Immigration >> Integration
“Partner” No. 11 (86) 2004
On the relationship between the German and Russian languages
Professor L. Lokshtanova continues to consider problems associated with learning the German language. (See “Partner” magazine No. 4 / 2004)
Common Indo-European "genes"
Despite all the differences between the German and Russian languages, they have many similarities in their structure, which is largely explained by their genetic relationship, i.e. originating from a common source.
Considerations about the similarity and even relatedness of individual words or forms of different European languages were expressed back in the 15th-16th centuries. Since the end of the 18th century, in connection with the discovery of Sanskrit (one of the ancient Indian languages that became widespread in Northern India from the middle of the 1st millennium BC), the attention of scientists was also drawn to the similarities between European languages and Sanskrit. At the beginning of the 19th century, a study by the German linguist Franz Bopp appeared, which compared the grammatical features of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Persian and Germanic languages (1816). It was followed by the work of the Dane Rasmus Rask, who additionally drew the Balto-Slavic languages into comparison and put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bthe kinship of all the mentioned languages (1818). In the middle of the 19th century. The famous works of Jacob Grimm appeared, where for the first time a comparative historical description of the Germanic languages as a single group of languages was given. These works laid the foundations of comparative historical linguistics, which studies languages from the point of view of their origin from single source.
Thanks to the further development of comparative historical linguistics, especially in Germany, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Similar elements were identified in a large group of languages that have long been widespread in Europe and Asia. It has been proven that this striking similarity is not accidental - it is due to the genetic relationship of the languages. Related languages received the conventional name Indo-European and were united into Indo-European family of languages. The common source, most likely a group of closely related dialects, was called Indo-European proto-language.
In modern times, as a result of archaeological excavations, the most ancient written languages in Western and Central Asia (starting from the 3rd millennium BC) have become known - Hittite, Luwian, Tocharian, etc., which were also included in the Indo-European family of languages. (The Indo-European family is, in turn, one of the 23 families of languages spoken by the world's population).
Indo-European languages are united into a common family on the basis of regular grammatical, lexical and phonetic correspondences. According to the accepted genealogical classification, those. by origin, the family of Indo-European languages includes approximately ninety living and dead languages. These also include German And Russian languages. The Indo-European family is divided, in turn, into 17 groups on the basis of closer linguistic kinship, due to the historical community and territorial contacts of peoples who spoke and speak similar languages. German language belongs to the group Germanic languages, Russian language - to the group Slavic languages.
TO Indo-European family In addition to the Germanic and Slavic languages, there are Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian, Old Prussian), Celtic, Italic (including Latin), Romance (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.), Greek, Albanian, Armenian; in Asia - Indian and Iranian languages. (Some groups of dead languages are not named).
IN German group The languages to which German belongs include: English, Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans, Yiddish (Western subgroup); Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese (northern subgroup); Gothic is a dead language (eastern subgroup). Modern Germanic languages have much in common in grammatical structure, vocabulary and phonetics, which, as a rule, allows those who speak one of the languages to understand the general meaning of texts or statements in another language.
Slavic group also divided into 3 subgroups. Eastern: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian; southern: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian; Western: Czech, Slovak, Polish, Lusatian and other dialects.
The assignment of certain languages to the Indo-European family, as well as their unification into groups and subgroups, required the use of not only linguistic material, but also archaeological, historical, ethnographic, anthropological, philosophical and mythological, etc. Not all hypotheses put forward by researchers were confirmed: for example, an attempt to include the Georgian language in the Indo-European family failed; The idea of uniting the Slavic and Baltic languages into a common group was also refuted. However, the special closeness of several groups of languages that interest us has been proven, in particular Balto-Slavic-Germanic And Germanic-Celto-Italic.
The question arises, in what direction could one look for evidence of the Indo-European relationship of languages?
The answer lies in the past
Between the Indo-European proto-language and modern languages there lies a seemingly insurmountable time gap of at least 5-6 thousand years, because Already in the 3rd millennium BC, as scientific evidence shows, the Indo-European proto-language collapsed. In any case, the oldest written monuments of the 2nd and early 1st millennia BC. already represent independent languages of developed civilizations. Consequently, in order to correlate not only specific languages, but also an entire family of languages with a common source, it was necessary to go step by step over a distance of 5-6 thousand years and reconstruct b the state of the Indo-European proto-language before its collapse. The study of correspondences between languages and their interpretation should have retrospective nature, because the all explanations were in the past. This determines the paramount importance of archaic languages and ancient written monuments for comparative historical linguistics.
Turning in this regard to the Germanic and Slavic languages, to German and Russian, let us dwell on dating the first written monuments in these languages that have reached us. The most ancient written monuments are the most important starting point for studying the historical development of a particular language and a group of related languages, for reconstruction preliterate the state of a given language and the corresponding group of languages, as well as for the reconstruction of the Indo-European proto-language.
The oldest and most important monument Germanic writing is the so-called Gothic"Silver Codex", containing translations from Greek into Gothic of the gospels of Matthew, John, Luke and Mark. Tradition ascribes this translation, as well as the invention of Gothic writing (based on Greek), Gothic bishop Wulfila (approx. 311-383). The codex has come down to us in a 5th-century manuscript consisting of 187 surviving large sheets. (This unique manuscript was found in the Verdun monastery near Essen. Today you can see a copy there). Other monuments of Gothic writing were also found. Texts in Gothic became the most important basis for the development of Germanic linguistics and Indo-European studies.
The initial stage of written history German The language dates back to the 8th-11th centuries. The earliest texts were written based on Latin alphabet in the second half of the 8th - early 9th centuries, including the so-called “Glosses” - German translations of individual Latin words or sentences (c. 750); "Old High German Isidore" - translation of a Latin theological treatise (c. 770); “The Song of Hiltibrant” is a fragment of ancient Germanic folk epic poetry (810-820); “Strasbourg Oaths” are the texts of the oaths of Charles the Bald and Louis the German, pronounced by them before two armies in 842 when concluding an alliance against Lothar. These and other monuments reflect the features of individual territorial dialects of Germany and allow us to judge the general features of Old High German and its relationship with other ancient Germanic languages and dialects.
Story Russian language as one of the Slavic languages is distinguished by its complex interaction with the languages of different ethnic groups in the pre-literate period, long-term unity with other East Slavic languages, the influence of the book Church Slavonic language, dialectal indivisibility up to the isolation of Central Russian (Great Russian) dialects, on the basis of which the national Russian language was formed.
Slavic writing(Cyrillic and Glagolitic) was created in the 60s of the 9th century by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavic. The basis of the translation language was the South Macedonian dialect, which was further developed in Bulgaria. The earliest texts in the language that later became known as Old Slavonic, have not been preserved. There are only isolated inscriptions from the 10th century, and the first handwritten liturgical texts from the 11th century.
Old Russian called common for Eastern Slavs a language that was formed in the Old Russian state and existed until the 14th-15th centuries, when it split into 3 separate East Slavic languages - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Early Old Russian monuments, written in Cyrillic, date back to the 12th-13th centuries: individual inscriptions; letters on birch bark; charters (the oldest Novgorod charters - XII century, Smolensk - XIII century, Moscow - XIV century); The oldest handwritten liturgical books (Old Slavonic origin), found on the territory of Ancient Rus', are known from lists of the 11th-14th centuries.
The initial stage of language formation of the Russian nationality itself covers the XIV-XVII centuries. (Old Russian period); beginning of formation national Russian language dates back to the middle of the 17th-18th centuries, and the stage of its final formation is associated with the work of A.S. Pushkin.
The given data on the history of the development of the Russian language are important for a better understanding of the chronological relationship of the compared linguistic phenomena.
Language changes and regular correspondences between languages
Probably, each of you, dear readers, has had the opportunity to parse Old Slavonic or Old Russian inscriptions. Much remained unclear. It is equally difficult to understand Old High German (abbr. Old) texts without prior preparation: in almost a thousand years that have passed since the appearance of the first written monuments until the formation of the norm of the national German language, many changes have occurred in the sound composition, vocabulary and grammatical structure of the language.
Most susceptible to change phonetic (sound) system of language. Let me give, for example, some Old High German words (according to a 9th century manuscript) and their modern equivalents: min = mein, zit = Zeit, inti = und, thaz = das, uuas = war, muoter = Mutter, thiu = die, zi =zu, her = er, brutigomo = Bräutigam etc. Old High German did not have many sounds that developed later and are present in the modern language: there were no vowels with an umlaut ä, ö, ü (cf.: mahtig = mächtig, mohti = möchte, kunig = König; there were no diphthongs ei, au, eu, (cf.: sin = sein, uf = auf, hiute = heute); there was no sound depicted as sch(cf.: smerzo = Schmerz, sconi = schön) etc.
By tracing step by step a retrospective picture of the changes that occurred with each sound of each language, scientists determined the natural sound correspondences between various Indo-European languages (for each period of their development). For example, it was found that at the beginning of a word in Sanskrit bh- correspond to: Greek ph-, lat., rum. f-, German b-, glory. b-. This pattern emerged from the comparison of numerous words across languages. Compare: sacred. bhratar, Greek phrātōr, lat. frāter, French fr<ère , Italian Fratello, Gothic brōþar, German Bruder, English brother, Danish Broder, Russian Brother etc. Another example: Russian. take it, sacred bharasi, Greek phereis, lat. fers, Gothic bairis, dvn. biris, German ( ge)bierst, (ge)bärst.
The most stable component of the language system is grammatical structure, which is least susceptible to change. Therefore, the correspondences of the grammatical structure act as the most reliable criterion for classifying the analyzed languages into the Indo-European family, since the coincidences here cannot be accidental. Note the striking similarity of the general conjugation scheme below for the verb “to take” in the present tense (present) for different Indo-European languages:
| Russian | Skt. | Greek | Lat. | Gotsk. | Dvn. | ||
| Units | 1. | I'll take it | bharami | pherō | fero | baira | biru |
| 2. | take it | bharasi | phereis | fers | bairis | biris | |
| 3. | beret | bharati | pherei | fert | bairiþ | birit | |
| Pl. | 1. | let's take | bharamas | pheromen | ferimus | bairam | berames |
| 2. | take it | bharatha | pherete | fertis | bairiþ | beret | |
| 3. | take | bharanti | pherusi | ferunt | bairand | berant |
The table shows that various Indo-European languages use similar building elements when conjugating in the present tense: the root is followed by a vowel element, which is a special suffix of the present tense in origin, and personal endings are added to it, which basically coincide across languages (the differences are due to natural phonetic correspondences ). Wed: Russian ber-e-m, sacred bhar-a-mas, Greek pher-o-men, lat. fer-i-mus, Gothic bair-a-m, dvn. ber-a-mes, (modern German. gebären). Further transformations of this scheme in modern languages were associated with phonetic changes.
Reconstructed data on the grammatical structure of the Indo-European proto-language indicate a very high level of abstract thinking of its speakers. The language of the ancient Indo-Europeans already reflected such grammatical concepts, meanings and categories as parts of speech, gender, number, case, declension and conjugation, changing verbs by tenses, moods, voices, dividing verbs into transitive, intransitive, reflexive, etc. . The most important grammatical categories of the German and Russian languages go back to the Indo-European proto-language. (This thesis will be discussed in more detail in the final section of this article.)
Indo-European layer of vocabulary and etymological dictionaries
The vocabulary fund, inherited from the Indo-European linguistic community, forms the oldest structural and semantic basis on which the vocabulary of both the German and Russian languages subsequently developed. According to the famous German linguist W. Schmidt, root words of Indo-European origin make up approximately a quarter of the main vocabulary of the German language, and if we take into account the huge number of derivatives and complex words formed from them, then we can talk about half of the main vocabulary. (The most necessary commonly used words are included in this category).
The identification of the Indo-European layer of vocabulary in each language was based on the strict principles of the comparative historical method. In the list of reconstructed common Indo-European roots, stems and affixes given in the fundamental study of V.V. Ivanova and T.V. Gamkrelidze “Indo-European language and Indo-Europeans” (1984 and 1998), there are approximately one and a half thousand original vocabulary units of the Indo-European proto-language. (This does not mean that all of them are represented in each of the modern Indo-European languages).
Indo-European words constitute the most ancient layer of vocabulary of each language, which, in particular, includes: pronouns, numerals, names of kinship, names of body parts, names of animals, birds, fish, domestic animals, trees, plants, natural phenomena, times of day; adjectives naming the most important properties and qualities; verbs denoting movement, position in space, work processes, etc. I will give some examples of words of Indo-European origin in German and Russian: du - you, uns - us, das - that; zwei - two, drei - three, sechs - six; Mutter - mother, Schwester - sister, Bruder - brother, Sohn - son, Witwe - widow, Nase - nose, Auge - eye, Knie - knee, Bart - beard, Gans - goose, Wolf - wolf, Schwein - pig, Maus - mouse, Lachs - salmon, Buche - beech, Birke - birch, Lein - flax, Same - seed, Milch - milk, Sonne - sun, Schnee - snow; neu - new, voll - full, jung - young, dünn - thin; stehen - stand, sitzen - sit, liegen - lie down, essen - there is, wissen - to know, cf. know, säen - sow, mahlen - grind etc.
It should, of course, be borne in mind that words of Indo-European origin are not always similar in sound (the result of sound changes in each language). Wed, for example, mich - me, dich - you, sich - yourself; ein - one, hundert - one hundred, zehn - ten; Tochter - daughter, Nacht - night, Herz - heart, Tür - door, Name - name; flechten - to weave, saugen - to suck and etc.
Let us also note that in the process of linguistic development, the meanings of words are subject to change, therefore, in roots of common origin, discrepancies in meanings are possible. Compare, for example, Russian translations and etymological correspondences: Bär - bear matches the root word brown; Kuh - cow matches the root word beef; Faust - fist resp. metacarpus, wrist; sauer - sour resp. raw; fahren - to go resp. couple; schlafen - to sleep resp. weaken, weak weak.
Readers interested in the origin of words and the development of their meanings can use the etymological dictionaries of the German and Russian languages, respectively.
Common features in the grammatical structure of German and Russian languages. Guidelines
Despite the thousand-year migrations of tribes and peoples in preliterate times, contacts with aborigines of other ethnic communities, language changes after the advent of writing and other “despite”, in grammatical structure of the Germanic and Slavic languages, including German and Russian, the basic grammatical concepts and categories inherent in the Indo-European proto-language were preserved (and further developed).
Languages have undergone greater or lesser changes in the course of the historical development of ways and means of expression corresponding grammatical meanings. For example, in the German language, the declension of names and the conjugation of verbs have been significantly simplified. The structure of the word has also changed in the Russian language. At the same time, individual “exceptions” remind us of the peculiarities of the structure inherited from the Indo-European proto-language. For example, when declension of Russian nouns mother And daughter suddenly forms appear mothers And daughters with the former suffix -r, inherent in Indo-European kinship names (cf. Mutter, Tochter); and in words like name - names - names or seed - seed - seeds suffix appears -n, as in German Name - Namens - Namen or Same - Samens - Samen. The alternation of vowels in the forms of words also goes back to the Indo-European proto-language I'm taking - I'm taking - I'm driving or carry - carried - carried, as in German strong verbs nehmen - nahm - genommen or sprechen - sprach - gesprochen.
As already noted, most of the grammatical concepts, categories and meanings inherent in modern German and Russian languages were inherited from the Indo-European community. It follows that for Russian-speaking readers learning German, it is important to master the basic terminology used in the grammar of their native language.
Teaching experience shows that the basis for misunderstanding of grammatical phenomena in the German language is often ignorance of elementary grammatical concepts of the Russian language. Test yourself to see if you know, for example, the basic meanings of the cases; the difference between demonstrative, relative, possessive pronouns; between cardinal and ordinal numbers; between transitive and intransitive verbs; between subordinating and coordinating conjunctions, etc. What is meant by the categories of mood, voice, aspect? What are infinitives, participles, gerunds? What elements are included in a compound verb and nominal predicate? What is the difference between word formation and form formation? What is a word root, stem, suffix, prefix (prefix), ending? The list of such questions can be significantly expanded. It should be emphasized that, without exception, all of the named grammatical phenomena inherent in both the German and Russian languages go back to the Indo-European proto-language.
Despite the importance of knowing the common features in the grammatical structure of the German and Russian languages, it is of paramount importance for the successful mastery of the German language understanding the main differences in the grammatical structure of both languages. A separate article will be devoted to this topic.
Lyudmila Lokshtanova (Dusseldorf)
There is an opinion that learning German is more difficult than other European languages. And if you refer to research, then at an intermediate level of proficiency (Intermediate) German is 2.5 times more difficult than English, and at the Advanced level 1.5 times. In our article we will reflect on how true this is. We will compare two languages: English and German, drawing parallels between grammar and vocabulary.
Languages are not strangers to one another.
The languages are not alien to each other.
~Walter Benjamin
In this way, we will either refute this stereotype or confirm it even more. You, our dear reader, will draw the conclusion. While you are thinking about which language will be easier or more difficult for you to learn, let’s look at how German and English are similar and different.
English and German alphabet.
Both languages are based on Latin. There are 27 letters in German, including ß (esset) + umlauts Ää, Öö and Üü. In English - 26. However, the phonetics of the German language is much simpler than English, and even somewhat resembles Russian pronunciation.
If you want to learn how to quickly master reading in English, you should read the article
English and German alphabet
Noun and articles
Noun in German
All nouns in German are written with a capital letter. (der Vater(father), der Lehrer(teacher), der Kaufman(salesman), die Lamp(lamp), die Backerei(bakery)), in English - only proper names ( Peter, Chris, Sarah).
In addition, German has 3 genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). It is imperative to learn what gender a particular noun belongs to in order to know which article to use. There are also 3 of them in English, but they do not have the same influence on nouns as in German.
English and German articles
This is always not an easy topic for us Russian speakers, since our grammar does not have such a phenomenon. If there are 3 articles in English - a,an(undefined) and the(defined), and you have to remember specific rules, then in German there are 5 of them: 3 defined ( der/die/das) and 2 undefined ( ein/eine).
You will also need to learn the rules and remember how they are conjugated by case. Despite the fact that the Russian language also has declensions, Declension of German articles can cause some difficulties.
Declension of the definite article in English and German.
Cases in English and German
As it became clear from the previous paragraph There are four cases in German: Nominative(Nominative), Genitiv(Genitive), Dativ(Dative), Akkusativ(Accusative). For comparison: in Russian there are six of them (4 are the same as in German + instrumental and prepositional).
English lost them during the formation of Middle English (late 11th - late 15th centuries). Thanks for this! The function of cases in English is taken over by prepositions.
| Russian case | Matching in English | Examples | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genitive | conveyed using the preposition of: | The beginning of the autumn was warm | The beginning of (what?) autumn was warm. |
| Dative | corresponds to the preposition to | I am going to Chris. | I'm going to (who?) Chris |
| Instrumental case | corresponds to the preposition with, when referring to a tool or object with which an action is performed: | My sister can write with both her hands. | My sister can write (with what?) with both hands. |
| Instrumental case | if an actor or force is meant, then the preposition by is used: | This machine can be operated only by a professional. | This device should only be operated by (who?) a professional. |
Verbs and tenses in English and German
Order of words in a sentence
English has a strict word order: Subject-Verb-Object(subject-predicate-object), which you can learn about from the article. In German this is not necessary because there are cases. Decide for yourself what is easier: constantly use strict word order or remember how words are declined by case.
The German listener knows that it was the hay that was thrown over the fence, and not the horse, because the case was used. The problem is that very often the word order in a Russian sentence cannot be directly translated when translated into English.
English and German verbs
In fact Verbs in English and German have a lot in common. In English there are right and wrong, in German there are strong and weak. They are also conjugated by subject and tense. Regarding the verb to be, then it will be declined differently in both English and German, see the table below for comparison.
Conjugation of the verb "to be" in English and German.
Times of English and German
Tenses in German are mainly expressed using six tense forms: present ( Präsens), past ( Präteritum, Perfect and Plusquamperfekt) and future ( Futurum I, II. Präsens and Präteritum). As you know, there are three tenses in the Russian language - past, present and future.
As a result, 16 tense forms can be obtained in English.
Table of tenses in English.
Table of times in German.
Words in German and English
Since English and German have common roots, they have many similar words. But don’t flatter yourself too much. There are also a lot of “scary” words in the German language, which are not only difficult to remember, but also difficult to read.
However, having learned certain reading rules (if you remember that they are much simpler and more logical than in English), you will easily learn to read them and remember them over time. See below for a comparison of similar words and diametrically opposed ones.
Comparison of words in Russian, English and German.
If you are going to learn English, you may come across the concept of homophones. Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. There are a huge number of them in English! For example, coarse-course; cue-queue; cymbal-symbol; site-site-sight; plane-plain; tacked-tact; reed-read and much, much more.
So how different are these two languages?
We looked at this issue from different angles. As you can see, there are both similar features and diametrically opposed ones. How difficult is it to study them? The answer to this question depends on various factors such as your plan of action, grammar and vocabulary, as well as your motivation and interest.
It all depends on one thing: only you have the right to decide and understand what is difficult for you and what is simple. With the right motivation and study plan, you can learn any language in no time.
Thus, when fearlessly starting to conquer German or English (or maybe two at once), be guided by these conclusions:
- German and English are not the most terrible and not the most difficult languages (for any foreigner, Russian is much more terrible).
- When starting to learn any language, you need to be prepared for certain difficulties. These difficulties will be associated with grammar, and with pronunciation, and with spelling, and with the semantic structure of the language, and with the customs of native speakers of this language.
- If you really want to learn a language, you need to strive to understand the customs and habits of native speakers of that language.
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Comparison of Russian and German languages
Both languages have the same parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, etc. The difference is that in the Russian language there is a gerund, and in the German language an article appears.
Both Russian and German nouns, adjectives, pronouns, ordinal numbers change according to gender, number and case. These grammatical features in German are usually shown by the article. Luckily for us, there are 4 German cases, not 6, as in Russian!
Adjectives and some adverbs in both languages have degrees of comparison.
Russian and German verbs change according to persons, that is, they are conjugated, according to numbers, according to tenses. There are more tenses in German than in Russian.
The members of the sentence (subject, predicate, object, definition, etc.) are also the same in both languages. In a German sentence, the word order is less free than in Russian. This presents a certain difficulty for us, but also disciplines us.
A German sentence cannot do without a verb, and we often forget to put the linking verb sein, which is almost always absent in a Russian sentence. And, of course, we completely lose sight of such an essential detail as a detachable prefix, which affects the meaning of the entire sentence.
We have touched only on the main similarities and differences that exist in both languages.
check yourself
Groß- und Kleinschreibung
When to write a word with a capital letter and when with a small letter? Which spelling is correct? The correct answers are at the end of the lesson.
Genießen (sie / Sie) das Wetter, auch wenn’s mal regnet! Es hat keinen Zweck, mit (ach und weh / Ach und Weh) hinter der Gardine zu sitzen, dem Regen zuzuschauen, das (Trübsalblasen / Trübsal blasen) zu üben oder vor lauter Verzweiflung zum (einkaufen / Einkaufen) zu fahren. Auch (Schimpfen / schimpfen) ist sinnlos, (Gutes / gutes) fällt nicht immer vom Himmel, aber man kann aus (allem / Allem) etwas (positives / Positives) machen. Der (eine / Eine) kann das vielleicht besser als der (andere / Andere). Wenn Sie ein (paar/Paar) Gummistiefel Ihr (Eigen/eigen) nennen, dann ist jetzt die Zeit, (sie/Sie) hervorzuholen. Tun Sie, was Sie in (ihren / Ihren) Kindertagen schon gerne taten: Springen Sie durch die Pfützen, durch die (kleinen und großen / Kleinen und Großen). Und weiter geht’s zur (Hohen / hohen) Straße oder rund um den (kölner / Kölner) Dom! Die ersten Schritte, eventuell die (Ersten / ersten) (Hundert / hundert), sind vielleicht etwas (ungewohnt / Ungewohnt, aber (alles in allem / Alles in Allem) tut es Ihnen nicht (leid / Leid), dass Sie sich hinausgewagt haben .Zurück im (trockenen / Trockenen) wird sich ein (jeder / Jeder) zu (recht / Recht) wohlfühlen – (dank / Dank) ausreichender Bewegung.Aber nicht vergessen: Genießen Sie die Sonne, wenn sie tatsächlich scheint!
How many words are there in the language?
When we talk about the number of words in a language, we usually mean the vocabulary that actually ensures communication between the majority of native speakers - of course, not excluding a number of commonly understood technical and scientific terms. This “common vocabulary” in the languages of modern industrialized countries amounts to approximately 200,000 words.
In Germanic languages - such as German or Swedish - the total number of words is greater than in Romance languages - primarily due to the fact that in Germanic languages compounding is much more widely used and, accordingly, many so-called compound words enter the dictionary. For example, a typewriter in Swedish is called by one word skrivmaskin, in Russian by two, and in French by three (machine à écrire). It is believed that the German language dictionary covers approximately 400,000 words, the Swedish - about 300,000.
As for the English language, it belongs to the Germanic languages, but it also contains quite a lot of Latin words, borrowed both directly and through Romance languages - descendants of Latin, primarily through the French language (which is why English is now often classified as Romance -Germanic languages). At the same time, in spoken English, about three-quarters of the most common, frequently occurring words are words of Germanic origin. As a result of this situation, the total number of words in the English language reaches half a million.
Next come the terms of science and technology that are known to many people and are used by them quite often, although not every day. For the most part, these are internationalisms. The number of such words can reach 500,000. By supplementing the “general dictionary” with these terms, we arrive at the so-called “combined national dictionary”, the volume of which is estimated at 700-800 thousand word forms.
And finally, the “complete dictionary” of the languages of the leading nations of the modern world is very large. According to rough estimates, it can include up to 30 million scientific and technical terms. It can also be called a "general international dictionary".
How many words do you need to know?
The fact that the language's dictionary contains approximately 300,000 words is of only theoretical interest to a beginner learning the language. Perhaps the main principle for the reasonable organization of your studies, especially at the initial stage, is the economy of words. You need to memorize as few words as possible, but do it as best as possible.
Let us emphasize: our approach is directly opposite to the leading principle of modern methods with an emphasis on the abundance of words “imposed” on the student. In accordance with their canons, a beginner needs to ask 200 new words every day.
Is there any doubt that any normal person will forget all the numerous words with which he was fed using this method, most likely in a few days.
Communication comes first. Forms of communication
Basic rules for using “you”/“you” (du/Sie)-forms
Establishing contact with an interlocutor and maintaining communication with him involves choosing forms with du or Sie in German.
Communication with “You” – Sie indicates politeness and is used when addressing:
to an unfamiliar, unfamiliar addressee;
in a formal communication setting;
with an emphatically polite, restrained attitude towards the addressee;
to an equal and senior (by age, position) addressee.
Communication on “you” – du is used when addressing:
to a well-known addressee;
in an informal communication setting;
with a friendly, familiar, intimate relationship with the recipient;
to an equal and junior (in age, position) addressee.
Addressing a younger person with “you” - du - to a younger person - a child, teenager, schoolchild, i.e. to a person who is not an adult - is also the norm in the German language. However, teachers in high schools and teachers in higher educational institutions often address students using “You” – Sie.
To attract attention. Addressing an unfamiliar recipient
In this case, the following forms are used:
Verzeihung! Verzeihen Sie! Sorry!
Entschuldigung! Entschuldigen Sie! Sorry!
Verzeihen (Entschuldigen) Sie bitte! Excuse me (Excuse me), please!
The following forms are used only when addressing a person who is busy with something, talking to someone, or when speaking on the phone:
Verzeihen (Entschuldigen) Sie bitte die Störung. / Verzeihen (Entschuldigen) Sie bitte, dass ich Sie störe. Sorry (sorry) for disturbing you.
A way to get attention can be to ask a polite question:
Können Sie mir /uns bitte sagen... Please tell me...
Entschuldigen Sie bitte /Entschuldigung, würden Sie mir sagen,… ? Excuse me, would you say...?
Entschuldigen Sie bitte /Entschuldigung, könnten Sie mir (nicht) sagen,… ? Excuse me, could you say... ?
Verzeihen Sie bitte (Verzeihung), wissen Sie nicht,... ? Sorry, you don't know...?
Seien Sie so gut... Please...
Seien Sie so nett... Please...
Wären Sie bitte so freundlich und würden Sie mir sagen,… ? Would you be so kind as to say...?
Können Sie mir nicht (sagen)… ? You can't (say)... ? / Can't you (say)... ? / Wouldn’t it be difficult for you (to say)... ?
Könnten Sie mir vielleicht (sagen)… ? Can you tell me)… ?
For example: – Please show me this book! – Seien Sie so nett und zeigen mir bitte dieses Buch!
A signal to attract attention can be:
Hör mal! Listen!
Hören Sie mal! Listen!
These expressions are more often used in the “you” form - du and are used mainly in relation to acquaintances, for example: - Listen, didn’t you take my textbook? – Hör mal, hast du mein Lehrbuch genommen?
A way to attract attention is also to ask permission to ask a question, have a conversation, etc.:
Darf (dürfte) ich (Sie) etwas fragen? May I ask you?
Darf (dürfte) ich Ihnen (dir) eine Frage stellen? Can I ask you a question?
Erlauben (Gestatten) Sie eine Frage? / Ich hätte gern eine Auskunft. / Könn(t)en Sie mir (bitte) eine Auskunft geben? May I ask (you)?
And also casual:
Darf (dürfte) ich Sie (dich) (mal) sprechen? / Kann (könnte) ich Sie (dich) (mal) sprechen? / Einen Moment bitte, ich habe (hätte) eine Frage! Can I see you for a minute?
We left the country of the “Soviets”
Which dictionary should I buy? Cheaper and smaller format? As for the first, everything is clear here. We save on what we can. And we completely forget the Russian proverb that is very suitable for this case: “The miser pays twice.” Let's say one thing about a small dictionary: it is only good if you have a large, good dictionary at home. And take this one with you as a lifesaver. It is no coincidence that it is called pocket-sized; it is convenient to always have it on hand.
What should you pay attention to when buying a dictionary? First, purely practical things.
1.It must have a hard cover. Otherwise it will quickly wear out. We are talking about a thick book, no less than 800-1000 pages. To prevent it from falling apart after two or three uses, the pages must be not just glued together, like thin school notebooks (such a book will fall apart into separate pages almost immediately), but bound together. The dictionary must have a spine on which the “German-Russian Dictionary” is usually written in two languages.
2.Open the book to any page. Look at the design of the text.
If the dictionary is in small, unclear font, do not take it.
It is necessary that the word, the meaning you are looking for, be clearly and boldly highlighted.
If your eyesight is poor, pay attention to the font the printing house used. Your eyes should feel comfortable when you use the reference book. Otherwise, you will waste your money, and an important book will gather dust on the shelf, and you will have to look for another one.
3.The more words and expressions included in the dictionary, the more valuable it is. But keep in mind that you may not find all the words whose meaning you don’t know there. As a rule, the most common, basic words are included in the dictionary.
4. It is advisable to buy not bilingual dictionaries in one book, but two editions “German-Russian” and “Russian-German”, at least 50 thousand words. We are talking about board books, not pocket editions. Those can be taken “two in one bottle”. You don’t know for sure what and at what moment you will need it: to see how a word is translated into Russian, or to say something in German.
Types of dictionaries
All the dictionaries we talked about are familiar reference books of various formats and volumes. They are general, divided into bilingual (possibly in several languages), and also explanatory, for example, like our well-known Dahl or Ozhegov dictionaries, which explain the meaning and use of words in their native language. There are also special dictionaries for different branches of science or areas of knowledge: medical, construction, phonetic, dictionary of synonyms, etc.
However, with the advent of computers, dictionary programs began to appear. This is a very convenient thing for those who have a computer at home. Just highlight the word you are interested in in the text, press the key combination, and all its meanings will appear in a separate window. In addition, there are portable bi- and trilingual electronic dictionaries. Their vocabulary is quite large. They are multifunctional and convenient. Their owner quickly and easily finds the right word. If desired, you can even voice it - a very useful thing that allows you to pronounce the word correctly.
Learning with fun. "Grammar" jokes
Lehrer: "Dekliniere 'Werwolf'! ""
Schüler: "Der Werwolf, des Weswolfs, dem Wemwolf, den Wenwolf."
Lehrer: “Klaus, du hast die gleichen Fehler im Diktat wie dein Nachbar. Wie erklärst du mir das?”
Klaus: "Wir haben denselben Deutschlehrer."
Im Deutschunterricht fragt der Lehrer: “Ich bade, du badest, er badet.” Was für eine Zeit ist das?”
Karl: “Samstagabend!”
Not good with the score
Gabi hat zu Hause 30 Mark gefunden, gibt sie ihrem Vater und sagt: “Ich möchte aber zehn Prozent Finderlohn.”
“Kommt nicht in Frage, fünf Mark kriegst du und damit basta!”, antwortet der Vater.
Der Lehrer in der Schule zu den Schülern:
– Ihr seid in Mathematik so schlecht, dass 60 Prozent eine Fünf im Zeugnis bekommen werden.
Fritzchen:
- Ha, ha, so viele sind wir ja gar nicht.
Answers to the task
Sie – Ach und Weh – Trübsalblasen – Einkaufen – beides möglich: Schimpfen / schimpfen – Gutes – allem – Positives – eine – andere – Paar – Eigen – sie – Ihren – kleinen und großen – Hohen Straße – Kölner – ersten – hundert – ungewohnt – alles in allem – leid – Trockenen – jeder – Recht – dank
It so happened that the whole world is learning English, and every Russian, starting to study it, considers it difficult, both grammatically and in pronunciation, but it is believed that English is one of the easiest to learn. And it’s difficult for us because this language is far from ours, so it will be much easier for us to study Belarusian than English or Spanish. Why, you ask. But because they distinguish between close languages by origin and pronunciation. Some languages even have the same words with the same meaning. In this article we will talk about which languages are similar.
A special science – linguistics – deals with the study and analysis of languages. Thanks to which there are classifications of languages. One of the classifications: genealogical, is based on the unification of languages related by origin into families and groups. According to this classification, related languages originated from one parent language, through its divergence into several dialects. A dialect is a type of language characteristic of a certain territory.
You can talk endlessly about which languages are similar. Who, if not the residents of our country, should know about the diversity of languages? After all, about two hundred independent languages and dialects coexist in Russia. If we talk about the closest related languages to Russian, then they include: Ukrainian and Belarusian. All three languages belong to the East Slavic languages, which are part of the Indo-European family of languages. Are you interested in languages similar to Russian? Without special skills, it will be difficult to understand any other language through the prism of the Russian language, but the least difficulties will arise when communicating with Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles. Although it is believed that Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles will understand each other better than a Russian person. In addition, the Bulgarian language has similarities with the Russian language. Here are a few identical Russian and Ukrainian words:
- Monday - Monday
- potatoes - potatoes
- Slavic - words "yansky"
- sister – sister
- table - table
- rich - rich
- hot - hot
- hi - hi
- smelly - smelly
Sometimes it’s not a problem to understand even whole phrases: teach children to read and write - teach children to read and write.
But it also happens that an identical-sounding word or phrase in different languages has completely different meanings, for example, čerstvý (Czech language) is translated as fresh into Russian, but sounds like stale. Similar situations with Czech words:
- voní - smells
- úžasny - amazing
- zapamatovat – remember
As you can see, determining whether two languages are similar or dissimilar is, in general, quite easy. But the similarity of languages itself can have different reasons, and linguists do not attach much importance to the similarity of languages as such. It is much more interesting to understand why two languages are similar.
Here, as we have already said, languages behave just like people. People who are similar to each other are primarily close relatives. Although this is not necessary: how few have we met sisters and brothers completely different - both in appearance and in character. On the other hand, it often happens that people who are not at all related to each other, but live together for a long time, become surprisingly similar, even more than brothers (it’s not for nothing that they say: whoever you get along with, you’ll get better from).
So are languages. Similar languages can be relatives - a little later we will explain in more detail what this means. But not all related languages are similar, and some similar languages are not related. Languages can also become similar because they live together for a long time, and many words from one language end up in another language.
How does this happen? Here, for example, is the English language. It has a very complex and peculiar history. Nowadays almost the whole world speaks English (entire states speak English in America, Australia, Asia, and Africa, and in other countries, like in Russia, in almost all schools its students at least a little, but they study) - and once upon a time (well, say, about seven hundred years ago) it was a language that was spoken only on several islands in northwestern Europe - one large and several smaller ones; these islands are called British. The peoples of these islands were ruled by conquerors, first (not for very long) Danish, and then (for much longer) Norman. The Danish conquerors spoke an ancient language similar to modern Danish or Swedish, and the Norman conquerors spoke another ancient language similar to modern French. It's called Old French. As a result, in modern English there are a lot of words similar to French words, although the closest relatives of the English language are the languages Dutch and German. Let's compare, as an example, several very common Dutch, German, English and French words (since some of you may not be able to read Dutch or Old French very well, just in case, under each word in Russian letters I wrote down its approximate pronunciation):
| Values | Dutch | German | English | Old French | Modern French |
| "eagle" | adelaar (adelar) | Adler (adler) | eagle (eagle) | aigle | aigle |
| "mountain" | berg (berkh) | Berg(berk) | mountain | montaine | montagne (montagne) |
| "flower" | bloem (bloom) | Blume (blume) | flower (flower) | flour (flour) | fleur (fleur) |
| "pigeon" | duif (deaf) | Taube | pigeon (pidgin) | pigeon | pigeon (dude) |
| "air" | lucht (lukht) | Luft (luft) | air | air (air) | air (er) |
| "chair" | stoel (chair) | Stuhl (stuhl) | chair | chaire (chair) | chaire "throne" (sher) |
| "world" | vrede (frede) | Frieden | peace (pis) | paiz (payz) | paix (pe) |
Isn’t it clear to see how much the English language has undergone French influence, moving away from its German and Dutch relatives? Please note that the appearance of English words is closer to the Old French version than to modern French: after all, French borrowings in English are very ancient. For example, in Old French the combination ch denoted the sound ch, and modern French pronounce it as sh; The English still pronounce this sound in French words the way the distant ancestors of today’s French pronounced it.
Of course, the English language is also similar to its close relatives - this can be seen from other English words that are not included in our table. For example, “mouse” in Dutch will be muis, in German Maus, and in English also mouse; but in French this word sounds completely different: souris (suri). But it is important that the English language turned out to be similar to French - and, of course, it is much more similar to it than the Dutch and German languages combined.
But it also happens the other way around - linguists know that two languages are related, but similar words in them - at a superficial glance - can hardly be identified. The French language also has close relatives - for example, Italian or Romanian. However, let’s try to compare a few French words at random with their Romanian and Italian “brothers”:
The similarity between Romanian and Italian words is very great (as befits real close relatives - the same was the case, if you remember, in the case of Russian and Belarusian languages): only some vowels and consonants (I wonder if you can tell exactly which ones?) slightly different. But the French language is very different. If you don’t know that it is related to Italian and Romanian (and we’ll tell you how linguists know this in the next chapter), then pairs such as o - acua or vo - vicel are unlikely to suggest such an idea. Look how French words are almost always shorter than Romanian and especially Italian ones, and how much the sounds in them change.
What have we found out? Languages are similar and dissimilar; in similar languages, most words are either completely identical or slightly different in pronunciation; The grammar of such languages is also similar. If languages are very similar, they are most likely related, but this is not necessary: there are relatives that are dissimilar to each other, and there are unrelated but similar languages.
After a while we will try to figure out what kindred languages are, and why some related languages are more similar to each other, while others are less similar. But first we need to learn about some important properties of all languages in general.