The Name of the City

How to pronounce Würselen

‚Würselen‘, a word that can really brake an English tongue or rather can make it helpless. You cannot avoid to pronounce it wrong because of this mutated vowel ‚ü‘ that does not compare to anything in English. A first approach may be to just use a plain ‘u’ instead. Then, Würselen sounds a little bit like Jerusalem, just try ‘Wursalen’ and it is not that far away.

‚Wormsalt', the original name of Würselen

You really would like to call the city by its name a millenium ago. Then, it was called ‘Wormsalt’ and it meant just what you do understand. The word ‘Worm’ reflects to the river ‘Wurm’ which really worms it way through a steep valleys to the north, Würselen borders onto the river Wurm. People say that salt was found on the banks of that little river.

‚Wöschele', the true name of Würselen

In Würselen, a strong dialect is spoken. In this language the name of the city is 'Wöschele'. However, this is not much better in English. By the way, if you ever visit Würselen you will see that the people in Würselen speak in general the German with a little touch to 'singing' and you will be able to understand them. If they speak their dialect Germans even from the closeby Düsseldorf will not have any chance.

Historic Names

English spoken

If you speak English in Würselen, plain English, not that dialect you use in 'Liverpool' or 'El Paso, New Mexico' where the author had been in trouble to order beer or a teqilla, respectively :-) , you will probably get an friendly answer in broken English as everywhere in Germany.