How hard of a language is German to learn?

7 Responses to “How hard of a language is German to learn?”

1. Gespenst on July 3rd, 2007 2:13 pm
   

   not so hard, where I live children at 2 years old learn to use it.
   So, how hard can it be if even babies can do it?
   References :
   native
2. Caicos Turkey on July 3rd, 2007 2:14 pm
   

   German is very easy to start and then gets harder. It is very different from French and you will probably tend to like one more than the other. Unless you go ahead and have a go, you'll never find out for yourself whether you prefer the romance languages or the Teutonic languages. Please give it a try!
   References :
3. brian on July 3rd, 2007 2:15 pm
   

   Most English speakers find Spanish or French easier to learn than German. I found the opposite to be true. German is a complicated language in terms grammar, but it is very structured and it has few exceptions.

   Pronunciation of German also has few exceptions, and does not have multiple silent letters like French.

   German isn't "nice" to listen to like a romance language, but it is better than Dutch….LOL
   References :
   20 yr German speaker.
4. lizzie on July 3rd, 2007 2:15 pm
   

   German is written phonetically and is closer to English than French but the grammar is harder than French grammar as in German there are more genders for nouns and the definite and indefinite articles ( the / a/an ) all change according to the case of a sentence and any adjectives you use with these nouns must match the gender and case. Here are some examples.
   das Buch = the book
   Das Buch ist gut. The book is good.
   Das ist ein gutes Buch. That is a good book.
   Ich lese das gute Buch. I am reading the good book.
   Ich lese ein gutes Buch. I am reading a good book.
   Der Autor meines guten Buches… The author of my good book …
   References :
5. jusso on July 3rd, 2007 2:42 pm
   

   finnish is much easier…..
   References :
6. Deus ex Machina on July 3rd, 2007 5:29 pm
   

   If you knew Latin it would be much easier to learn the German language.
   But even if you knew Latin German is much harder to learn.
   The adjective shows three declination-schemes depending on which accompanying word you have to choose (definite article, indefinite article or no article).
   P. ex.
   the great man
   der groß-e Mann

   a great man
   ein groß-er Mann

   great man
   groß-er Mann

   You have to differentiate and learn four cases:
   Nom.: der Mann
   Gen.: des Mann-es
   Dat.: dem Mann
   Akk.: den Mann

   Linked with the definite article and an adjective you got:
   Nom.: der groß-e Mann
   Gen.: des groß-en Mann-es
   Dat.: dem groß-en Mann
   Akk.: den groß-en Mann

   If you have to use the indefinite article you got:
   Nom: ein groß-er Mann
   Gen.: ein-es groß-en Mann-es
   Dat.: ein-em groß-en Mann
   Akk.: ein-en groß-en Mann

   Without any article you got the same forms without the indefinite article:
   Nom: groß-er Mann
   Gen.: groß-en Mann-es
   Dat.: groß-em Mann
   Akk.: groß-en Mann

   This is the masculine gender; in German you have also the feminine and the neuter gender:
   the man – the woman – the child
   der Mann – die Frau – das Kind

   Okay, masculine and neuter gender are declinated similarily, except of the Akk. neutr. which is formally identical with the Nominative (as in Latin).

   This is much harder than in French where no declination is found.
   Somewhat likened these both languages are in their conjugation of the verbs – this conjugation shows a multifarious picture of forms and irregular verbs.
   Take the personal endings of a regular verb in present time:
   fragen (to ask)
   ich frag-e
   du frag-st
   er/sie/es frag-t
   wir frag-en
   ihr frag-t
   sie frag-en

   German is my maternal language and I estimate it – but as we natural speakers of German say:
   "Deutsche Sprach', schwere Sprach'." That means:
   "German language is a hard language."
   But hey, we love it – otherwise there wouldn't so much stuff to discuss and argue.
   References :
7. Gerr F on July 4th, 2007 9:10 pm
   

   Look at the fastest and most effective way to learn German on this planet.

   http://german.learning-languages.info

   You can speak German Confidently and Naturally in less than 8 weeks!
   References :

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