Reise Know-How Kauderwelsch German - word by word (Deutsch als Fremdsprache, englische Ausgabe): Kauderwelsch-Sprachführer Band 46 E-Book

Bob Ordish

• Herausgeber: Reise Know-How
• Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
• Serie: Kauderwelsch
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 136

Beschreibung

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. Even in Germany, a great many people don't speak enough English to hold 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 a basic knowledge of German is worth. Kauderwelsch language guides focus on the really important things you need to know about a language, somewhere between your standard travel phrase book and a self-study book. ---------------- Kauderwelsch Sprachführer bieten einen schnellen Einstieg in fremde Sprachen und vermitteln Wissenswertes über Land und Leute. Alle fremdsprachigen Sätze im Buch werden zusätzlich zur sinngemäßen Übersetzung ins Deutsche auch einmal Wort für Wort übersetzt. Dadurch wird das Verständnis für die fremde Sprache erleichtert, und einzelne Wörter lassen sich schnell austauschen. Die Grammatik wird kurz und verständlich erklärt, soweit es für einen einfachen Sprachgebrauch nötig ist. Das Wörterbuch am Ende hält einen Grundwortschatz und wichtige Begriffe für Reisende bereit. Kauderwelsch-Bücher sind viel mehr als übliche Reisesprachführer. Ziel ist es, schon nach kurzer Zeit tatsächlich sprechen zu können, wenn auch nicht immer druckreif. Kauderwelsch Sprachführer von Reise Know-How: handlich, alltagstauglich, für über 150 Sprachen.

Leseprobe

Contents Contents Contents of the Pronunciation Trainer (PT) (separately available)

IntroductionTrack 1

Accompanying audio material

Pronunciation & stress

Some useful words to start with

Grammar

Word order – the simple sentence

Nouns

Adjectives

Adverbs

Personal pronouns

Possessive pronouns

‘To be’ and ‘to have’

Verbs

The tenses

Questions

Conjunctions

Prepositions

The cases

Object pronouns (‘me’, ‘him’ etc.)

Here & there

Filler words: schon, doch, noch, mal

Numbers

Telling the time

Conversation

Saying ‘Hello’ & ‘Goodbye’Track 5

A small conversationTrack 6

General expressions of politenessTrack 7

Useful interjections

The weather Track 8

Accommodation Track 9

Travelling around Germany Track 10

Seeing the sights Track 11

Culture Track 12

Nightlife Track 13

Sports

Food & drinks Track 14

Shopping Track 15

Service Track 16

At the doctor’s Track 17

Colloquial words & expressions

 

Background information

 

The political situation in Germany

German economy

Volksdeutsche

Guest-workers & foreigners

The Nazi legacy

Unification & old East Germany

Appendix

Vocabulary English – German

Vocabulary German – English

The author

Imprint

 

Quick Reference

Basic comprehensionTrack 4

Question words

Important questionsTrack 3

Directions

Time indications

Essential phrasesTrack 2

NumbersTrack 18

Pronunciation

Introduction

‘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.