Many words in German and English have their origin in the international language bank. Some of these come from the Greek and Latin. Many other words are introduced when the need arises, and sometimes they spread directly to other languages. A good example of this can be seen on many German web pages where one even gets confused as to which language is being used. For example, "click" may be given that way or it may be given as "klick". Use your "mouse" or "Maus". Sometimes the word is "computer" but sometimes it is "Komputer". Some other words that are used in common are, using German, das Radio, das Café, das Hotel, das Motel, das Casino, das Milieu, das Restaurant, das Hobby, das Radar, and das Sofa .
While there are many similarities between the German and English vocabularies, the words are put together using different rules to make sentences.
The text book we are using is more than one hundred pages long, and we are only up to page 6 or so (having skipped a few parts). Believing that you may not be willing to follow through with the complete set of exercises, I think that I will terminate the lessons.
One thing that amuses me is the declaration by some people that such and such a way is the correct way to spell a name. One questions that immediately arises is, "Correct for whom?" It, of course, depends on where you are as to how a name will be spelled. If you go from area one to area two, you will probably carry along the pronunciation. In the new area, the same thing may be spelled differently. A German arriving in Virginia with the name Koch is told that he is Cook. The underlying word had the same meaning but different letters are used.
Looking at one name in particular, chosen at random, we will take the name of a farm in Austria which goes by the name Plankenbichl. In Austria, the word "bichl" means hill. The people who live on the farm add "er" to denote they are from the farm. In Austria, there are people who call themselves Plankenbichler and Blankenbichler, but mostly the former. Even here, the confusion exists in the initial letter. When these people moved over to Germany, the "B" dominated over the "P", but both forms exist. The biggest change, though, was to substitute another word which also means hill. That is "bühl". Thus, the most common form in Germany is Blankenbühler, with just a few Plankenbühlers thrown in. On this side of the Atlantic, other variations occur, and we yield to no one in the number of spellings which we use.
It gave the mayor of Gresten-Land in Austria great delight to call me Johann Plankenbichler. It was his belief that was the correct way to spell the name. So just call me Hans.
(12 May 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.