OK, so you used to remember me as Ulrich Günther or Ulrich Guenther. No worries, you're not necessarily suffering from memory failure. It just so happens that Sigrid and I couldn't agree on the family name, so we tossed the dice and hers, Speidel, came up top. The nice thing about this - for you - is that it's vastly easier to spell and pronounce than Günther. The nice thing for me is that it's the name of the woman I love.
How to pronounce "Speidel"
Well, there are actually two correct pronunciations for it. Most English speaker would probably prefer
"spy-dell", which is the way people in northern Germany would say it. Since Sigrid is from the southern parts, we usually go with the locals there who'd say "sh-pie-dell" (as in "apple pie"). "Speedo" and similar versions are not only incorrect but cause no end of amusement on our side.
How to pronounce "Ulrich"
Split it into two parts: "Ul-rich". The "Ul" part is
pronounced like the "ull" in "full". That's the easy bit.
Now comes the "rich" part which is not pronounced like
"rich". The "ch" sound is some kind of a German specialty
and is formed similar to the English "sh" sound. However, rather
than using the front part of your tongue to restrict the airflow when
saying "sh", use the back part of your tongue instead.
Anyway, here are three examples as to how my first name sounds when spoken
by the son of the copyright owners:
