John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1756

A reader suggests that she is too old to learn to read the German language (? or to speak it or to read the script ?).  I will bet that she is younger than I am.  Neither of us needs to divulge our age.  I approach it (script reading) slowly and in small steps.

In trying to learn to read the script, the first thing was to procure a microfilm in which you have some interest.  Most likely that will be through an LDS Family History Center.  For a small fee you can get the film on a permanent loan, though you must use it at the Center.  If it is an unusually difficult one, try another one.

The first thing that I am doing is to make out the names of the parents, the child's name, and the date.  The given names are the easiest part because there is a limited number and before long you will be recognizing these at a glance.  Don't worry that you can't find every " e " and " i " in Heinrich; they may not be there.  But Heinrich has a pattern to it and try for the pattern.  When you have the given names well in hand, work on the individual letters in the name.  How do they make them?  Can you see the " c " between the " s " and the " h "?  What does a " C " look like?  What does an " L " look like?  This is learning your letters.  Study the different ways the same letter can be made.

At the LDS Center, print out a few pages of the film to take home.  Then you can spend more time with them.  Later, you will want another writer's work.

The sponsors and the comments about the parents and sponsors, are the hardest.  Don't sweat these.  Eventually you will be reading them also.  (A German dictionary will be handy and remember that some spellings have changed.)  The comments other than the names will be hardest, because at first you are not sure what the writer wants to talk about.

A German's favorite letter must be the " S ".  They use it so much that they have developed several different ways of writing it.  The style of it depends on where it occurs in the word.  One form of it is used only as a capital first letter.  It is different from most everything else, so it is favorite.  Another form of the " s " is used when a single " s " is the last letter in the word.  Sometimes you have to stop and think whether it is an " s " or a " d ".  On the interior of a word, or end of a word, a special form is used if there are two consecutive " s's " in the same syllable.  But if the two " s's " are in different syllables, then the ' double s ' is not used.  (You can have three " s's " in a sequence if one syllable ends in a double " s " and this is joined with a syllable which starts with an " s ".  These are special cases, and not likely to be encountered.)  A single " s " on the interior is a form which requires it to start to below the line.  The trickier part consists of how the " s " joins to other letters.  As the writing transitions from the " s " to another letter, say an " h ", a " c " may get thrown in.  These are often hard to see.
(11 Sep 03)