German Language Guide (1): History, Usage & Difficulty
Thursday, 31st July 2008
German-speaker and language aficionado Simon Ager tells us about the history and current usage of German
History of German
German is a West Germanic language closely related to Dutch, English, Frisian and Yiddish, and more distantly related to Danish, Swedish and the other Scandinavian languages. The native name for the country is Deutschland, while the language is known as Deutsch, which is thought to come from the Old High German word diutisc, which in turn comes from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic word Þeudiskaz, meaning “people” or “folk”. The English word German comes from the Latin Germania, the origins of which are uncertain but it might have been a Gaulish term.
Germanic languages have been spoken in the area east of the Rhine and north of the upper Danube for thousands of years. Many different Germanic tribes have inhabited this region, including: the Alemanni, a major tribe in the 4th century AD whose name is the root of the French words Allemand (German language) and Allemagne (Germany); the Franks, after whom France is named; the Tuetoni, whence the adjective tuetonic derives; and the Cimbrii, after whom Cimbrian, a Germanic language spoken in parts of northern Italy, is named. Modern German is thought to have developed from the long extinct West Frankish language.
German was first written during the 8th century AD in the form of German glosses in Latin manuscripts, and began to become popular as a literary language during the 12th and 13th centuries. The main genre of literature at that time was poetry – Latin was used for official documents. Over the next few centuries, German gradually replaced Latin in official documents, usually in the form of regional dialects and languages, and Martin Luther‘s 1534 translation of the Bible did much to establish a standard form for literary German.
Usage of German in the world
Today German is spoken mainly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg, and to some extent in France, Belgium and Italy. There are also German speakers in Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, the USA and in Latin American countries. The are something like 105 million native German speakers and a further 80 million people speak it as a second language. German is also quite a popular foreign language in Europe, especially in Greece and Eastern Europe.
Within the German-speaking countries, each region has its own dialect, which can be very difficult to understand if you’re not familiar with them. Fortunately however, most people also speak High German, the standard form of the language which is taught in schools and used in the media.
Usefulness of German
Anybody planning to live, work or visit the main German-speaking countries will find a knowledge of German very useful. German can also be useful if you do business with German-speaking countries, and/or wish to attract German-speaking clients or customers. Moreover knowing German can give you to access a rich tradition of literature and philosophy, as well as information about engineering and science.
What other languages is German similar to?
Like English, German is a West Germanic language. However, because these languages have been developing separately for more than a thousand years, they now appear to have little in common. While English has absorbed a huge amount of vocabulary from French, and also from Latin, Greek and many other languages, German tends to create new words from native roots, though there are now increasing numbers of English loanwords. Many of the aspects of German grammar which were present in Old English have disappeared from modern English.
Learning German presents English speakers with quite a range of challenges. German pronunciation is relatively straightforward and the spelling system is consistent, unlike English. There are only a few sounds that might take some practise to master, particularly the ch, which is like the ch in the Scottish word loch.
Quite a few German words are similar to English ones, though differences in spelling can obscure the connections. For example Buch = book, Schiff = ship and Tochter = daughter. German nouns always begin with a capital letter. Long compound words, such as Kontaktlinsenverträglichkeitstest ‘contact-lens compatibility test’, are common in German. Such compounds are also used in English,, but they are written as separate words.
Difficulties with learning German
Probably the biggest challenge when learning German is getting to grips with the grammar. For example, while the definite article (the) in English is invariable, the equivalent in German changes depending on gender, number and case - the apple is der Apfel (masculine), the school is die Schule (feminine), and the child is das Kind (neuter). The definite article can also change to den, dem and des. The indefinite article (a) can also change in similar ways – ein, eine, einen, eines, einer, einem.
German word order is quite different to English word order with verbs often appearing at the ends of sentences, for example, Seinen Freunden wollte er aber nicht helfen (His friends wanted he but not to help) = He wouldn’t help his friends. It takes quite a while to get used to German sentence structures, but a lot of reading and practise using them will help.
German has much in common with Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian and Yiddish. A knowledge of German can be very useful when learning these languages, and vice versa. The Scandinavian languages, such as Norwegian and Swedish, also share quite a lot of common vocabulary with German.
Tags: guide, german, learning, languages, language, germany, switzerland, austria, luxembourg, lichtenstein
Posted by Simon Ager under Language guides,
Permalink
