‘There’s no point learning German. They all speak English.’
Well, yes and no – or jein as the Germans would say – ja + nein. On the one hand, it’s true that particularly the young Germans do speak English – although less so in the area which used to be East Germany. There is no doubt that you can survive with English. But is that all you want? Even in Germany, a many people don’t speak enough English to keep up a proper conversation and, even if your own German is limited, you’ll get people on your side by at least making the effort. You’d be amazed how much goodwill – even a basic knowledge of German – is worth.
The language can seem pretty daunting at times, though, and the Germans themselves say: Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache! – ‘German language, difficult language!’. Whereas, say, French or Spanish are relatively accessible to English-speakers because vocabulary and word order are so similar, German is usually entirely impenetrable to the uninitiated. This is because, although the two languages are both ‘Germanic’ in origin, they have developed away from each other over the past several hundred years and been subject to different influences in that time. English also used to have a lot of the grammatical constructions I introduce in the first half of this book. They are long since gone. So too is a lot of the old Germanic vocabulary, gradually replaced by terms from the French, Latin, Greek or Italian. These are the reasons why, despite being Germanic, English nevertheless seems closer to the Romance languages.
One of the first things that will strike you is the length of many German words. At first, when you see the likes of Selbstbestimmungsrecht, you are likely to do a double-take. However, this is much less of a problem than you would think. It is just that German frequently joins words together which in English are written separately and, with experience, you learn where one word ends and the next one starts: Selbstbestimmungsrecht, ‘self-determination right’ or, more correctly, ‘right of self-determination’. A great help is that German is phonetic, i.e., it is spoken as it is written. Just think of what students of English have to go through when confronted with ‘bow’, ‘bough’, ‘though’, ‘thought’ and suchlike. With German, once you’ve learned the rules, you’ll always know how a word is pronounced, even if you’ve never seen it before.
A bigger problem is word order: German is written ‘the wrong way round’. So much so that Mark Twain, the great American humorist, said that the language had to be read ‘in a mirror’. Another memorable summing up, which I heard from a British soldier stationed in Germany, was that you ‘don’t know till the end whether they’re going to kiss you or kick you’ – a reference to the verb often coming at the end of the sentence. The situation is, of course, more complicated than this. Suffice to say here that, with regard to word order, English and German really are very different. You will realize this just by looking at the examples later on, without my giving you every single rule which would defeat the object of this book.
The Peter Rump language learning technique, originally devised for German-speakers, is equally suitable for English-speakers wishing to learn German. The great strength of the system is that, by providing both a literal as well as a proper (in this case) English translation, it shows you exactly how the foreign language is built up. Since, as I said above, English and German sentence structure often differs so much, this technique is invaluable. Example:
Weißt du, ob sie schon angekommen sind?
know you whether they already arrived are
Do you know if they’ve already arrived?
Unless you wish to study German properly you won’t master all the grammatical complexities. But that’s not the aim of this book, which is simply to enable you to cope with some measure of success in the situations travellers find themselves in. If you are looking for an exhaustive account of German grammar, you will have to proceed beyond this book.
We have completely revised the book and adopted the new spelling effective since 1999. There have been ongoing discussions about the use of the spelling reform, die Rechtschreibreform, and only the children are forced to learn the new spelling at school. The entire press has agreed on adopting the new rules only partially and ordinary people will remain writing the old way. So don’t be confused, when you come across a different spelling – it is likely to be spelled according to the old rules.
Also included is basic information on Germany, not only regarding accommodation, food, etc. but also the political system and German society. Even though it is so easy to travel to and around Germany these days, in many ways it is still something of a ‘mystery’ country to the Anglo-Saxon world. Cultural links with France have always been much closer, and very many more English-speakers know French than German. It would also be naive to pretend that Germany has fully recovered its reputation among nations since the Nazi period and, although the vast majority of Germans now living had nothing to do with this, the country was until recently divided and militarily occupied as a direct result of it.
However, Germany isn’t all fairy-tale castles, beer halls and boat trips along the Rhine. Without at least some knowledge of the language, and therefore the ability to raise yourself above the immediate tourist circuit, the essence of the country will pass you by.
You can purchase the accompanying Pronunciation Trainer to this book on our internet shop as a downloadable file in MP3 format through the URL https://www.reise-know-how.de/produkte/kauderwelsch-aussprachetrainer-und-audio/kauderwelsch-pronunciation-trainer-german-word-by
Alternatively, it is also available on audio CD through the URL https://www.reise-know-how.de/produkte/kauderwelsch-aussprachetrainer-und-audio/kauderwelsch-pronunciation-trainer-german-word-b-0
The Pronunciation Trainer contains all phrases and expressions marked in this book by the ear symbol
Audio samples: In selected chapters of the conversation section of this book, you can listen to audio samples from the Pronunciation Trainer by clicking on the web links given there.
The German alphabet is the same as the English plus some additional letters: ä, ö, ß, ü.
Stress
The stem of the word is stressed, e.g. gehen in gehen, ‘go-to’, i.e. ‘to go’. Many prefixes, i.e. particles placed on the beginning of verbs such as gehen, are stressed: ausgehen in ausgehen, ‘out-to-go’, i.e. ‘to go out’
| Pronunciation of consonants | |
| b | as in English ‘bed’ Bett (bed) at the end of a word or syllable like ‘p’ as in ‘map’ ab (off) |
| c | like ‘ts’ as in ‘let’s’ Celle (a town) otherwise like ‘k’ as in ‘kill’ Camping |
| d | like ‘d’ in ‘dead’ denken (to think) at the end of word or syllable like ‘t’ in cat’ Hund (dog) |
| f | as ‘f’ in ‘to follow’ folgen (to follow) |
| g | as ‘g’ in ‘to give’, never ‘j’ as in ‘jump’ geben (to give) at end of word or syllable like ‘ck’ as in ‘back’ Tag (day) in word ending -ig or in dialects, at the end of a word often pronounced as ch (see below) heilig (holy), Tag (day) |
| h | as in ‘hand’, never dropped Hand (hand) unless its purpose is to lengthen a preceding vowel gehen (to go) |
| j | German ‘jay’ (yot), always like English ‘y’ in ‘yes’ ja (yes) |
| k | as in English ‘kiss’, ‘core’ Kern (core, nuclear) as in English, often written as ‘ck’ Ecke (corner) |
| l | like English ‘l’, but purer, never the dark ‘l’ of the Southeast of England, which sounds more like a ‘w’ Milch (milk) |
| m | like ‘m’ as in English ‘mother’ Mutter (mother) |
| n | like ‘n’ in ‘name’ Name (name) |
| p | like ‘p’ in ‘Paul’ Panne (breakdown) |
| q | as in English, always followed by “u”; not as in “queen” but “kv” as in “MacVitie” Quatsch (nonsense) |
| r | in the South often similar to trilled Scottish ‘r’; in standard German rolled at the back of the mouth, more or less like in French rennen (to run) |
| s | before or between vowels like ‘z’ in ‘zone’ Sonne (sun) at the end of a word or if doubled (= ss) like ‘s’ in ‘save’ Haus (house), Tasse (cup) before ‘p’ and ‘t’ as ‘sh’ in ‘shall’ if the start of a word Stadt (town, city), springen (to jump) in the middle of a word like ‘stone’ or ‘spider’ ist (is), Kasper (Joker) |
| t | like ‘t’ in ‘tooth’ Tasse (cup) |
| w | like ‘v’ in ‘very’, not English ‘w’ warten (to wait) |
| x | like English ‘x’ in ‘index’ Hexe (witch) |
| z | like ‘tz’ in ‘Ritz’, not ‘z’ as in ‘zebra’ Zigarette (cigarette) |
| Pronunciation of vowels | |
| a | short ‘u’ as in Southern English ‘but’ Mann (man) |
| a(h) | long ‘a’ as in ‘bar’ Sahne (cream) |
| ä | short ‘e’ as in ‘pet’ Städte (cities) |
| ä(h) | long as in ‘air’ Fähre (ferry) |
| e | short ‘e’ as in ‘bet’ Bett (bed) |
| e(h) | long ‘e’ similar to ‘a’ in Northern English ‘gate’ lesen (to read) |
| i | short ‘i’ as in ‘fit’; never as in ‘bite’ ich (I) |
| i(h), ie | long ‘ee’ as in ‘bee’ ihr, sie (her, she) |
| o | short ‘o’ as in ‘stop’ Stop! |
| o(h) | long ‘o’ similar to ‘aw’ in ‘lawn’ Ton (tone; clay) |
| u | short ‘oo’as in ‘book’ Kuss (kiss) |
| u(h) | long ‘oo’ as in ‘fool’ Buch (book) |
| ö | short, cross between ‘i’ in ‘dirt’ and ‘eu’ in French ‘peu’ östlich (eastern) |
| ö(h) | long version thereof Öl (oil) |
| ü | short, like English ‘dune’, but with the lips pressed much closer together Glück (luck) |
| ü(h) | long, like ‘u’ in French ‘une’ über (over, about) |
| y | just like the long ü as above, not as in English ‘why’ Mythos (myth) |
| Further combinations | |
| ai / ay | English ‘i’ as in ‘high’ |
| ei / ey | Mai (May), beides (both) |
| au | ‘ow’ as in ‘cow’ Sau (sow, pig) |
| äu / eu | ‘oy’ as in English ‘toy’ Gebäude (building), Efeu (ivy) |
| ch | after a, o, u like ‘ch’ in Scottish ‘loch’ Loch (hole) sometimes, especially after i-, like a cross between ‘h’ and ‘sh’ ich (I) before -s like ‘x’ in ‘wax’ Wachs (wax) |
| ng | ‘-ng’ as in ‘sing’ singen (to sing) |
| ph | ‘ph’ as in English ‘philharmonic’ Philharmonie (philharmonic) |
| qu | not as in ‘queen’ but ‘kv’ as in ‘MacVitie’ Quatsch (nonsense) |
| sch | like ‘sh’ as in ‘ship’ Schiff (ship) |
| ß | equals ‘ss’, is used to show that the preceding vowel is long Straße shtrahsse (road, street) |
| ss | like ‘ss’ in ‘masses’, the preceding vowel is short Kuss (kiss) |
| tsch | like ‘ch’ in ‘church’ Klatsch (gossip) |
Below you find the most important phrases you’ll need for a first conversation.
| ja | yes |
| nein | no |
| Entschuldigung, ... | Excuse me, ... |
| danke | thanks |
Wo finde ich ... ?
where find I ...
Where is ... ?
| ein Hotel | a hotel |
| ein Taxi | a taxi |
| ein Restaurant | a restaurant |
| eine Tankstelle | a gas station |
| eine Toilette | a restroom |
| einen Supermarkt | a supermarket |
| einen Parkplatz | a parking space |
The most important answers are:
| nach links | to the left |
| nach rechts | to the right |
| geradeaus | straight ahead |
| zurück | back |
| an der Kreuzung | at the intersection |
| an der Ampel | at the lights |
Ich hätte gerne ...
I would-have like ...
I would like to have ...
| einen Kaffee | a (cup of) coffee |
| ein Bier | a beer |
| ein Mineralwasser | a (glass of) mineral water |
| einen Fahrschein | a (tram, bus, train) ticket |
| ein Hotelzimmer | a hotel room |
| das (hier) | this, that |
Was kostet / kosten ... ?
what costs / cost ...
How much is / are ... ?
When asking for the price you need to use the definite article instead of the indefinite. Substitute einen with der, ein with das, eine with die.
Words you already know
Some German words still reveal the common Germanic origin of English and German: Arm, Finger, Hand, Bier, Mann. Besides Kindergarten, several German words have entered the English language in various fields, such as philosophy (Immanuel Kant) and psychology (Sigmund Freud): Weltanschauung, Gestalt.
There are also a number of ‘international’ words which occur in many languages:
| Bus | bus |
| Taxi | taxi |
| Sport | sport |
| Theater | theatre |
| Minister | minister |
| Parlament | parliament |
| Park | park |
| Telefon | telephone |
| Fax | fax |
| Student | student |
| Adresse | address |
| Tourist | tourist |
| Station | station |
| international | international |
Station here is used as in underground station. But: railway station = Bahnhof.
Still other words are quite similar to English, but not immediately recognizable:
| Wein | wine |
| Hund | dog (hound) |
| Wald | forest (wold) |
German word order is often wildly different from English and very much a matter for the advanced student. However, you should be able to cope with simple sentences: