ssät

ssät is a phonetic spelling sometimes used to represent the sound of the German umlaut "ä". In standard German orthography, the letter "ä" is used. The sound it represents is similar to the "e" in the English word "bed" but can vary slightly depending on regional dialects and surrounding letters. The umlauted vowels ä, ö, and ü are distinct letters in the German alphabet and have specific pronunciations that differ from their un-umlauted counterparts a, o, and u. The use of "ssät" is not an official or recognized spelling in German, but rather an informal attempt to convey the pronunciation of "ä" using basic Latin characters, likely by individuals unfamiliar with or unable to easily type the umlaut. This practice is more common in online communication or casual contexts where precise orthography may be less of a priority. Proper German writing and formal communication would always use "ä".