Collins Gem. Collins Dictionaries

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       Time phrases

       Public holidays

       Phonetic maps

       Grammar

       Dictionary

English – German	A – C
	D – F
	G – I
	J – L
	M – O
	P – R
	S – U
	V – Z
German – English	A – C
	D – F
	G – I
	J – L
	M – O
	P – R
	S – U
	V – Z

       LIFELINE words and phrases

       About the Publisher

Pronouncing German

      In this book you are given the pronunciation of the phrases so that you will soon be able to recognize the different sounds. (The stressed syllable is marked in bold.) Here are a few rules you should know:

German	sounds like	example	pronunciation
a	cup/father	das/Abend	das/ahbent
e	bed/hair	Bett/Meer	bet/mehr
o	not/road	oft/rot	oft/roht
u	put/boot	Nummer/gut	noommer/goot
ai/ay	pie	Mai/Mayer	my/my-er
au	now	Auto	owtoh
ei/ey	pie	eine/Meyer	yn-e/my-er
eu	toy	neun	noyn
ie	keep	sie	zee
ch	loch	wach	vakh
j	yes	jagen	yahgen
qu	dark violet	Quittung	kvittoong
s	dress dizzy ship	es sie sprechen	es zee shprekh-en
ß	juice	Fuß	foos
th	tea	Theater	teh-ahter
v	fan	von	fon
w	van	wir	veer
z	pets	Zimmer	tsimmer

      Umlauts

German	sounds like	example	pronunciation
ä	bed/hair	hätte/spät	het-e/shpeht
äu	boy	läutet	loytet
ö	Arthur/fur	können/Höhe	kur’nen/hur’-e*
ü	duke/due	dürfen/Mühe	duerfen/mue-e

      * ur’ as in hurt without the r pronounced

      A final e is always pronounced, but weakly like the e in the: Seide (zy-de), bitte (bit-e).

      An underline indicates a short vowel, e.g. Mutter (mootter), Mörder (murder), Küste (kueste).

      If an h is added after the vowel, the sound is longer, e.g. Tag (tahk), Mädchen (meht-khen), Leben (lehben), hoch (hohkh).

Top ten tips

      1 Germans may close doors more often than you are used to, but a closed door does not necessarily mean that the person cannot be disturbed. They are probably happy to receive you if you knock before entering.

      2 If someone holds an academic title it’s always polite to use it.

      3 When introduced to an adult, address them by their title and surname until they suggest using first names.

      4 If the person you are talking to sneezes, say ‘Gesundheit’ (bless you!).

      5 Shake hands when you get introduced to an adult.

      6 In restaurants in general, wait until everyone is served before you dig in, and say ‘Guten Appetit!’ before you start. The latter is not entirely necessary, but considered good form.

      7 Always use the polite ‘Sie’ form, except with friends and colleagues of your own age.

      8 When asked ‘Wie geht es Ihnen?’ you should respond by first thanking them, saying ‘Danke, gut’.

      9 Answer the phone by using your surname: ‘Bader, hallo’; if you’re at work, then follow this with the name of your company.

      10 Sundays are sacred. It’s the ‘Ruhetag’ so you should be aware that noise is kept to a minimum.

Talking to people

Hello/goodbye, yes/no

      When Germans meet they generally shake hands. The words for Mr and Mrs are Herr and Frau. Note that Fräulein (Miss) is no longer used, as it sounds rather patronizing.

Please/Don’t mention it	Bittebit-e
Thanks (very much)	Danke schön dang-ke shur’n
Yes	Ja yah
No	Nein Скачать книгу В начало < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 > В конец