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If you pick up a German book that is more than fifteen or twenty years old, you’re likely to notice some spelling discrepancies when compared to German texts today. This is the result of the German Spelling Reform that was initiated in 1996 and has gradually been getting phased in ever since.

Often the changes will be barely noticeable. The distinctly German “ß” appears less often, replaced by a double S under certain conditions. Compound words composed of double verbs or a noun and a verb are now often separated into two or more words. It is no longer considered proper to capitalize “du” and “dir,” as opposed to the more formal “Sie” and “Ihnen.” Many words imported from other languages have been changed to conform to German spelling rules.

In German, Spelling Reform is called Rechtschreibreform, and there’s no doubt it was intended to change the language forever. Its designers’ goal was to straighten out many centuries-old spelling and grammar inconsistencies that had arisen between one German-speaking country and another. Many of these inconsistencies amounted to a sort of border dispute; Switzerland’s spelling is a bit different from Austria’s, tending to replace the scharfes S or Eszett (ß) with a double S. Austria, on the other hand, clung to the traditional use of the distinctively German character.

The differences of opinion raised by the German Spelling Reform movement were not easily resolved. As often happens in such situations, the resulting compromise wasn’t completely satisfactory to either traditionalists or reformers. Reformers had hoped to simplify the rules governing the use of the Eszett, but unfortunately that didn’t happen; the new rules were no more consistent than the old ones had been. Early reformers wanted to eliminate the capitalization of nouns, but that did not pass in the end. Yet in 1996, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Lichtenstein, and several other countries signed the agreement. By the 2004-2005 school year, all schools would be teaching the new spelling, and government agencies would adopt German Spelling Reform for all official documentation.

It’s one thing to pass a resolution to standardize spelling in education and government; it’s another to get the average person in the street to go along with it. The new spelling is being used in schools and government offices, but few other people have warmed to German spelling reform. It’s too soon to fully assess the effect the German Spelling Reform will have on the German language; for now, students of German should simply be aware that discrepancies exist, and understand why.

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One of the most difficult aspects of learning German is conjugating German verbs. What makes German verbs so quirky, anyway?

In all regular or weak German verbs, the stem remains consistent and suffixes are added to the stem in a consistent way as the verb is conjugated. When a verb changes tense, it really becomes identifiable as a weak verb – if we were to say “he made,” we simply add the predictable suffix “te” to the unchanging stem “mach,” and we have “er machte.”

Irregular German verbs don’t conjugate the way they’re “supposed” to. In the irregular German verb “sprechen” (to speak), the stem “sprech” seems like it ought to become “sprecht” when combined with the pronoun “er” (he) – but it becomes “spricht” instead. If the German verb “helfen” were regular, we could take the stem “helf” and add “te” to it and produce “er helfte,” but no! The correct way to say “he helped” is “er half.”

And if that’s not confusing enough, mixed German verbs, which seem weak but do not follow a thoroughly regular conjugation pattern, defy classification, although they have tendencies of both strong and weak verbs. Fortunately, there are many more regular German verbs than irregular ones, and newly-created German verbs such as “surfen” are always regular.

When approaching the study of German verbs, it’s important to remember to relax. No two students learn exactly the same way, so experiment until you find the exact combination of study techniques that best imprints those German verbs into your brain.

If you learn best by reading, you’re probably a visual learner, and you may want to try putting your German verb forms on flash cards and asking a friend to test you on them. If you’re one of those people who learn best by writing, try copying all the German verb conjugations you’re trying to learn over and over until you sense a little internal “click” – now you’ve got it.

Many people learn best by hearing or speaking; if that describes you, try saying “Ich gebe, du gibst, er gibt, wir geben, ihr gebt, sie geben” very clearly into your recording device, playing it back, and listening to the sound of your words, sensing the change in sound when you pronounce the irregular German verb forms.

There are some people, called kinesthetic learners, who need to be physically engaged while they study, and for these people computer-based programs are ideal; and yes, it’s definitely possible to find a computer-based program to learn German verbs!

Set a goal of learning two new German verbs per session, as well as reviewing the ones learned in previous sessions. However you choose to study your German verbs, make sure you also develop some way to test yourself on what you’ve learned.

All students who put their minds and hearts into mastering German verbs will be able to do so, if they find a method that works for them.

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Most of you will agree that learning a new language is not an easy thing to do. It requires you to put lots of efforts and have a certain level of dedication. All these are true for the German language as well. The main advantage you will get when you are trying to learn German is the fact that this language has an ordered syntax. There are many foreign words in its vocabulary too. The most interesting fact is that the majority of these words come from English. This is the main reason why learning German can be a lot easier than you actually think it is.

Tips

To become skilled at German easily you should keep certain tips in your mind. The main tips are given below.

The first thing to do is make sure that you want to study German. If you are not motivated, you will just be wasting your time. If you are working hard for some days and quitting, you will not get any benefit.

The next thing to do is to pay a visit to the most reputable book store in your locality. You could search for different books that can help you in learning German easily. You should also try to get a German dictionary.

Organize yourself and make a specific schedule that will help you in spending additional time for learning German every day. You must not take things too lightly or too seriously as making the right steps is the important factor in mastering the language.

Try to cover the simple questions in the beginning so that you can make a slow and steady progression. Finding the answers for general questions will help you in getting everything covered.
You should also take advantage of the Internet. Try to download German lessons that are offered by different websites. Practice should also be given ample importance. Keeping these tips in mind can help you in learning German easily.

The German language has a rich history, and understanding some of the history helps to put learning German in context. German is arguably the major “first” language spoken in Europe, and is one of the World’s major languages. In terms of learning German, it is the third most learned language in the world.

While there are large pockets of German migration all over the world, which occurred mainly over the last 200 years, to places like Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina (among many other places), many of the migrants no longer speak the native tongue of their ancestors.

And would you believe that there are more who claim to be if German descent in the USA than those who claim Irish or British descent.

German was the primary official language of most of Eastern and Central Europe for many years during the time when the Habsburg Empire rules most of those regions. What many do not realize is that German was primarily a written language until the middle of the 19th century.

The Brothers Grimm were responsible for the first German language dictionary, and this was not until 1845 to 1865, during which time they published over 16 volumes of the dictionary.
It was only in 1996 that the Spelling Reform of German standardized and simplified rules of spelling and pronunciation. Since then German has been in a transitional period, with the new spelling taught in schools, but a mixture of old and new coexisting in the general domain including the media.

German derives from the West Germanic sub-branch of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. This is shared with a munber of other languages, including English. There are a large number of English words which owe their existence to German – words like hamburger and kindergarten for example.

As with many European languages there are two styles of address – informal and formal.

For English learners of German, the frequency of consonants (perhaps up to 3 in one syllable) can make pronunciation a challenge without significant practice. And the reform in spelling led to huge changes – 212 rules of spelling was almost halved to 112, and only 9 pronunciation rules survived from 52 before the reform. I find all the rules hard not, so I cannot even imagine what it must have been like before the simplification.

There are also many online tools which can help, particularly with vocabulary expansion, pronunciation and verb tenses and rules. Be sure to pick one which does a good job of simulating immersion, this is really necessary to truly grasp the German language in context.

The author operates a language website, and you can view his Learning German recommendations. You can also sign up for a free 6-day learning German online course.

The World Wide Web provides unparalleled convenience and ease for both shopping and learning. So now it is simple to learn basic German with easily available and effective course materials from Lingo Basics. Practical, day-to-day German is a skill you can acquire now, via effective online teaching methods and an excellent German language course provided with this particular language program. The Lingo Basic German course offers a simple, enjoyable set of tools that get you ready to converse in Germany or any other location where the German language is widely spoken.

Sole Focus on the Basics

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Learn Whenever You Want

And, unlike other more traditional classroom language courses, you can learn German online at your own pace. You can stop and start as you please, learning when and what you want at any given time. Learning German online allows you to learn on the go which means that you can complete lessons any time you choose, making this language course an extremely convenient one for any body. Once you start the Lingo Basics German language learning process you can see that it is geared towards beginners straight from the beginning of the course. Topics featured include days of the week, numbers, verbs and all the other things required to immediately speak in basic and simple German.

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To Wrap It Up

If you are seeking a deep immersion in learning the German language, don’t choose Lingo Basics. Nevertheless, if you are seeking a fast method for obtaining comprehension of daily phrases which will let you talk confidently with native speakers of German; Lingo Basics is an ideal selection. Work hard to learn simple and easy German on the Internet and in a little while you will obtain the required skills. Learning languages doesn’t have to be hard. Lingo Basics gives you the greatest German tutorial and language course you’ll ever require.