German and English are both Germanic languages. They both originated from the Indo-European language family on the Germanic side. About 100 million people all over the world speak German, with Germany, Austria and certain regions of Switzerland regarding it as their official language. Because English and German come from the same language family, they share many similar traits. However, there are still some aspects in which they differ significantly.

Difference in Alphabet

The German and English alphabet have the same 26 letters, with the addition of umlauted letters in German, the ä, ö, ü, and the ß (scharfes S or double-s). Because of this, German speaking individuals typically have difficulties in spelling English words.

Difference in Phonology

There are not many significant differences between the English and German sounds. Furthermore, the inflection and stress patterns are quite similar. However, there are some points where their differences are evident.

For one, there are no /th/ sounds in the German language, as in "think" and "the". "W" placed at the beginning of the word acquires the sound of /v/. Thus, do not be surprised when you hear German-native speakers pronounce "wine" as "vine" or "we" as "ve".

In German, "ch" takes on various sounds. For example, in the word Geschicht, the first "ch" sounds like "sh" as in shovel, while in pronouncing the second "ch", you need to push your tongue to your palate. "Ch" may also take the sound of "ch" in Loch.

German pronunciation is not so difficult to master when you are an English speaker.

Difference in Grammar

German grammar is a bit complex. It should be noted though, that the current state of the language has already been streamlined, removing archaic grammatical rules. The following are some major differences between English and German grammar.

· German nouns have genders, whereas English nouns generally don't. Unlike Romance languages where nouns take on one of two genders; gender nouns in the German language can be one of the three - Neuter, Feminine or Masculine. It is important to know the noun's gender since everything in the sentence should correspond with the gender. What makes it difficult is that the genders of these nouns are not easily evident.

· Nouns in the German language are written with capital letters all the time.

· German employs inflection to give meaning to words. Depending on their purpose, the parts of the speech change accordingly.

· Verbs in a German phrase generally come last. The verbs are usually preceded by auxiliaries, more verbs and infinitives before the sentence is completed.

· The German language is more exacting with punctuations than the English language.

Difference in Vocabulary

Many German words are distinctly long. These are typically composed of several root words which were reused and combined to create a new word with a new meaning. Though German and English have numerous similar-sounding words, many of them are actually do not have the same meaning.

Though it may be true that German is a demanding language to learn, it is quite rewarding if you have taken the time to master it.

I am a language teacher living in Asia. I have over a decade of experience teaching all ages a variety of subjects. For free German info and lessons, please visit my blog here.

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