Unit GE1 - A Sample
German and English are both members of the West
Germanic family of languages and they have many words in common.
In German a man is a Mann; on the end of his Arm
he has a Hand.
Sometimes the words are related but used differently:
| Hund |
dog (cf. hound) |
Volk |
people (cf. folk) |
| Land |
country (cf. land) |
Wagen |
vehicle, car, carriage (cf. wagon) |
Sounds
[Write the following on the board]
German |
English |
w |
v |
v, f |
f |
j |
y |
in final position d |
t |
in final position b |
p |
At the end of a word the letter <d> is pronounced /t/. So
the words Hand, Hund and Land all end with the
sound /t/. The letter <b> is pronounced /p/ at the end of
a word; the equivalent of yellow, gelb, ends with the sound
/p/.
The letter <w> represents the sound that is represented by
the letter <v> in English. The German letter <v> represents,
instead, the sound /f/; so just remember that the German word Volk
and its English equivalent folk start with the same sound.
The sound /f/ is also represented by the letter <f> in German.
The letter <j> represents the same sound as the letter <y>
in English; so you can also remember that the German word Jahr
and its English equivalent year start with the same sound.
Exercise
Practise pronouncing the words introduced so far:
Arm, gelb, Hand, Hund, Jahr, Land, Mann, Volkswagen
[Write the following on the board]
Bier, Fisch, jung, rund, Sommer, Winter, Ende, Haus, Mutter, Schuh,
Wein
What do you think the English equivalent of these German words
is?
What do you think the name Volkswagen literally means?
[Distribute student sheet 1]
You’ll find the answers on this sheet. |