subject: Learning German: What Is Difficult and What Is Not? [print this page] Learning German: What Is Difficult and What Is Not?
Some aspects of German are indeed difficult, while in other ways, German can be relatively easy to learn. Here is an overview.
Difficulty #1. Nouns have genders
English uses the articles "the" and "a". When you learn German, you will find that nouns fall in different groups: (1) Masculine, (2) Feminine and (3) neutral. "The" becomes "der" with masculine, "die" with feminine and "das" with neutral verbs. E.g.
Der Mann (the man)
Die Frau (the woman)
Das Auto (the car)
Difficulty #2. Noun cases
But that is not all. What article to use, and how adjectives and nouns end is also affected by their place in the sentence. It is a bit hard to imagine if you have no earlier experience with thus, but this example will help you illustrate. In English, we can say "the dog bites the man". If it is the man who did the biting, we just swap "dog" and "man" and that makes the new sentence. In German, the article and in some cases the noun endings will also change.
However, German is not just difficult. When you learn German, you will find that there are a number of other things that you do not need to worry about.
Easy #1. Phonetic script
For non-native speakers, pronouncing words is made difficult because the writing system is not consistent. Consider how you pronounce 'garage' vs. 'age'. The letters a-g-e are pronounced totally differently. There is no such thing in German: its spelling is very consistent with pronunciation. Once you know how to pronounce each letter, you can read text accurately, even if you do not know what you are reading.
Easy #2. Structure
German is a very structured language, and while this can be a pain when you need to structure your own sentence, it makes the language easier to learn once you understand the rules. Know the rules and you will not face many exceptions
Easy #3. Related to English
German and English are both Germanic languages, which makes that many words have a familiar sound. Examples:
Haus (house)
Auto (car)
Mann (man, husband)
Conclusion
Some aspects of the German language are difficult, but on the other hand, it compensates for that through its straightforward pronunciation, structure, and relatedness to English. Learning a language is always a challenge, and German is no exception.
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