Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

305950

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1909

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
WEIK & WIECK,

in the clerk's office of the District Court of the eastern district of

Pennsylvania.

Stereotyped and printed by KING & BAIRD, No. 9 Sansom St.
Philadelphia.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A few months only have elapsed since we had the pleasure of introducing to the public the first edition of this little work; considering the number of publications of this kind, which the American press has sent forth of late, the undertaking seemed of doubtful success; a discriminating public has however fully sustained the extraordinary reputation, which this text-book of the German language has for some time enjoyed in Europe. Our first edition, which was not inconsiderable, has already disappeared from our shelves, and we have now the pleasure of presenting to our friends a second, revised edition, which, we do not doubt, will be received with equal favor.

Professor Oehlschlæger's system of pronunciation, which we have adapted to this work, has, as we learn from all parts, contributed not a little to facilitate its general introduction. Very few can afford to spend time and money on expensive lessons, and whatever may be said as to the impossibility of describing the sounds of one language by the letters of another, we, as well as many of our friends, have become convinced, since the publication of Oehlschlæger's Pronouncing English and German Dictionaries, together with the present little work, that these do not only facilitate the acquiring of a language with a teacher, but that even without one, a very good pronunciation may be obtained.

Encouraged by numerous applications, and fully convinced of the utility of similar works, we have induced Professor Oehlschlæger to apply his comparative system of pronunciation to the English and French languages, and shall soon be able to lay before the public the result of his labors in a work similar to the present.

THE PUBLISHERS.

MEM AOKK

I. ALPHABET.

THE German Alphabet is composed of the following 26 letters:

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Vater, fâ/-ter;

Ae, or Á, ă, is the softened
Kälte, kel'-tai,

danken, dânk'-en;

laben, lâ'-ben;

Frage, frâ'-gai;
Galle, gâl'-lai.

vowel A, a, and is pronounced like ai in fair or e in met Käse, kai'-zai;

E, e, is pronounced like e in let, or ai in aim, or en in hen.

[blocks in formation]

Blätter, blet'-ter.

trennen, tren/-nen.

Silber, zi Der.

J, i, is pronounced like i in is, it, in, or like ee in bee.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Rolle, rol'-lai.

De, Ó, ō, is the softened vowel. It has no parallel sound in English; the i in bird and the e in her sound very nearly like it.

Löwe, lö-vai;

böse, bö'-zai;

u, u, is pronounced like oo in root, or like u in put.

Löffel, löf/-fel.

(The pronunciation of the short u is marked thus: "ŏŏ”; of the long u thus "00".) Blume, bloo'-mai; Mutter, moot/-ter;

Mund, mõõnt.

le, Ú, ú, is the softened vowel u, and has no parallel sound in English. It is pronounced like u in French.

übel, ü'-bel;

[blocks in formation]

Y, y, has the sound of the German į, which is now generally employed in its stead.

[blocks in formation]

3. Diphthongs.

lieben, lee/-ben.

In the German diphthongs, the two vowels must be sounded one after the other, but so quickly as to form only one syllable.

Mi and ei are pronounced almost alike, and have the sound of the English i in

the word fire.

[blocks in formation]

4

At the beginning of syllables, these differ but little from the English, as the end b has the sound of p, d of t, g of ch or t, v of f and § of ß.

C, c, before a, e and í is pronounced like ts.

Cäsar, tsai'-zâr;

Ceder, tsai'-der;

Citrone, tsee-tro/-nai.

Before a, o, u, before a consonant and at the end of a syllable it is pronounced like k, by which in most cases it may be replaced.

Conrad, Kon/-râht;

Tombac, tom/-bâck.

Carl, Kârrl; Ch, at the beginning of a word is pronounced like k, except in words derived from the French, when it preserves the French pronunciation.

Chor, kore;

Christ, krist;

Charlatan, shar'-lâ-tân.

In the middle or at the end of a word ch has a pronunciation peculiar to the German language, and more or less guttural, and for which no corresponding sound can be found in English; it is like the Scotch ch in the word loch after a, o, u, au, but softer after ä, e, i, ő, ü, äu, eu, and after a consonant.

Dach, dâch;

Loch, loch;

Buch, booch;

Rauch, rouch;

Küche, küch'-chai;

Tochter, toch/-ter;

nichts, nichts;
rechnen, rech'-nen;
Bäumchen, boim/-chen.

chs or chs is pronounced like cks when these consonants belong to the root or

radical syllable.

Wachs, vâcks;

Fuchs, foocks;

Ochs, ocks.

But the preserves its guttural pronunciation, when it stands before the s or s by contraction or in a compound word.

nachsehen, nach"-zey/-hen; des Buchs, boochs, instead of des Buches, boo'-chess. G, g, at the beginning of a syllable it is pronounced hard, like the English g in

the word good.

Gabe, gâ/-bui;

gehen, ghey/-hen;

Gruß, grooss;

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »