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2.4 Herkunft

Grüß Gott!

Let’s warm um with our Tagesminiplausch und Wiederholung.

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you learned how to say where you live and where you are from. Let’s review!

Lektionsüberblick

In this lesson, we will talk about our family origins. In the end, you will be able to 1) say where your ancestors are from, 2) say which language(s) you speak at home, and 3) list some German-speaking countries.

1) Say where your ancestors are from

Woher kommen deine Vorfahren? Where do your ancestors 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)

Deutschland Germany Irland Ireland
Österreich Austria Schweden Sweden
die Schweiz Switzerland Norwegen Norway
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein Finnland Finland
Belgien Belgium die Türkei Turkey
die Niederlande
 the Netherlands Ungarn Hungary
Luxemburg Luxemburg Bulgarien Bulgaria
Dänemark Denmark Estland Estonia
Frankreich France Griechenland Greece
Polen Poland Litauen Lithuania
Tchechien Czech Republic Lettland Latvia
Italien Italy Portugal Portugal
Spanien Spain Romänien Romania
England England die Ukraine Ukraine
Schottland Scotland
➡️ Don’t see the country you are looking for? ThoughtCo has an extensive list of countries and languages translated into German.

Now, read about Sandor and answer the questions that follow (be sure to click through to each question).

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

Remember: After you’ve responded to the question “Wo wohnst du?”,

you can ask the question back by simply saying “Und du?“

Jetzt bist du dran!

Woher kommen deine Vorfahren? Where are your ancestors from? Look up the countries that are important to your heritage. Then compose a complete sentence saying where your ancestors are from. Use Sandor’s description as an example.
Now record this in German in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

 

2) Say which languages you speak

Was sprichst du zu Hause? Welche Sprachen sprichst du? What do you speak at home? What languages do you speak? Besides Englisch, what other languages can you recognize below?

Sprachen (Languages)

Deutsch German Russisch Russian
Englisch English Japanisch Japanese
Spanisch Spanish Tagalog Tagalog
Chinesisch Chinese eine uramerikanische Sprache* a Native American language
Französisch French

➡️ Don’t see your language? Go here for a list of German names for the 45 most commonly spoken languages around the world.


➡️ *Go here for a list of German names for Native American languages.

Let’s practice saying which languages we speak at home with the questions below. Be sure to click through to each question.

🎬You can watch Nicos Weg and Nico and his friends discuss, where they are from and the languages they speak. You can check your comprehension by completing this activity.

Jetzt bist du dran!

Welche Sprache sprichst du zu Hause? Answer this question with a complete sentence in your journal (Zu Hause spreche ich [insert language].).
Then record yourself saying this sentence aloud in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

3) List some German-speaking countries

Germany is the most well-known of the German-speaking countries. But did you know that there are several countries, in which German is the official language (die Amtssprache)? The top four German-speaking countries are:

Deutschland Germany die Schweiz Switzerland
Österreich Austria Liechtenstein Liechtenstein

Review the presentation below and answer the questions within to learn about the top 4 German-speaking countries.

 

Österreich im Blickpunkt

Austrian German versus German: Some differences

In Germany there are many dialects, which means the sounds of words and even some vocabulary can differ in small and even big ways depending on the region you are in. The same holds true for the German spoken in Austria: Austrian German or Österreichisches Deutsch. If you are curious about some differences between Austrian German and German, you can watch this video to hear some examples of differences in both pronunciation and vocabulary. You can take it a step further by watching this video about the different dialects within Österreich.

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

In welchen Ländern ist Deutsch die Hauptsprache? Which countries have German as an official language? Answer the question in your journal. Be sure to use the German names!
*Bonus* – Wie heißen die Hauptstädte? Do you remember the names of any of the capitals? Write down the ones you can remember.

 

Zum Schluß

In this lesson, you learned to 1) say where your ancestors are from, 2) say which language(s) you speak at home, and 3) list some German-speaking countries. If you are feeling unsure about any part of this lesson, go back to that section and review.
Now write out where your ancestors are from, the languages you speak at home, and the German names of at least three German speaking countries. Then record yourself in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

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

 

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