> /ö/? --... to me sounds like a
>rounded version of /@/ with an /R/-like quality to it,
>just like <fur>, not like <feu>
From Christopher Hall (1992) "Modern German Pronunciation" Manchester
University Press, page 95
" In the case of /ø:/ there is no English vowel sound at all made in this
position. English speakers tend to substitue /3:/ as in bird for the German
vowlel ... yet the differences between these vowels are clear; German /ø:/
is a holf-close, front, rounded, vowel, while English /3:/ is a central,
unrounded vowel somewhere between half-close and half-open."
The text also notes that there is a German /o/, "a lax, front rounded
vowel, with the tongue in a half-open or even slightly more open position,
and somewhat retracted from front. The tip of the tongue touches the bottom
front teeth."
Peter