Basic German Vocabulary (Langenscheidt Reference)

435 Pages·1991·6.09 MB·English

by  Heiko Bock

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Abbreviations
AE amerikan.Englisch AmericanEnglish
Akk. Akkusativ accusative
Adj. Adjektiv adjective
Adv. Adverb adverb
BE brit.Englisch BritishEnglish
dem. demonstrativ demonstrative
f feminin feminin
Gen. Genitiv genitive
indekl. indeklinabel indeclinable
Komp. Komparation comparition
Konj. Konjunktion conjunction
Mod.v. Modalverb modalverb
m maskulin masculine
n(germancolumn) neutrum neuter
n(engl.column) Nomen noun
p. Person person
PI. PlUral plural
Pron. Pronomen pronoun
Präp. Präposition preposition
8g. Singular singular
v Verb verb
V/i. intransitivesVerb intransitiveverb
V/refl. reflexivesVerb reflexiveVerb
V/t. transitivesVerb transitiveverb
rzp. reziprok reciprocal
Pronunciation seep.419
LANGENSCHEIDT
Basic
German Vocabulary
A Learner's Dictionary
divided into subject categories
with examplesentences
Edited bythe German as a Foreign Language Department
[TI
LA NGENSCHEIDT
BERLIN.MUNICH .VIENNA .ZURICH .NEWYORK
Translation:CarolL.&CharlesJ.James
ThespellinginBasicGerman Vocabulary correspondstothe
OrthographyReformof1998.
© 1991Langenscheidt KG,BerlinandMunich
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthismaterialmaybereproducedinanyform
withoutthepermission ofthepublishers.
PrintedinGermany .ISBN3-468-49400-9
Contents
Whoneedsa"BasicVocabulary"? , VII
Whya"BasicVocabulary"? ................................ VII
Whyabilingual"BasicVocabulary"? VII
WhytheseWords? VIII
Howisthe"BasicVocabulary"arranged? , VIII
"Langenscheidt'sBasicGermanVocabulary"and"Workbook" , IX
Howtoworkwiththe"BasicVocabulary"?..................... X
Notes. XI
TopicalConcepts
1 TheHumanBeing............................... 1
1.1 TheBody......................................... 1
1.2 Appearance ...................................... 5
1.3 MindandReason.................................. 7
1,4 Character , 12
1.5 PleasantandNeutralEmotions 15
1.6 NegativeEmotions................................. 18
1.7 HealthandIIlness(Seealso:DoctorandHospital5.9)....., 23
1.8 LifeandDeath..................................... 26
2 ActionsandActivities 30
2.1 TheSensesandBodyFunctions ...................... 30
2.2 HygieneandCleanliness , 34
2.3 Doing ........................................... 37
2,4 MovementandRest ................................ 43
2.5 MovingofObjectsandBeings , 49
2.6 GivingandTaking , 51
2.7 HandlingObjectsandBeings , 55
2.8 LearningandKnowledge
(Seealso:SchoolandEducation8,4)................... 76
3 LanguageandSpeechIntentions , 85
3.1 General.......................................... 85
3.2 Speech.......................................... 87
3.3 WritingandReading , 91
3,4 Information , 93
3.5 ExpressingOpinions................................ 96
3.6 AcceptanceandRejection ........................... 100
3.7 CertainityandDoubt. ............................... 105
3.8 PositiveEvaluationandNeutrality...................... 112
3.9 NegativeEvaluation ................................ 118
3.10 Wish,Request,Order 120
3.11 CourtesyFormulas,Exclamations,ConversationalFillers ... 124
IV
4 ManandSociety ................................ 126
4.1 Identification...................................... 126
4.2 FamilyandRelatives................................ 128
4.3 SocialTies 134
4.4 Professions. ...................................... 135
4.5 SocialPosition .................................... 140
4.6 PositiveandNeutralSocialBehavior ................... 140
4.7 NegativeSocialBehavior 145
4.8 ContactsandEvents 147
4.9 FateandCoincidence............................... 151
5 EveryDayLife................................... 155
5.1 HouseandApartment............................... 155
5.2 Furnishings....................................... 160
5.3 BasicCommodities 163
5.4 ClothingandJewelry 168
5.5 Meals,Restaurant.................................. 173
5.6 Groceries,Food 176
5.7 FruitsandVegetables 181
5.8 DrinkingandSmoking............................... 183
5.9 DoctorandHospital 186
6 BusinessandAdministration..................... 190
6.1 General.......................................... 190
6.2 StoresandShopping 191
6.3 MoneyandProperty 201
6.4 Work 207
6.5 Postoffice,Telephone 215
6.6 Authorities,Police 219
6.7 Law 222
7 TheArtsandFieldsofInterest 229
7.1 Theater,Film,FineArts 229
7.2 Music 234
7.3 Media 236
7.4 LeisureActivities 239
7.5 Sports 241
8 PublicLife 245
8.1 GovernmentandPolitics 245
8.2 WarandPeace 255
8.3 ChurchandReligion 260
8.4 SchoolandEducation 264
v
9 Environment 269
9.1 City,Town,Village 269
9.2 Landseape 271
9.3 Nature:General. 274
9.4 Animals 279
9.5 Plants 283
9.6 WeatherandClimate 284
10 TeehnologyandMaterials 288
10.1 Teehnology 288
10.2 Materials 292
11 TravelandTraffie 296
11.1 Travel 296
11.2 StreetTraffie 301
11.3 Vehieles 304
11.4 RaH,Plane,Ship 308
12 Countries andPeople 311
12.1 GeographiealNames 312
12.2 Nationalities,Inhabitants,Languages 313
GeneralConcepts
13 Time 316
13.1 DivisionoftheYear 316
13.2 TheNamesoftheMonths 318
13.3 Weekdays 318
13.4 TimesofDay 319
13.5 CloekTime 320
13.6 OtherConeeptsofTime 321
13.6.1 Nouns 321
13.6.2 Verbs 323
13.6.3 Adjeetives 326
13.6.4 Adverbs 328
13.6.5 Prepositions 333
13.5.6 Conjunetions 334
14 Spatial Coneepts 335
14.1 Nouns 335
14.2 Adjeetives 338
14.3 Adverbs 340
14.4 Prepositions 346
VI
15 QuantityandMeasure 348
15.1 ConceptsofOuantity 348
15.2 CardinalNumbers 354
15.3 MeasurementsandWeights 355
16 OrderandReference 358
16.1 Order,Division 358
16.2 OrdinalNumbers 366
17 WaysandMethods,Comparison 368
17.1 WaysandMethods 368
17.2 Degree,Comparison 369
18 Colors 374
19 Forms 375
20 Cause andEffect 377
21 Condition andChange 381
StructureWords
22 Pronouns 383
22.1 PersonalPronouns 383
22.2 ReflexivePronouns 382
22.3 PossessiveAdjectives 387
22.4 DemonstrativeAdjectives 387
22.5 OuestionPronouns,RelativePronouns 388
22.6 IndefinitePronouns 389
23 Conjunctions 391
24 Adverbs 394
Index 396
Pronunciation 419
VII
Who needsa"BasicVocabulary"?
Anystudentlearningaforeignlanguagemustmasteracertainvocabulary
base before he or she can communicate or read in that language.
Acquisition of that basevocabulary requiresstudy,often outside ofthe
c1assroomsetting.
Langenscheidt's Basic GermanVocabulary is designed to facilitate the
acquisition of that core vocabulary in the easiest and most efficient
manner possible. It is meant for use by beginning learners with no
previousknowledgeoftheGermanlanguage,bymoreadvancedstudents
as a review and for test preparation,and by anyone as preparationfor
pleasureorbusinesstravelintoaGerman-speakingcountry.
Those who have successfully worked through Langenscheidt's Basic
GermanVocabulary will havethe necessary knowledge to function and
communicateinalleverydaysituationsinGerman.
Whya"BasicVocabulary"?
TheGerman Language,likeanyotherlanguage,iscomprisedofmillions
of words,yet 50% of normalspokenandwrittentextsarecomprisedof
only66words.Studentsrightfullyask,whichwords do Ihavetolearnin
ordertocarry onaneveryday conversationor readatextwrittenforthe
averageGermanspeaker?
Themagic answerisusually2,000words,i.e.,astudentwhohasmaster
edthebasic2,000corevocabularywordshaslearnedthemostimportant
wordsused in80% ofallwrittenandoralcommunication.
Langenscheidt's "Basic German Vocabulary" contains two times 2,000
words.Thecore2,000wordsarefollowedbyasecondgroupofthe2,000
nextmostfrequentlyusedwordswhichcompriseafurther5%-10%ofall
writtenandoralcommunication.
The division of the thematically-organized entries into two groups,
"1-2,000"and"2,001-4,000",identifiesforthelearnerthosewordswhich
should be learned immediately and those which can be reserved for
second level learning.Once they have mastered the first 2,000 words,
students have the option of increasing their vocabulary over a wide
subjectrange,orconcentratingonspecificareasofinterest,suchaslaw,
economics,etc.
Why abilingual"BasicVocabulary"?
Theuseofthetargetlanguagetoteachthelanguageisthenorm inmost
programstoday.Usuallyanew word isexplained insimpleGermanand
illustratedwithpracticalexamples.
Thepracticalteaching situation,however,requiresflexibilityinusingthe
native language,especially whendifficult concepts needto be clarified.
VIII
Therefore,manymonolingualtextbookshavebilingualvocabularylistsor
glossaries.
Becauseitismeanttobeusedindependentlybythelearnertostudyand
review outside class, a text like the Basic Vocabulary must be 100%
bilingual.It is not meant to, and should not,replace a regularGerman
English/English-Germandictionary whereaIearnercanfind manymore
words and definitions, nor a comprehensive grammar text. The Basic
Vocabularyisonlymeanttoserveasasupplementforstudyandlearning.
Whythesewords?
Langenscheidt'sBasicVocabularyselectsthemostimportantwordsfora
studenttolearnanduse.TheBasicVocabularyisbasedonevaluationof
numerous lists of basicGermanvocabulary published inGermany,Aus
tria,Switzerlandandothercountries.Alltheimportantsourcesofinforma
tion onwordfrequencyinwritten andspokenGermanwereconsidered.
Anexactsourcelistwouldgobeyondthepurposeofthisintroduction.For
those interested,we mentionherethevocabularystatistics of Kaeding,
Meier,Ortmann,theMannheimerKorpus1and2,the BonnerZeitungs
korpus and the minimum vocabulary lists prepared by the Council of
Europe,vocabularyforthe"ZertifikatDeutschalsFremdsprache"(Certifi
cateofGermanasaForeignLanguage),the"DeutscherVolkshochschul
verband"(GermanAdultEducationAssociation)andtheGoetheInstitute.
Thechoiceof words was not based onlyonfrequency.Factorssuch as
how familiar and useful a word is in everyday conversation were also
considered. Langenscheidt's experience in producing dictionaries and
teachingmaterialsalsohelped.Thecritical choiceofexamplesentences
wasmadebynativespeakersonanoutside ofourregularstaff.
How isthe "BasicVoca6ulary"arranged?
WordsandexpressionsinLangenscheidt'sBasicVocabularyGermanare
arrangedbytopic,notsimplyinalphabeticalorder.Educationalresearch
indicatesthattryingtolearnwordsalphabeticallyisnoteffective.Similari
ties in orthography lead to confusion and spelling errors.Most impor
tantly,wordsareverydifficulttolearnwithoutcontextandtopic.Alphabe
tical arrangement can become an obstacleto correct use ina specific
thematic situation.Learning basic words insubject areas is easier and
moreeffective.Thecontextualrelationshipsamongwordsandthephysi
cal proximity of words on the page encourage the development of
associationsinmemory.Forallthesereasons,weemphasizelearningin
subjectareas.