German for (civilized) dummies

[gangleri2001]

Yeah, it is, but it's not the English H. It's quite softer, isn't it?

 

[Rossiya]

What would you prefer if you were a total beginner, Rossiya? An inaccurate description that makes you pronounce silly things (just like any beginner) or an accurate description that confuses you?

Well, the brightest of students would not be confused. Other than that, regarding the 'h', I would simply say that the 'h' is identical to the English 'h'. When the student comes to words like "höher" for example, then can a more precise explanation be given.

 

[Lord_all_Mighty]

The English H isn't even that starkly pronounced anyway, whether in Britain or the US. I don't think any german learning student whose native language was english would go around emptying their lungs whenever they tried to say "haben".

 

[holy king]

what is this "h" discussion about?

of course you pronounce "h" in german just like in english. (we are no dirty french after all. )

(except when the "h" is used to indicate a long vowel as in "kahl". (though i seriously see no way to actually pronounce it in those cases. )

 

[MagisterCultuum]

German pronunciation seem a lot more like Classical Latin pronunciation than any of the Romance Languages pronunciations.

 

[Mirc]

German pronunciation seem a lot more like Classical Latin pronunciation than any of the Romance Languages pronunciations.

I don't see any resemblance save for the Latin alphabet.

Let's see:
- the Z is pronounced like a Ts. The Z was taken out of the official classical Latin alphabet in around 300 BC, before that it was pronounced /dz/ and appeared almost only in loanwords, then it got transformed into an R so it became useless.
- the C is also usually pronounced like a Ts in German. Not the case in classical Latin, again
- the groups sch, tsch don't exist in any kind of Latin that I know of. And German makes wide use of them, pronouncing them different than just the sounds of the respective letters one after the other
- the K doesn't exist in Latin
- the S is never voiced in classical Latin
- H was read in almost all circumstances in classical Latin (I'd say all but maybe I just don't know enough)
- the E in En wasn't reduced to a schwa in Classical Latin
- the R was read as a trilled, strong R in classical Latin (although some accents of German do that too AFAIK)
- the group EI isn't read like "ai" in Latin
- D is never read as T, or G as K at the end of words, in Latin
- final G preceeded by I was never read "h" or as "sh" in Latin
- Latin didn't have any umlauts (not on A, not on U)
- Finally, Latin didn't have the character ß

Where do you see ANY resemblance?

 

[gangleri2001]

German pronunciation seem a lot more like Classical Latin pronunciation than any of the Romance Languages pronunciations.

YOU MADE MY DAY!!

Just two minor nitpicks .

In the "Greeting and stuff" - section, it should read "Vielen Dank" instead of "Vielen dank".

D'oh!

Edit: Fixed

DISCLAIMER: this is a reading of the bible, do not click if this somehow offends you. http://video.google.de/videosearch?q=ben+becker+bibel&emb=0&aq=f# 2nd video from the top on the left side.

I still prefer the first one.

TV-Untersuchung!!!

Künstliche Blumen!!!!

 

[scherbchen]

Next week we'll begin with lesson 2.

yeah, that was a lie ^^

 

[gangleri2001]

No, it wasn't. I've been prepearing the course these weeks. Today we'll begin with lesson 2

 

[BirraImperial]

Eagerly awaiting lesson 2...

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'm in my second year (third semester) of German at my university, so I'll be following this thread. Learning the language is a bit like a hobby for me: I find it fun. I have a question about the rules of capitalization in titles -- what are they? (Aside from capitalizing nouns, which I know.)

(Oh, and thanks for the character codes. I couldn't find ß in my character map.)

 

[holy king]

there are none.

same rules apply to titles as to any other sentence.

 

[Godwynn]

there are none.

same rules apply to titles as to any other sentence.

Are country names capitalized?

Is the word "ich" capitalized?

 

[holy king]

country names yes. "ich" not.

btw. there's only one rule where normal capitalisation rules do not apply, which is in letters, where the words "du" and "sie" ("sie" being used as adress) as well as "euer" and "dein" are capitalised.
i think. not sure if that rule was scrapped after the last spelling reform...

 

[Godwynn]

country names yes. "ich" not.

btw. there's only one rule where normal capitalisation rules do not apply, which is in letters, where the words "du" and "sie" ("sie" being used as adress) as well as "euer" and "dein" are capitalised.
i think. not sure if that rule was scrapped after the last spelling reform...

What about languages?

"Ich spreche Englisch." oder "Ich spreche englisch."?

THANKS

 

[Smellincoffee]

there are none.

same rules apply to titles as to any other sentence.

That will take a little getting used to, but thanks. Also, I just read that under the newest spelling reform rules, only Sie has to be capitalized -- du does not.

 

[holy king]

What about languages?

"Ich spreche Englisch." oder "Ich spreche englisch."?

THANKS

since both is commonly used i asked my open office text document spell check and he has no problem with either...

 

[Thorbal]

That will take a little getting used to, but thanks. Also, I just read that under the newest spelling reform rules, only Sie has to be capitalized -- du does not.

But you can do it anyway. It´s a bit old-fashioned, but considered to be a sign of courteousness.

since both is commonly used i asked my open office text document spell check and he has no problem with either...

Weird... mine always marks the capitalised "Englisch" as wrong .
But since all these reforms, I don´t know how to write anything anymore .

 

[ori]

What about languages?

"Ich spreche Englisch." oder "Ich spreche englisch."?

THANKS

this is a complicated one - both are correct - and both mean slightly different things:

Ich spreche Englisch - I speak english (as in "I can speak the language called english")
Ich spreche englisch - I speak english (as in "I am right now using english words to speak with you").
If a language (or color) name is used as a noun - its capitalized - if it is used as an adjective it is not capitalized.

edit:

country names yes. "ich" not.

btw. there's only one rule where normal capitalisation rules do not apply, which is in letters, where the words "du" and "sie" ("sie" being used as adress) as well as "euer" and "dein" are capitalised.
i think. not sure if that rule was scrapped after the last spelling reform...

not quite - the new rules make a distinction between the more intimate address and the formal one in letters:
Du/Dein/Ihr/Euer can be capitalized or not so du/ihr/euer (you singular/your singular/you plural/your plural) can be capitalized in letters or can be written without capitals. The formal address Sie/Ihr/(Euer etc in monarchies ) [Sie/Ihr = You/Your in a formal setting] has to be capitalized.

 

[flyingchicken]

What a coincidence. I bought a crash-course learn-it-yourself German book and CDs at the suggestion of someone very dear to me yesterday.

I'm excitedly waiting for GRAMMAR.