Hallo alle zusammen! (Hello everybody!)
This is my first post on Buhay OFW, so I'd like to take the opportunity to introduce myself:
My name is Marion, I am a native German from Frankfurt a. M. I'm working as a EnglishGerman translator, and I used to work as a private language tutor both in Germany and South Korea.
One of my aims is to promote studying the German language and culture in the global community. Also, I've always been interested in the Far-Eastern regions of Asia. Which pretty much sums up why I joined here.
You might have heard (and/or found out painfully) that German is one of the more difficult languages to learn. Well, I'm not going to lie to you:
It is. There's lots of complicated grammar along the way, historically grown through war-torn centuries and the influence of Latin as well as local Germanic dialects.
The good news is: Not every aspect of the German language is difficult. In fact, there is one significant aspect to it, which is actually EASIER than in English. And that's
GERMAN SPELLING & PRONUNCIATION
LESSON 1:
Spelling and pronunciation in the German language actually is closer to JAPANESE spelling and pronunciation than it is to its English counterpart. So those of you who already know and/or study Japanese should feel somewhat familiar.
Unlike in English, the pronunciation/spelling is not particularly context-dependent. It is fairly regular and does not change all the time, depending on the word and its meaning (like “bow” the weapon Vs. “bow” the pose) – similar to the consistency of the A-I-U-E-O principle in Japanese, which never changes.
In German, by and large, things are written the way they are pronounced!
This means that if you know how to pronounce the LETTERS, you can easily figure out how to pronounce the whole word!
So let's get started with the basics. This is the GERMAN ALPHABET:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Just like in English, right? What's the big deal?
There is none. No catch.
However, in German, there are a few SPECIAL CHARACTERS. Let me add them to our list of letters:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Ää Öö Üü (SS)ß
So that's 26 basic Latin letters and 4 special German letters, huh? That seems pretty manageable, doesn't it?
Luckily largely out-of-use nowadays: medieval German script
This is your key to German pronunciation. And virtually the whole of it!
In my next post, I will show you how to actually pronounce those letters, and in a breeze, you'll be able to read and pronounce ANY German word – even those really, REALLY long ones*! Now, how cool is that?
*) such as “Hochseefischereigesellschaftsvorsitzendenvereinigungskonferenz” (No joke. This is an actual German word.)
