Published in Translation - English on 10/06/2022

It is generally true that the English and the German language system have a lot in common since they share the same language roots. However, once you take a closer look at the linguistic characteristics of both languages, you will soon realize that there are more differences than you would have initially guessed, which makes translating between those two languages a challenge. The following paragraphs give you a quick overview of the five most salient differences:

Capitalization

While English merely capitalizes proper nouns, German capitalizes all nouns. Therefore, it is much easier for English German translators to identify nouns in German texts. Additionally, the articles are easier spotted since they precede the noun.

Articles

Even though it might be easier to identify the articles in German texts, it most definitely will be harder for translators to form them. Articles in the German language are commonly determined by case, gender, and number while also being different in whether they refer to a specific noun or not. English, in contrast, merely uses the definite article “the” and the indefinite articles “a/an”.

Word length

There are multiple possibilities for a language system to create new words. One option is to build compound words, to merge two words to create a brand new one with a different meaning. An example of a compound word in the English language is “doghouse”. While English and German build compound words, the latter does it on a much grander scale since German speakers are used to expressions consisting of up to five smaller words.

Formality

Both English and German speakers have a set of terms to articulate themselves formally or informally. However, the German language uses the term “Sie” to refer to another person formally. The informal counterpart would be the word “du”. English speakers use “you” in both instances.

Pronunciation

While English and German share an alphabet, except for a few additional letters in the German one, their pronunciation of the letters is not always identical. German speakers, for instance, pronounce the w-sound like the English pronounce the v-sound and the v-sound like an English f-sound. These differences get more complex once you realize that both languages have some letters which can be pronounced differently depending on the position within a word and the surrounding sounds.