] in a German word.  
Didn’t know they were marketing their bubbly water internationally.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515/4 "2009-11-22T15:18:41Z")

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ooooo sulphur water =) makes me remember water at our summer cottage - serious sulphur content.

I think you can get it at [germandeli.com](http://germandeli.com), I know they carry it in the main exchange at the sub base in New London occasionally.

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerolsteiner-hard-g-or-soft/518515/5 "2009-11-22T19:33:27Z")

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> [@Found\_In\_Translation](#):
>
> … Offhand I can’t think of any instance where a word-initial ‘g’ is pronounced [dʒ] in a German word. …

I don’t know one either - the [dʒ] sound does not occur in German words except a few of recent foreign origin (such as _Dschungel_ - from English jungle, originally from Indian languages). That [dʒ] needs to be rendered phonetically as _dsch_ is a clue that it is non-native in German. I don’t think you can go far wrong in pronouncing every g in German as [g] - except for words of Italian origin; these are pronounced on Italian rules i.e. g before i or e is [dʒ]