Guten Tag!

Let’s warm um with our Tagesminiplausch und Wiederholung.

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you learned how to ask where someone lives, say where your family lives, ask someone where they are from, and say where your family is from.  Let’s review!

Lektionsüberblick

In this lesson, we will talk about our family relationships, family origins, and German-speaking countries. In the end, you will be able to 1) say where your extended family’s ancestors are from and 2) list the German-speaking countries.

Was weißt du schon?

Before starting this lesson, you should be able to say where your ancestors are from, which language(s) you speak at home, and list some German-speaking countries. Practice your proficiency with these skills below. If you don’t feel confident, a link to material that will help prepare you is below.

Hallo! Ich heiße Sandor. Ich wohne jetzt in Luxemburg. Meine Vorfahren kommen aus Ungarn.

1) Say where your ancestors are from

Where do your ancestors (Vorfahren) come from? Look at the list of some European countries. Find the countries that are important to your family heritage and listen to the how they are pronounced.

Länder (Countries)

2) List the German-speaking countries.

Germany is the most well-known of the German-speaking countries and you’ve learned the other three countries, in which German is the official language (die Amtssprache). Look again at the chart. The blue-highlighted countries have significant German-speaking populations.

Not all German is the same. In general, you are learning standard German in this class. However, like most languages, there exist different dialects (or variations) of German within Germany itself and in other German speaking countries. This means that the vocabulary, the pronunciation, and even the grammar might be different. Look below for some examples, and be sure to check out the videos that demonstrate the differences. Viel Spaß!

There are most definitely other variations of German, and please don’t hesitate to investigate dialects that you might be drawn to. This is just ein bißchen of what is out there for you to discover.

*As you conclude this lesson, don’t forget to check Canvas!*