Reference
German
German is a cousin of English, but it never became a major language in American colleges. For cultural and political reasons going back to earlier centuries, French has been the standard linguistic acquisition of the properly cultured American. German academic tradition may have been the main source for the higher learning in America, but the American student who wants to be a full citizen of the intellectual world has a hard time encountering that world's German roots: there is no standard University course aimed at that kind of practical reading. Even in advanced subjects like theology, American scholars either wait for a German book to be translated, or they don't read it at all. What help can we offer to the serious person who is trying to sight-read in that tradition? Not much, but:
Map. Before getting started, it is helpful to recognize the principalities into which Germany was divided until very modern times.
Preface. Now we can look at the language, and here are a few tips about the way German works.
Quotations are one of the easiest ways to get possession of a finite amount of a language. Germany is a young nation, and an earnest one. German culture is not a culture of wit, like French culture, which, with more time at its disposal, has developed the remark into an artform, but it has its moments too, some of them iron moments. Here is a small sample:
Lexikon. What you remember, you own, and that much you can own. The rest is reading. The good news is that it is possible to prepare oneself for reading. Sinologists, for example, already know their own technical terms, and nobody needs to have placenames like Heidelberg or Berlin explained to them. What is left is the common words, and here are some of the commonest:
A B C Co D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S So T U V W X Y Z
Readings. One distinctive quality of the German mind, or at least the part of it with which we are here concerned, is its venturesomeness and rigor in investigating things. It also has a pronounced sentimental streak. We give below a few illustrations of those qualities, prefaced by bits of inherited culture which have gotten themselves established in the German literary consciousness.
Heritage
Mark 4:26-29, Parable of the Seed
Literature
History and Philology
SinologyPersonen. French learning flowered in the Renaissance, and remained central to the European intellect through the transformative Age of Napoleon. Germany peaked somewhat later; its great age of mental consolidation and advance was the immediate post-Napoleonic period. Here, drawn partly from other parts of this web site, and thus with no pretense at balance, are some profiles of German personalities. They may suggest how the German mind has engaged the possibilities of the human and rational sciences, though not always on German soil, and not always with success on German soil.
Founding
Flowering
Some Who Stayed
Some Who WentAnd should you suddenly find yourself about to visit Germany, here is your emergency kit:
Practical German
26 Sept 2008 / Contact The Project / Exit to Reference
