German compared to other languages funny
German language
West Germanic language
Not to be confused with Germanic languages, High German languages, or Standard German.
German (Deutsch, pronounced[dɔʏtʃ]ⓘ)[10] is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe.
It is the most spoken native language within the European Union. It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia.
There are also notable German-speaking communities in France (Alsace), the Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Poland (Upper Silesia), Slovakia (Košice Region, Spiš, and Hauerland), Denmark (North Schleswig), Romania and Hungary (Sopron).
How german sounds compared to other languages: As a response to the other video, this German YouTuber took things in the opposite direction with some nicer sounding German words. Table of Contents. However, if you find German challenging, you can start with Dutch or Norwegian as they are slightly easier to learn. English, on the other hand, also evolved from Proto-Germanic but has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century CE.
Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil (Blumenau and Pomerode), South Africa (Kroondal), Namibia, among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo, Peru).
German is one of the major languages of the world. German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language, after English, both as a first and as a second language.
German is also widely taught as a foreign language, especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language,[11] and the third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K education.[12] The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology.
The three closest languages to German are Dutch, English, and Afrikaans. She spent many summers exploring Germany and hanging out with her grandparents before moving back to Germany for university. Language Exposure and Immersion: The ease of learning any language is significantly influenced by exposure and immersion. Grammatical Structure: German, with its case system and word order intricacies, may initially seem challenging for English speakers.It is the second most commonly used language in science[13] and the third most widely used language on websites.[13][14] The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in German.[15]
German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, and Scots.
It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group, such as Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Modern German gradually developed from Old High German, which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during the Early Middle Ages.
German is an inflected language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural).
It has strong and weak verbs. The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share is partly derived from Latin and Greek, along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English. English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords.
German is a pluricentric language; the three standardized variants are German, Austrian, and Swiss Standard German.
Share to You find yourself in a picturesque European city, walking through cobblestone streets lined with wonderful cafes, historic buildings, and beautiful landscapes. Elsa has a degree in German history and language. He's a linguist and wrote a popular book about learning languages through "chunks".Standard German is sometimes called High German, which refers to its regional origin. German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments.[16]
Since , heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year,[17] and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography.
Classification
German is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. The first of these branches survives in modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, and Icelandic, all of which are descended from Old Norse.
The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch, Yiddish, Afrikaans, and others.
Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf-Benrath and Krefeld-Uerdingen, respectively) serve to distinguish the Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen).
The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects.
German language compared to other languages When it comes to German, a language known for its precision and structure, comparisons arise with other languages. Norwegian is generally considered easier for English speakers but it also shares some vocabulary and grammar with German. Germany is the country with the highest number of German speakers, with more than 80 million people speaking German as their native language. German is different from Romance languages like Italian and French because it belongs to the Germanic language family, while Romance languages belong to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family.As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic, Ingvaeonic, and Istvaeonic, respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by the Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group).
Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian-Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group.
German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects) and Yiddish. Also closely related to Standard German are the Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries, such as Swiss German (Alemannic dialects) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est, such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and&#;Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian).
After these High German dialects, standard German is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable.
Also related to German are the Frisian languages—North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland)—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language.
History
Main article: History of German
Old High German
Main article: Old High German
The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period, which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon.
German language compared to other languages video Next post. Cultural Motivation: A crucial factor in language learning is cultural motivation. She also pronounced the other languages in a more angry tone. Conclusion: The ease of learning German compared to other languages is a nuanced consideration.This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants (b, d, g, and p, t, k, respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below.
- Voiceless stops became long (geminated) voiceless fricatives following a vowel;
- Voiceless stops became affricates in word-initial position, or following certain consonants;
- Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings.
| Voiceless stop following a vowel | Word-initial voiceless stop | Voiced stop |
|---|---|---|
| /p/→/ff/ | /p/→/pf/ | /b/→/p/ |
| /t/→/ss/ | /t/→/ts/ | /d/→/t/ |
| /k/→/xx/ | /k/→/kx/ | /g/→/k/ |
While there is written evidence of the Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.&#;–), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3, Old High German words with their Latin equivalents.
After the Abrogans, the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in the ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli, Merseburg charms, and Hildebrandslied, and other religious texts (the Georgslied, Ludwigslied, Evangelienbuch, and translated hymns and prayers).[20] The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment, and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from the pagan Germanic tradition.
Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied, a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the Alamanni, Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group (Irminones), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration.