English and German vocabulary

We are family

Learning a language isn't only about learning vocabulary and grammar.

It's also about understanding where it comes from, because languages are organic

and always on the move.

Language exists within a

national,

political

and cultural context.

It is spoken by people, after all!

So in these slide shows you'll be discovering enticing titbits of information ranging from

interesting facts about language,

to who is who in the German-speaking VIP world,

to the all-important little traffic-light man,

right over to the meaning of life.

Well, maybe not of life, but the meaning of so many things it's going to feel like it.

So what about German?

Ok, lets do the easiest thing and start by comparing it to what we know: English.

English and German are both part of the

“West Germanic Languages” branch.

This might all be Greek to you, but what it

means is that these two languages are actually

pretty closely related.

A bit like Queen Victoria

and Prince Albert, if you like...

If English and German are closely related, we should be looking out for similarities...

For example:

- Hand -

Any guesses what this could be....?

Yes.

Hand is ...hand.

Pretty easy...

What about:

- Schule -

???

Ok, not too difficult:

Schule is....school.

School Schule

hand Hand

But what about:

- Schiff -

???

Schiff is … ship.

And what is:

- Tür -

???

It's...

...door

ship Schiff

door Tür

Not so similar anymore...

So what's happened here?

How come some words

are nearly identical and

others only vaguely similar?

The

- High German consonant shift -- High German consonant shift -

or

- Second Germanic consonant shift -- Second Germanic consonant shift -

is what happened. Get it?

No?!?

Doesn't it mean anything to you?

Don't worry, that's not surprising.

This is pretty specialised linguistic stuff andmany sophisticated brains racked themselvesfor some time before they came up with it inthe 19th century.

Nevertheless, if we have a quick look at what

this “consonant shift” is about, it will help you

keep an eye open for German words you might

be able to understand on your own.

So, to make a mole hill out of a mountain, this is what this “consonant shift” is about*:

*please keep in mind that this a very simplified explanation and that some stages of this shift will have been left to one side for the moment. There's no point in leaving you traumatised...

As mentioned previously, German and English are part of one language branch.

So that means that at some point the ancestors of the German and English we now speak must have been more like brothers and sisters than cousins.

At some point between the 3rd and 5th century, the consonants in some words of the German language “shifted”, that is to say, changed into other consonants.

These shifts didn't take place in the English language.

So this “consonant shift” is one of the major stages where English and German branched off from each other.

Here are a few examples of the consonants which shifted in German:

p turned into, or “shifted” to f

In English however, the p felt perfectly

happy as it was, so stayed as p.

That's why we now have:

ship and Schiff

And then there was the t who felt it needed

a walk on the wild side, so it became an s.

Whereas in English, the t didn't care much for change.

whatwas

Finally, there was the d which felt bored

and became a t.And yes, the English d just decided to stay put.

door Tür

red rot

P → f ship Schiff

d → t red rotdoor Tür

t → s what was

This shift doesn't apply to all German and

English words, but knowing about it will help

you spot similarities.

So think of yourself as a detective, keeping

your deduction powers alert and aware at all

times to not miss a f which might have been a

p at some point...