In 1897, Mark Twain wrote: „A person who has not studied German can form no idea of what a perplexing language it is. Surely there is not another language that is so slip-shod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp.“
Is German difficult?
The German language is definitely a challenge. Especially in a
German course for beginners there’s a lot to discover. …
Mark Twain refers above mainly to two aspects of German:
There are three articles – masculine, feminine and neutral – which are declined in four cases. So when you look over a text, you see lots of “der,” “den,” “ein,” “einen” and so on, and many words look similar, but have different endings, such as “gut,” “gute,” “guten,” “gutes.” This is no reason to panic. I can explain it to you!
The second interesting point is the so-called “Satzklammer,” or sentence bracket. In many sentences the verb – which tells us what the protagonist is doing – is located at the end. Thus, it’s extremely important to read or listen until the end of the sentence, so you know, for example, if someone has bought, sold, seen or stolen a car. But not to worry – with a little practice, you’ll soon get the hang of it!
German in Luxembourg
There are around 100 million people who speak German. They live in Germany, in Austria, in Switzerland … and, of course, also in Luxembourg.
In addition to French and Luxembourgish, German is one of the three official languages in Luxembourg. Expats are often confronted with German in everyday life,
- for example, in administration and in official offices.
- It is also exciting to explore the region on the other side of the border. A visit to the Roman monuments in Trier and a meal at a restaurant in the historic city center are the perfect weekend outing.
- The official language in large companies is, of course, English, but there are many business contacts in Germany, and also many colleagues speak to each other in German, for example in their coffee break.
- Knowing German also helps to understand Luxembourgish.
So there are many reasons to take a German course in Luxembourg!
