You're not alone. "Squirrel" pops up as that one word most Germans seem to be insecure about even if they otherwise speak fluent English. I think this is mostl

You're not alone. "Squirrel" pops up as that one word most Germans seem to be insecure about even if they otherwise speak fluent English. I think this is mostly because Germans are generally taught RP, where it is pronounced /ˈskwɪɹəl/ (skwe-rel). The American /ˈskwɝl̩/ (skwerl with a very faint r) is considerably easier to pronounce for German speakers. Because neither the English /w/ nor the English /ɹ/ exist in German and because they're both pronounced in close proximity to each other, the combination tends to be confusing to pronounce (as with combinations of th and s/z).