Teach English in Xiuqi Zhen - Chongqing

Problems for English learners from GermanyBecause I am living in germany and will teach English here, I have chosen to focus my paper on some of the learning issues that Germans have. I am very mindful of the differences between English and German, as I am also a German student and constantly compare the two languages to help me understand and speak German better. While both English and German belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family and share many features, English has some unique characteristics that pose some difficulties for German learners. Differences that students can have problems with including alphabet pronunciation, phonology, grammar, false friends in vocabulary, mispronunciations that create comical meanings, as well as other more trivial differences. There are areas where English is much easier than German that can still create small mistakes. Most specifically, English does not gender specific articles and has no inflection, or changed endings, when using adjectives. While this makes vocabulary and sentence building a little easier, it can be a challenge for Germans to leave the gender rules out of speaking and at times they refer to objects as he and she rather than it. Specific alphabet pronunciation that need to be noted are the English e and r, which are commonly written as i or a by German learners. They also have the umlauted letters which can be made up of several different vowel combinations in English. The sounds of the letters also differ slightly in English. In addition to vowel differences, specific issues that German learners have are with the th sound and w. There is no th sound within the German language and w is pronounced like a v. Making winning sound like vinning and the, this or that a bit more challenging to say. It will be important as a teacher to plan extra drills to work through these specific challenges. The verb tenses can also be a grammar point that challenges the German learner as there is no continuous tense in German and present simple tense can be used in German for future activities where English uses the future tenses with will. These differences can lead to German learners saying I eat my dinner or I tell him when I see him rather than I´m eating my dinner or I will tell him when I see him1. However, the most challenging verb tense can be the past. Generally in German the past is created with have or is and the past participle. One simple example of this is Ich habe getrunken, which when translated to English would be ?I have drunk?, which in error might be said rather than the past simple tense ? I drank?1. The positioning of the parts of speech to create a sentence can also be a challenge, as in German the verb always comes in the second place of a sentence, except when it is a dependent clause, where the verb comes at the end of the clause. Consequently the English structure of subject + verb can be difficult when there is an introductory clause or when creating a compound sentence using therefore or because. The German learner can also find it difficult to use multiple verbs together, as they place the primary verb in the second position within a sentence and the subordinate verbs at the end of the sentence with all other parts of speech in between. As with many languages, there are international words that are easy to understand and similar words that unfortunately have a different meaning. These false friends include aktuell in German which is current not actual and also in German is so not in addition to. Spelling is another area that can be challenging, but I believe this is true for all learners of English, even native speakers. Specific for Germans they have k´s in place of many c´s in English words. An e at an end of a word is always pronounced in German and silent in English, so it is often a challenge for a German to spell English words that end in the silent e. The issues with e and k are just small problems in a larger spelling quandary that is created by the English language. Having been asked more than once why we don´t spell enough as enuff, I see the complexity, but must always answer with a smile, ?because it´s English?. There are also differences in capitalization and punctuation between German and English. In German all nouns are capitalized and punctuation is considered stricter and not left so much to the whim of a writer to determine use or elimination based on the mood or message. Therefore you will find unnecessary punctuation in sentences as well as common nouns capitalized. On a lighter note, some common english expressions are incorrectly said by Germans and create some comical meanings. For example, acts of love has been said as eggs of love, or New Haven as New Heaven and possibly it is a heaven like place to visit. Jet lag can be said as jet leg and a personal favorite is Batman as Bedman2. I know I enjoy Batman films, but Bedman films may not be for everyone. Because my husband speaks English as a second language, we have experienced several funny moments with some of these. What's more it is fortunate that these can all be corrected over time with practice. Having reviewed these most common areas, I believe I will be better prepared to work with German students and to structure activities to eliminate them earlier in the learning process so they don´t become a lingering problem for my German learners. Footnote 1 Examples have been directly taken from The differences between English and German. 2 Examples taken from Pronunciation problems References The differences between English and German, Frankfurt International School, Paul Shoebottom 1996 ? 2011. http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/german.htm Pronunciation problems, Deutscher Michel 2006 in German http://www.deutschermichel.com/articles/article-00i01m.htm Top 10 German Mistakes Hpde Flippo http://german.about.com/cs/grammar/a/mistakes5_2.htm