I'm told that the rule for german  pronunciation is that the ie blend,
no matter which order it comes in, is pronounced as the long version of
the second letter in the blend.

If it's IE then it's pronounced EE, rhymes with Sea.

If it's EI it's pronounced like the word Eye to rhyme with Pie.

This, according to a German friend, has no exceptions in the language.

Jim

On Jan 7, 2005, at 8:04 AM, Hans Achter wrote:

>>
>> By the way, Germans pronounce the name "dye-zel". Or at least the one
>> I know does; he's from Stutt...stutt...st... that place.
>
> How do you pronounce "dye"?
> All the Germans I know (including my parents) pronounce it "dee-zel",
> "dee" as in "tree".  That's
> also the rule for pronouncing "ie" in German.
> -Hans
>