Ways Of Learning German Language Quickly

At first, German people can come off as a little cold, unfriendly, and scary. Don't take it personally. This distance is built into their language and their public lives, so they just need a little time to warm up to strangers. Think of them as New Yorkers without the brash attitude.

But if you really want to break through the ice with your new German connections, than try some easy ways of learning German language quickly. Although knowing the difference between formal and informal settings and their required forms of communication is essential to getting by in German society, but the most important point is to know about grammar-related issues and the pronunciations of German words.

All nouns in German have a gender that dictates their definite article (i.e. "the"). This gender plays a vitally important role in helping you understand what's going on in any given sentence. You must memorize the gender of a noun when you learn a new word, and what article they start with:

• Masculine nouns start with the article der

• Feminine nouns start with the article die

• Neutral nouns start with the article das

Some of the more common pronunciation mistakes that even advanced students of German often make:

• G sounds like the "g" in "grey"* unless it follows a vowel at the end of a sentence, in which case you pronounce it with a soft "ch" sound, like in "ich"^.

• J sounds like the "y" in "youth", never like the "j" in jack, unless the word is of English origin like "jazz." Words taken from French like "journalist" have a French pronunciation of J like "zhuh."

• Q sounds like the "q" in "question". Like in English, it is always followed by a "u," which makes the Q sound like a "kv."

• S sounds like the "z" in "zipper".

• V sounds like either the "f" in "father" or the "v" in "vanilla".

• W sounds like the "v" in "vaseline".

• X sounds like the "cks" in "bucks"

• Y sounds like the "oo" in "oops".

• Z sounds like the "ts" "in cats".

Few different tricky pronunciation issues

au like "ow" in "cow"

ae same pronunciation as "a"; use this transcription for typing on non-German keyboards.

ah like "a" in "car," but held a little longer

au like "oy" in "boy"

ei like "i" in "dine"

eu like "oy" in "boy"

eh like "a" in "day"

ie like "ee" in "beer"

ieh also like "ee" in "beer," same as "ie"

oe same as "ö";

oh like the "oa" in "boat"

ue same as "ü";

uh like "oo" in "too"

ch (after a, o, and u) like "ch" in Scottish "loch," spoken in the throat

ch (after i and e) like "h" in "huge"

ch (at beginning of a word) like "ch" in "chemicals" like the h in "huge" too

ck like "ck" in "duck"

ng like "ng" in "ringing," never with a hard g like the "ng" in "finger"

ph like "f" in "fuss"

sch like "sh" in "shield"

sp (at beginning of a word) like "shp" in "fish pound"

ss like "ss" in "hiss," in contrast to "B," which makes the preceding vowel shorter.

st (at beginning of a word) like "sht" in "ashtray"

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