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The German Language
German is one of the most important languages inside the EU and it is spoken by 120 million people who live between Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Liechtenstein.Dialects and History
Germany is a former territory of the Asburgic Empire, a vast reign which extended until Western Europe. The Empire had a great number of regions, each with its own dialect, while standard German was mainly used in business and commerce and probably it was unknown in some areas.The varieties were so different one with the other that they were considered as separate dialects and German was far from being a uniform language.
The beginning of the standardization of German was due to literature: in the attempt of making literary works understandable by the greatest number of people, it was created a sort of common language. Later came the first German version of the Bible, which had been translated by Luther. The Church rejected the Book and wrote many other versions, each including changes and modifications to the language.
In the 19th century German augmented its importance as the language of education and this was partly given to the numerous German Universities which were set up in Europe and Northern America. In 1870, and through a process which went on for the following century, the Grimms' Brothers started writing the first German dictionary. This represented an important step in the standardization of the language, which received a further impulse with the publication of the Duden handbook, a precious source of information to solve ortography and grammar doubts. Finally, with the spelling reform of 1998, German was started to be considered a complete language.
Standard German (or Hochdeutsch, as it was named in the 21st century), nowadays is the language of tourism and business. In the rest of the German-speaking areas (both inside and outside Germany) they exist different and heterogeneous linguistic varieties. Here you are an example of a different word-usage between the German of Northern Germany and that of Austria: in Germany, "Eine Mücke" is a "house fly" while in Austria it is a "mosquito". Due to its numerous varieties and changes, German has received the 'nickname' of "pluricentric language".
Grammar
Studying German is surely a fascinating task, but its grammar requires great effort and dedication.The origin of German go back to Latin, from which the language has inherited its complicated grammar structure. But German has added even more complications, as, different from Latin, German nouns inflect in their ending as well as in their stem. If you are a beginner, conjugations, together with four cases and more than 200 irregular verbs, will require a great effort. But hold on and don't give up, because now it comes the hardest part: adjectives inflection. Each adjective goes with an article, according to three different cases: if the article corresponds to the dictionary enter (i.e. der, die, respectevly the masculine and femenine for the definitive article "a"), then the adjective ends in "e"; if the article does not correspond to the dictionary enter (des, den), the adjective ends in "en"..the third possibility is that there is no article in front of the adjective..in this case, you have to look at the gender case and conjugate the adjective according to it. After this panoramic view on German grammar we hope you didn't lose all your motivation in studying the language!
German Slang
After having bored you with the gramamr class, here it comes the laid-back part...a brief introduction to German slang.Once in Germany, we strongly reccomend you to find a native-speaker girlfriend (which is the best way to learn a language..)..When you invite her out for dinner, we really hope you'll never tell her "In meinem Geldbeutel herscht Ebbe", that although is a nice expression, is a way of saying "My finances are at a pretty low ebb at the moment".
This is what you could hear in the corridors at University:
- Gas geben - To step on the gas; make an effort: Der Kursus oedet mich an, aber nun muss ich Gas geben, damit ich die Pruefung bestehe - The course bores me, but now I´ve to hustle to get the exam.
This is an adjective a dad would use in a family situation:
- Chaot; chaotisch - chaotin; chaotic: In deinem Zimmer sieht es chaotisch aus. - Your room looks chaotic.
Germany is a continental country, this means very cold winter and incredibly hot summer..to express that something is extreme, you can use the following:
- Irre - extremely: Es war irre heiss, aber wir hatten eine wahnsinnig schoene Zeit - It was extremely hot, but we'd a terrific time.
When you want to give a party in your house, to invite your friends use "Kommst du mit auf mein Kabaeuschen?" (You want to come to my place?)..it would sound nice to them.