Language Course From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection Contents

Vocabulary and Grammar
In learning to read or speak any language with which you have minimal acquaintance (that is, are not a 
native speaker of), the two aspects to be mastered are vocabulary and grammar. Acquiring vocabulary 
is a "simple" matter of memorization. For the language(s) we learn as children, this process is so 
transparent that we have trouble conceiving of the importance of having a large vocabulary. By the age 
of conscious recognition of our communicating with others through speech, we have already learned 
the meaning of thousands of words. Even words we have trouble defining, we readily understand their 
use in conversation. This process can be "reactivated," as it were, by immersion in a second language: a 
method of learning a new language by moving to a place where that language is spoken and having to 
get around and live without use of one's native tongue.
Absent the opportunity of residing in a German-speaking area, the student of German must put forth 
substantial effort to learn words, including what they mean, how to pronounce them, and how they are 
used in sentences. Be sure to "learn"—commit to memory—all of the vocabulary words in each lesson 
as they are presented. Early lessons have simple sentences because it is assumed that the student's 
vocabulary is limited. But throughout the text, more complex discourses (often as photo captions) are 
included to introduce the student to regular German in use. It may be helpful to translate these using a 
German-English dictionary (access to one is a must; see 
Appendix 5
 for on-line options). Other sources 
of German, such as newspapers, magazines, web sites, etc., can also be useful in building vocabulary 
and developing a sense of how German words are put together. The 
German Wikipedia
 provides an 
ever expanding source of German language articles that can be used for this purpose. Further, a 
German version of the Wikibooks project—a library of textbooks in German—is available at 
German 
Wikibooks
.
German grammar is more complex than, but sufficiently similar to, English that "reading" German is 
possible with minimal vocabulary in the sense that the student should generally recognize the parts of a 
sentence. With a good dictionary, an English speaker can usually translate a German sentence close to 
correctly. However, to accurately speak and understand German, you must learn how each word 
functions in a sentence. There are eight basic grammatical functions: