How to Learn the Basic Word List 235
in Scots loch> but is nearer the sound of h in hew after the
front vowels A, E, I,0, l!f, e g, m mcht (not)
(11) S alone at the beginning of a word, e g See (lake) or syllable,
e g lesen (read) is the z sound of 5 in buys Before P or T at the
beginning of a word, S (= SCH elsewhere) is like sh in ship A
double SS or a single S at the end of a word is the true s sound
ofbhss, e g Fuss (foot), das (the)
(111) Z always stands for the t$ in cats, e g Zww^e (tongue). This is a
convention peculiar to Geiman.
(iv) As in Dutch, W = v in voice, e g Wasser (water) and either F or
V ^fmfind^ e g Feder (feather) or Vater (father)
(v) As in all Teutonic dialects (other than English), J = y as in
yeary e g in Ja (yes),
(vi) NG is like ng in bmg9 e g. Finger is pronounced by analogy to
wnger> not to its English equivalent
(vii) CHS = ksy e g in Ochs, ox, and QU = kv, e g in Quarz or
Quelle (spring).
In German, as in all Teutonic languages other than English, the
personal pronoun of polite address (Sie) in its several guises (Ihnen, etc )
begins with a capital letter In German as in Danish and Norwegian
correspondence, the same applies to DM, etc The custom of using a
capital for the nominative of the ist person singular is peculiarly Anglo-
American In German as in Danish orthography nouns are labelled by
an initial capital letter, e g der Schnee (the snow) This habit, which
slows down the speed of typing, did not become fashionable till the
middle of the sixteenth century Luther's Bible follows no consistent
plan, e g the opening verses of the Old Testament are
Im anfang schuff Gott Himmel und Erden Und die Erde war wust
und leer, und es war finster auf der Tieffe, Und der Geist Gottes
schwebet auf dem Wasser Und Gott sprach, Es werde hecht, Und
es ward hecht Und Gott sahe, dass das hecht gut war, Da scheided
Gott das Liecht von Finsterms, und nennet das hecht, Tag, und die
finisternis, Nacht Da ward aus abend und morgen der Erste tage
Simple German words and compound nouns are stressed on the first
syllable, e g Kfichin (cook), drbeiten (work), Bierfass (beer vat) Foreign
words usually carry the stress on the last syllable, eg. Organisation >
Resultdt (lesult), Fabrik (factory) Words beginning with the prefixes be~>
ge-y er-y emp-3 ent-> ver-> zer~, miss- accent the basic element, e g, be~
gl&ten (accompany), erlauben (allow), vergdssen (forget).
The second sound-shift docs not exist in the everyday speech of
ordinary folk in North Germany It goes without saying that people
who speak Dutch and North German or Plait dialects, can understand
one another. Anyone who can read German should be able to" read
Dutch. To do so it is only necessary to recall the sound-changes cited