phrasebook
A phrasebook is a bilingual manual with vocabulary and common idioms as well as their translation, which is intended to help tourists in particular when traveling to foreign-language countries to communicate and to have simple everyday conversations.
construction
Mostly organized according to thematic aspects in individual chapters such as interpersonal , eating and drinking , at the doctor's , shopping, etc., a phrasebook contains not only easy pronunciation aids , but also often helpful background knowledge about the culture and customs of the travel destination , as well as a travel dictionary typically comprising 1000-2000 words , from your own into the foreign language . A concise short grammar and a subject index for quickly finding the conversation situation you are looking for are also often found. In general, a phrasebook is characterized by a high level of clarity and practicable, sometimes color-supported structuring, with the aim of enabling purpose-oriented, albeit rudimentary communication for travelers who do not (or only insufficiently) speak the language as quickly and easily as possible. It is precisely for this purpose that there are occasionally various possible answers to typical questions in the language of the destination country with a translation, by means of which locals can communicate to a certain extent by reading and interpreting them. Supplementary audio material is often intended to promote pronunciation and comprehension skills.
history
The Old High German Kassel glosses (beginning of the 9th century) and Parisian Conversations (10th century, also called Old German Conversations ) are often interpreted in research as a kind of early German-Romance phrasebook, as they contain everyday expressions with colloquial and spoken language features such as word blurring or list ellipses and even verbal abuse.
The oldest phrasebooks in Germany are documented in VD 17 for the first years of the 17th century. These include, for example:
- A Greek-Latin phrasebook by Johann von Possel : Oikein Dialogn Biblion Ellnisti kai romaisti Familiarium Colloquiorum Libellus Graece Et Latine: auctus & recognitus Accessit & utilis Dialogus de ratione studiorum recte instituenda. Item Oratio de ratione discendae ac docendae linguae Latinae & Graecae Wittenberg 1601
- A German-Czech phrasebook by Ondej Klatowsky: Knika w Ceském a Nmeckém Gazyku sloená kterakby Cech Nmecky, a Nmec Cesky isti, psáti, y muwiti, viti se ml Read a booklet in Bohemian and German like a Behem German and read the same German Behemisch / Learn to write and talk sol Prague, Weleslawin printing house 1603
- A Latin-French-German phrasebook : Colloquia Familiaria Et Quotidiana Linguae Gallicae cupidis utilia & summè necessaria Colloques Familiers Fort Utiles Et Necessaires à ceux qui desirent apprendre la langue Françoise Common daily conversation For those who are so stressed to learn the French language very useful and necessary Strasbourg 1603
The English comedian group Monty Python had a phrasebook with incorrect translations in two sketches of their comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus (episode 25, 1970) on the subject.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Helmut Glück : German as a Foreign Language in Europe from Central Europe to the Baroque Period . de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-11-017084-1 , p. 68 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Monty Python Sketch: Indecent phrasebook English-Hungarian ( Memento from February 22, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Monty Python Sketch: Court PhraseBook ( February 5, 2003 memento in the Internet Archive )