German words

Reasons for German are compelling and German tuition might surprise you! German is easier than you think and it does not deserve its reputation of being more difficult to learn than other European languages.

An Indo- European Language

26% of English vocabulary has shared roots with German. As a language teacher, it is my experience that German is easier to start with than many other languages. Undoubtedly, there are many words which are the same or nearly the same (cognates and near-cognates), e.g. Kindergarten, Garten, Hand, Finger, Nase, Haus…

In addition, the structure of German is close to English, as they both belong to the group of 36 other “Germanic” languages, including Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Yiddish. They are the so called Indo- European Languages. The Northern Geordie Dialect is very similar to German – as many German visitors to the North East have discovered! Also the low German dialect – Plattdeutsch – bears some similarities to English.

More reasons for German

Learning German will also give you important insights into the history and structure of English. Also, it will give you a head start learning any of the other Germanic languages. In brief, these are some of the many reasons for studying German from a linguistic perspective!

Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.

Flora Lewis – American journalist