Assimil - German Without Toil.pdf - Assimil - antyolaton

"ASSIMIL" SPAE . TIME DAILYCOU:RSS

GElMAN

WITHOUT TOIL

A. CH.REL *

Illustrated by Pierre SOYMIER and Robert GRING

"ASSIMIL "

5, rue Saint.Auigustin (Bourse)

PARIS (2e)

BRUXELLES

AMSTERDAM· DUSSELDORF -LAUSANNE - LONDON

MADRID - MONTREAL - NEW YORK - TORINO

HOW TO LEARN

GERMAN

WITHOUT TOIL

The irst thing we 'Want to impress on you is th a t you

ought not to consider the study of this book a s drudgey.

We irmly helieve that you can acquire a luent know

led g e of colloquial German provided that you bear in

mind two ve,ry important things:

FIRST: do not try to do loo much at once, but do a

little regularly. H ali an hour steadily, day by day, is

worfh ininitely more than a frenzied burst of an hour or

two at irregular intervals. Let (e a little and offen" be

your mollo.

SECONDLY: as far as possible, avoid working when

you are 'mentally tired. When your brain is faligued.

your powers of assimilation become saturated, and the

more you try to fake in, the less you really absorb.

To sum up, We a'sk you to apply youself to the study

of Cennan wih' the same attention you would give to

mastering the rules of a new game. If you do this, you

ill soon realise that studying by the It ASSIMIL" me

thod will not be drudgey but a fascinating hobby which

brings its on reward.

There is nothing to learn by heart, not even

those fonidable declensions, for i n st ea d of compelling

you to memorize from dry�a's-dU'St tables We shall

introduce word-endings in everyday se nte n c e s which are

so easy to absorb. Gradually, almost unconsciously,

they will become ixed in your memory_

This is the, way to work !

Read the irst paragraph which gives the German text.

Then compare it word for word w i t h the ph o n e ti c trans�

cription and with the English translation. Afterwards,

re�read the German text, this time aloud.

Do the same for each suhsequent paragraph. and when

you have reached th e end of the lesson read the German

text aloud o n c e more, referring to the pronunciation and

the translation only ,when you do nof fed quite sure of

them.

Figures in brackets-e.g. " ( 1) "-refer to the

Notes. ' Read these notes carefully, and the lesson ill

t h e n be over. Of course, this does not mean that you

will know the lesson thoroughly, but on the followin g

day-or ,even an hour or two later, according to how

your l e i su re is arranged-read it again before b e ginn i ng

the n ex t one.

A short i nte rv al beween repetitions will pay better

divide n ds than uninterrupted and tiring repetitions, which

would tend to make you bored rather t h an enthusiastic

'about your new venture.

Gradually, as you progress,. yo u will ind that

. sentences, constructions and colloquialisms are purposely

repeated so that t h ey may become more a nd more famil�

i'at to you.

The two H waves" !

Learning the language in two '(wavels" (passive and

active stages) is one of t h e most attractive features of

(C German Without Toil." It quickly brings you to the

point where you can enjoy German even though you do

not understand all its grammatical subtleties.

The irst "wave 1l (passive stage) is intended to take

you through the whole c o urs e at a lively pace. As soon

as you can understand and repeat a lesson, you should

move· on to the next one. In this way you will

avoid t he dullness of what used to be termed " th e gram�

mar grind. n

Absorb as far as p os si b l e witl1 your ear

. VII

rather than your mind; you can, if you like, think of

the way in which a baby understands what it is told long

b e fore it leans the niceies of written a nd spoken

language.

The s eco n d "wavell (active stage) begins abo u t a

third of the way through the irst "wave " ( Lesson 46).

This is the proper time for you to go back to lesson

one and start to' think a b o u t the language and its gram�

matica'} constructions, and y ou ill ind that yo u will

learn all the more e a s i ly for having postponed your more

formal attack upon it.

Do not let the second "wave" prevent you from keep

ing up a good pace ith the wst of the irst "wave." Go

on to the end of the book at your Oliginal pace, but at

the same ime li n k each new le'sson ith an old one

studied in mme detail. Thus the simple comprehension

of Lesson 46 should be linked with a new and analytical

approach to Lesson 1, Lesson 47 will be linked with

Lesson 2 and so on.

In the phonetic transcriptions, the stressed syllables are

shown ln bold type.

A NOTE ON THE ASSIMIL RECO,RDS '

ASSIMIL" method. you win achieve your object.

Listen carefully to the records. repeat ith the utmost

care what you have heard and you may rest assured t h a t

once you go to Germany or meet German�speaking people

you 'Will from the very outset make your meaning clear.

H you have no gramophone, we shall be pleased to

assist you in choosing a model to suit your ideas of price.

These recor d s ill bring you in your n home the

voices of German a c to rs and actresses whoe pronun�

ciation is the standard one; you can listen to them over

and over again.

If you devote, say, Q quarter of an hour (or even

two periods of ten minutes) daily to learning by the

VIII

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION

(The g u id e which fo ll o ws shows you how to begin 10 tackle sp o ken

German. It does not pret end to g i v e you the exact sounds of the

l a ng u ag e : these will reach your ear, your memory and your tongue

as you listen t o the speakers who have re co r d ed these lessons. Th in k

of the guide as a bridge between English and German sounds. Cross

Ihe bridg e as often as you like, but do not linger on it, and remember

that what you hear is y o ur real destination. The day will ,come when y o u

can burn the bridge.)

Asslmil Nearest German Phonetic

Symbol English Sound Example Meaning Transcription

father

Name

name

nahme

hut

Mann

man

air

Bar

bear

bel'

bell

Feld

field

felt

�y

day

lehrt

teaches layrt

father

morgen

tom o r ro w morgen

sheep

dieser

this

deezer

big

Kind

child

k int

rose

Rose

I'Ose

rchze

got

Go t t

God

got

foot

H u nd

dog

heont

brute

Blut

blood

bloct

view

uber

o v e r

u b er

merchant

Loftel

s p oon leuM!

�O

(lengthened form schon beautiful sheun

of last sound)

a'i

sky

mein.

mai'n

Hain

grove h a 'i n

now

Haus

h o u s e how s s

boy

heute

tod a y

hote

Biume tlees

bo'ime

loch

noch

s t il l

nocH

h u man

Madch�n girl

met;hen

(breathed initial

sound)

she

schon

beautiful

shMn

good

gu t

good

goot

(always hard)

n g

ringing

lang

long

lang

(g not sounded)

yes

y e s

lah

pleasure

Ingenieur engineer jnzhayn"ieo r

Here are a few other pOints worth noting before you starl :

A German

z is pronounced like Is : Zeit: tsa"it

w is pronounced like v : Wein : va'in

v is pronounced li k e f : von: fan

A G e r m an s before t or p at the beginning of a syllable is pronounced

sh : Stein: sntain; Spiel: shpeeL

A German r is always pronounced, even if sometimes only Slightly.

English o f t e n ignores it, but the Scots do it more justice. Think of a

S o ut hern Englishman's pronunciation of "murder," then 01 a Scot's

and imitate the latter.

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