I my humble opinion, although when spoken, the German language does not sound as beautiful as some other European languages such as French or Italian, it is one of the easiest European language to learn. After all, the English language came from the German language; the sentence structures in terms of nouns, verbs and adjectives are all very similar. So right there, you have a slight advantage over those who do not understand English to learn German easy.
Good basics are key
As the above sentence states, the key to learning German is good basics. If you are starting from scratch, then I suggest you pay a little bit of money for a good comprehensive online package. Yes, you can find all sorts of free resources online as well, but it is quite troublesome to organize all material from different websites. The money is well spent to have a nice little organized package all ready for you to learn. Nowadays, you get quite a bit with these packages, with interactive and interesting software, videos and audio material.
Once familiar with basics, rent some German movies
You don't even have to have the basics all down; in fact as soon as you have gone through a little bit of the online German learning package, hit the tube for some German speaking movies. Here's the little secret gem: rent the movies that have BOTH English and German subtitles. You will not only get the audio German exposure, but the visual confirmation of the spoken words as well. If only English subtitles German movies are available, that's ok too. Continue to go through the basics German language package together with watching the German films, the results will be twofold and the learning speed will increase tremendously.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Learning the German Alphabet
The German alphabet consists of 26 letters, just as the English alphabet does. However, the letters are pronounced differently, which is why every beginner has to learn the alphabet before starting any lessons in the language. There are many similarities between German and English, such as in the use of the letter /q/. It is only used with /u/ as in words that have /qu/ in them. Even though the letter /x/ has basically the same sound as it does in English, words with this sound are usually written with the letters /chs/ or /cks/.
The alphabet is very easy to learn when you learn German because the letters have similar sounds to those in English. B has exactly the same sound when it occurs at the beginning or a word, but it sounds like P when it occurs at the end of a word. C has five different sounds in German depending on its position in a word. There are few words that begin with this letter in the language.
The following examples will give you an idea of the different pronunciations:
- Caser ?c sounds like /ts/
- Chaos ?c has a /k/ sound
- Chance ?c has the sound of /sh/
- Check ?c sounds like /ch/
- China ?the /h/ sound of the word is heavily pronounced
The sound of in German words is very guttural and pronounced far back in the throat. In words that contain the stress on the /h/ sound is very heavy. When you pronounce words that begin with /D/, the sound of this letter is the same as English. However, when the letter occurs at the end of a word, it has the sound of /t/. /H/ is another letter that has the same sound in both English and German. However, when this letter is followed by a vowel, it is silent and is not pronounced at all. When you pronounce words containing the letter /r/, you make a gargled sound. /S/ sounds almost like /z/.
There is another letter in the German language that is not included in the alphabet. This is /B/, but it is not written as a standard B. It is more rounded and has the sound of a double ss. This letter never occurs at the beginning of a word. You will find in the middle of words and there is only one form of the letter, which makes it look as if there is an upper case letter in the middle of a word.
Take time to practice saying all the letters of the alphabet and get used to saying words that contain these letters. When you take a course in German, you will see the pronunciation of the word written out in English for you, but you should listen to the letters being read by a native German speaker to get a true feel for the correct pronunciation. Then when you do start learning vocabulary words and grammar it will be easier for you to read passages in German correctly.
The alphabet is very easy to learn when you learn German because the letters have similar sounds to those in English. B has exactly the same sound when it occurs at the beginning or a word, but it sounds like P when it occurs at the end of a word. C has five different sounds in German depending on its position in a word. There are few words that begin with this letter in the language.
The following examples will give you an idea of the different pronunciations:
- Caser ?c sounds like /ts/
- Chaos ?c has a /k/ sound
- Chance ?c has the sound of /sh/
- Check ?c sounds like /ch/
- China ?the /h/ sound of the word is heavily pronounced
The sound of in German words is very guttural and pronounced far back in the throat. In words that contain the stress on the /h/ sound is very heavy. When you pronounce words that begin with /D/, the sound of this letter is the same as English. However, when the letter occurs at the end of a word, it has the sound of /t/. /H/ is another letter that has the same sound in both English and German. However, when this letter is followed by a vowel, it is silent and is not pronounced at all. When you pronounce words containing the letter /r/, you make a gargled sound. /S/ sounds almost like /z/.
There is another letter in the German language that is not included in the alphabet. This is /B/, but it is not written as a standard B. It is more rounded and has the sound of a double ss. This letter never occurs at the beginning of a word. You will find in the middle of words and there is only one form of the letter, which makes it look as if there is an upper case letter in the middle of a word.
Take time to practice saying all the letters of the alphabet and get used to saying words that contain these letters. When you take a course in German, you will see the pronunciation of the word written out in English for you, but you should listen to the letters being read by a native German speaker to get a true feel for the correct pronunciation. Then when you do start learning vocabulary words and grammar it will be easier for you to read passages in German correctly.
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