Boy Scout Troop 14 German Language Primer

By Dave Bauer

No one can learn a language in just a couple of minutes per day. It takes intensive efforts to become fluent. The benefit of traveling to Europe as an English speaker is that most people can speak English. Nevertheless, it is wise to learn some phrases in the target language prior to going. You never know who you might come in contact with, not to mention it’s a great example to set as ambassadors of your home country.

Below you will find some of the most common phrases, and various other items to assist you during your visit to Germany.

Basic German Sounds

German has mostly the same alphabet as English with the exception of a few extra letters. There are the “umlauts”. Those funny little letters with the two dots on the top: Ä, Ö, and Ü. You say these letters like you normally would, but shape your mouth like you’re making an “ooh” sound.

We’ve all heard the funny German accents in movies and on TV. There’s a reason they have those. It’s because they might have the same letters, but they pronounce them totally differently. The secret to sounding German when speaking German is to sound out those letters the same way a German would. The biggest and most commonly known letter is the “W” in German. It has an English “V” sound. But what does a “V” sound like in German you ask!?!?! An “F”. What does an “F” sound like? An “F”. Don’t sweat it though. There are only a few other sounds that you should know. The German “Z” makes a “TS” sound at the beginning. Lastly….leave your “AREs” at home….instead take your AHHHs (Imagine you’re a “Bastin Lobsta Fishaman” while you’re on this trip. American “Rs” are VERY HARRRRRRD compared to the German ones. They round them off almost like a Boston accent does. Go easy on the Rs! Last but not least – in German words that begin with “ST”, imagine there’s a little “H” in between them. The German word, “Streudel” is actually pronounced, “Shtroodool”. See how that works?

Here’s the alphabet for you to get an idea of the sounds:

German Sound(s) It Makes Letter A Ahhh B Bay C Tse D Day E Eh (As in the Canadian, Eh?) F Eff G Gay (The Fred Flintstone kind) H Ha (As in hahahahaha) I Eeee (Confusing, I know) J Yote (So if you see Julia, it’s Yoo‐lee‐uh in German. And Jan is a boy’s name, not a girl’s.) K Kah L Ell M Emm N Enn O Oh P Pay Q Koo R Err S Ess T Tay U Oooo V Fou W Vay (Don’t get V and W confused) X Icks Y Ipsilon (Just kidding‐ it’s called that, but it’s pronounced with a…..actually, I can’t think of too many words with this letter in it. It’s not as common in German as English I guess. Don’t worry about it though. Z Tset (Remember to put that “TS sound at the beginning of words with a Z. ß This is the S‐Set. It basically represents two “s” together. For example, the Ä Ö Ü

And here are some German numbers:

English German Phonetic Pronunciation One Ein AYN (Rhymes with wine) Two Zwei TS‐VAI Three Drei Dry (But like a lobsta fisha) Four Vier Fear (except just drop the R – Fea) Five Fünf Foonf (Make the ooh sound) Six Sechs Zex (The English Z sound) Seven Sieben Zeebin Eight Acht Accchhhkt (Like you have phlegm in your throat) Nine Neun Noyn Ten Zehn Ts‐ain Eleven Elf Just like how it looks Twelve Zwölf Ts‐volf Thirteen Dreizehn (Combine the two…follow this pattern) Fourteen Vierzehn Fifteen Fünfzehn You see the pattern? Sixteen Sechszehn Seventeen Siebszehn Eighteen Achtzehn Nineteen Neunzehn Twenty Zwanzig Ts‐von‐zig Thirty Dreizig The pattern repeats….no special tricks to this. Forty Vierzig Fifty Fünfzig Sixty Sechszig Seventy Siebzig Eighty Achtzig Ninety Neunzig Hundred Hundert Hoon‐dirt Thousand Tausend T‐OW‐Zend Million Milion Mill‐E‐own

Now that you know how to pronounce German relatively accurately, now you can work on some phrases that you might find helpful during your visit. Think about all the things you will see while you’re there. But wait….what happens when you need to use the bathroom in that 17th Century castle?!?! How do you find out where the nearest throne is, and I’m not talking about the one the Kaiser used to sit on? Hopefully some of these phrases will come in handy. Others hopefully you won’t have to use. Try to figure out how the sentences are built and then adapt them to your own uses. There are several tricks to memorizing phrases and words. Each person learns differently, so each method will be different.

Here are some tips from the website “Study Guides and Strategies” (www.studygs.net/memory/):

Using Memory Effectively

The following techniques with their exercises use associations with letters, images, maps, etc. to help you remember.

As you proceed through this list of techniques, try to think of strategies that would be useful to you! Some people use letters, some images, even songs. Each depends on how comfortable you are with, or how useful they are to, your way of thinking! 1. Acronyms An acronym is an invented combination of letters. Each letter is a cue to, or suggests, an item you need to remember. PEMDAS, sequence in solving or evaluating math equations Parenthesis | Exponents | Multiplication | Division | Addition | Subtraction ROY G. BIV, the colors of the visible spectrum Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet IPMAT, the stages of cell division Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telephase

2. An acrostic is an invented sentence or poem with a first letter cue: The first letter of each word is a cue to an idea you need to remember. Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (PEMDAS, above) Sequence in solving or evaluating math equations Parenthesis | Exponents | Multiplication | Division | Addition | Subtraction

3. Rhyme‐Keys: (for ordered or unordered lists) First, memorize key words that can be associated with numbers. Example: bun = one; shoe = two, tree = three, door = four, hive = five, etc. Create an image of the items you need to remember with key words. Four basic food groups‐‐ dairy products; meat, fish, and poultry; grains; and fruit and vegetables Think of cheese on a bun (one), livestock with shoes on (two), a sack of grain suspended in a tree (three), a door to a room stocked with fruits and vegetables (four)

4. The Method of Loci: (for approximately twenty items) Select any location that you have spent a lot of time in and know well. Good for kinesthetic learners! Imagine yourself walking through the location, selecting clearly defined places‐‐the door, sofa, refrigerator, shelf, etc. Imagine yourself putting objects that you need to remember into each of these places by walking through this location in a direct path. Again, you need a standard direct path and clearly defined locations for objects to facilitate the retrieval of these objects. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Richard Nixon, you could imagine walking up to the door of your location and seeing a dollar bill stuck in the door; when you open the door Jefferson is reclining on the sofa and Nixon is eating out of the refrigerator.

5. The Keyword Method: (for foreign language vocabulary) First, after considering the foreign word you need to remember, select a key word in English that sounds like the foreign word. Next, imagine an image which involves the key word with the English meaning of the foreign word. For example, consider the Spanish word "cabina" which means "phone booth." For the English keyword, you might think of "cab in a ... ." You could then invent an image of a cab trying to fit in a phone booth. When you see the word "cabina" on the test, you should be able to recall the image of the cab and you should be able to retrieve the definition "phone booth."

(DAVE’s NOTE: This is the most effective method I’ve found works for me. In 1996 I memorized the German word for potato. I memorized it by imagining a wheelbarrow/cart full of awful rotten potatoes….the German word is Kartoffel. Cart full of awful potatoes. This can be done with almost any word with a little imagination.)

6. The Image‐Name Technique: (for remembering names) Simply invent any relationship between the name and the physical characteristics of the person. For example, if you had to remember Shirley Temple's name, you might ingrain the name in memory by noticing that she has "curly" (rhymes with Shirley) hair around her temples.

7. Chaining: (for ordered or unordered lists) Create a story where each word or idea you have to remember cues the next idea you need to recall. If you had to remember the words Napoleon, ear, door, and Germany, you could invent a story of Napoleon with his ear to a door listening to people speak in German.

Common German Phrases

English German Pronunciation Good Morning Guten Morgen Goo ten more guhn Good Afternoon/Good Day Guten Tag Goo ten tog Good Evening Guten Abend Goo ten ah bend Good Night Guten Nacht Goo ten knocked Hello Hallo or Gruß Gott1 Hallow or Groose Got Thank You/Many Thanks Danke/Vielen Dank Donka/Feelin Donk Goodbye Tschuss/Auf Wiedersehen2 Chuss/Owf Veeder zay in

1 In Southern Germany and most parts of Austria the phrase “Gruß Gott” is used in place of the more typical greetings found in other parts of Germany. It is similar to how in the Northern US it is common to say “Hello” but in the Southern States you would hear a more common verbiage such as “Howdy” or something along those lines. Regional differences are all it boils down to. 2 Just like the greeting, the salutation is also different based on region. “Auf Wiedersehen” literally means “Until we see each other again”. Both options provided will work, but be prepared to hear either version. Please Bitte Bit‐Uh Can you help me please? Können Sie mir bitte helfen? Cone‐in zee meer bit‐uh helf in? Where can I find the ______? Wo finde ich die ______? Vo find‐uh ish dee ______? Bathroom3 Toilette/WC Toy‐let‐uh / Vay‐Say Hospital Krankenhaus Cronk‐in house Airport Flughafen Floog hoff‐in Train Station Bahnhof Bonn hofe Subway U‐Bahn Ooo Bonn Police Polizei Pole‐ee‐zai What time do you open/close? Um welche Zeit haben Sie Oom velche zait hob‐in zee owf‐nin/gay‐ öffnen/geschlossen? shlossin How much does this cost? Wie viel kostet das? Vee feel cost‐tet doss?

3 In Europe, they use another very common term for the restroom. The “WC” short for the Water Closet. If you look for the letters “WC” you’ll see it in the train stations, trains, public places, and is the common demarcation for indicating a toilet is present. They will literally call the bathroom the “WC” or in German pronunciation, “Vay‐Say”.