If you want to say “good day” in German, you would simply say, “guten Tag.” It’s a general greeting that can be used throughout the day, just as in English. Want to be more specific? Use
- “guten Morgen” = good morning
- “guten Abend” = good evening
- “gute Nacht” = good night
German is often considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. That’s because these two languages are linguistic siblings—originating from the same mother tongue. In fact, 80 of the 100 most common words in English-speaking countries are Germanic in origin. These most basic, most-frequently used words in English and German derive from the same roots, making them extremely similar.
Rosetta Stone’s immersive approach combines learning vocabulary with real-world situations that build towards a greater contextual understanding of key German phrases. As with most worthwhile endeavors, there are few shortcuts, but if you combine individual practice in the Rosetta Stone award-winning mobile app and practice with other Spanish language learners in Live Tutoring, you can have absolute control over your learning speed and, ultimately, your long-term progress.
How to Learn German
After English, German is the most widely spoken language of the European Union. This is fitting when you consider that German is an official language in numerous countries — including Austria, Belgium, Germany, parts of Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, and Switzerland. Worldwide, there are over 229 million German speakers, making it among the most useful languages for business and travel.
Rosetta Stone encourages learning foundational concepts first. Each lesson includes practical exercises that get you speaking German and working on your pronunciation consistently. What begins with you learning to say common phrases like excuse me, pardon me, nice to meet you, how are you, or good day in German can grow into you developing a true command of the language. You’ll also discover a confidence in speaking that stays with you— whether you’re traveling through Northern Germany, soaking up city life in Munich and Berlin, or skiing your way through the Alps.
Wherever you may be speaking German, part of the fun of the language is that it’s famous for combining several words into one. Where English might use two or three words to describe something, often the German language will combine the ideas into one compound word. Orange juice, for example, is Orangensaft. Orangen + Saft = Orangensaft. It is also important to remember that the gender of the word which comes last (der, die, das) will be the gender of the new compound word. For instance, “die Orange” (feminine), but “der Saft” (masculine), so it is “der Orangensaft” (masculine).
So yes, at first glance, German does have some intimidating vocabulary. Mark Twain famously took offense to the “clumsy” tendency of the German language to create compound, multi-syllable words. Take the word Freundschaftsbezeugung, for example, meaning “demonstrations of friendship.” Lengthy, certainly, but before you’ve had even your first German-language lesson, you may be able to begin breaking down this giant. Notice the word starts with “Freund” a cognate of the English word “friend” with the same meaning. Using what you already know and breaking down these compound words can help you learn to speak German faster than you ever thought was possible.
Getting the pronunciation just right is a snap with Rosetta Stone’s TruAccent™ speechrecognition technology. TruAccent listens and compares your accent to native and non-native speakers so you learn how to pronounce German words and phrases quickly and accurately. In addition to helping you tackle tricky pronunciation, you can compare your accent to that of native speakers for a more authentic language learning experience. The best way to learn a language is to surround yourself with it. Be fearless. Start with Rosetta Stone.
Try Our Award-Winning App
Surround yourself with German whenever, wherever with the Rosetta Stone app .
Download a unit and knock it out on the train or a flight. Select a 5-10 minute lesson and sneak it in while you wait in line or for your ride to show up. And explore dynamic features, like Seek and Speak, where you can point at an object in the real world and get a translation .
The best part? You don’t have to choose between app or desktop. Both come with your subscription and sync, so you can switch between devices seamlessly.
