1. German and English
Cousin German and Cousin English
German – not that different after all
German and English: not just related through the
Royals
German and English: Like Albert and Victoria

2. Learning a language isn't only about learning
vocabulary and grammar.
It's also about understanding where it comes
from, because languages are organic and
always on the move.

3. Language exists within a national, political and
cultural context.
It is spoken by people, after all!

4. So what about German?

5. English and German are both part of the “West
Germanic Languages” branch.
This might be all Greek to you, but what it means
is that these two languages are actually pretty
closely related – a bit like Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert, if you like...

6. If English and German are closely related, we
should be looking out for similarities...

7. For example:
Hand
Any guesses what this could be....?

8. Yes.
Hand.
Pretty easy...

9. What about:
Schule
?

10. Not too difficult:
Schule means “school”.

11. Schule = school
Hand = hand

12. But what about:
Schiff
?

13. It's “ship”.

14. And
Tür
?

15. It's “door”.

16. Schiff = ship
Die Tür = door
Not so similar anymore...

17. So what's happened here?
How come some words are nearly identical and
others only vaguely similar?

18. The
“High German consonant shift”
or
“Second Germanic consonant shift”
is what happened.

19. Doesn't mean anything to you?
Not surprising. This is pretty specialised linguistic
stuff.

20. Nevertheless, if we have a quick look at what this
“consonant shift” is about, it will help you keep
an eye open for German words you might be
able to understand through deduction.

21. So, to make a mole hill out of a mountain, this is
what this “consonant shift” is about*:
At some point between the 3rd and 5th century, the
consonants in some words of the German
language “shifted”, that is to say, changed into
other consonants.
These shifts didn't happen in the English
language. This “consonant shift” is one of the
major stages where English and German
branched off from each other.
*please keep in mind that this a very simplified
explanation!

22. For example, p in German became an f:
Schiff
In English however, this shift did not take place,
so the p stayed a p:
That's why we still have:
ship

23. In German, the t became an s:
was
In English, the t stayed a t:
what

24. And a final example, in German, the d became a
t:
rot
Tür
which mean
red
door

25. hand – Hand
school - Schule
ship - Schiff p> f
door - Tür d>t
red – rot d>t
what – was t>s

26. There are plenty of words which will look similar,
and now that you know what signs to look out
for, you might be able to guess what some of
them mean on your own!