Students who are bilingual and speak Spanish as their heritage language might want to consider studying German to experience a new Lernvergnugen because they already have a basis for comparison. Just to mention a few points which the two languages have in common, consider the following comparisons:

Concerning the alphabet:

• The vowels "a, e, i, o, u" in German are pronounced the same as in Spanish except for the Umlaut-system and diphthong combinations in German.
• In general, the consonants are the same in both languages with obvious specific combinations to be learned in both languages, i.e. in German some combinations are 'sch', 'st', 'sp', 'ch', 'ng' – in Spanish the pronunciation of double "1" as in calle, or the tilde ~ on top of "n" in certain words.

Concerning nouns:

• Both languages have genders: In German, nouns are masculine, feminine, neuter – in Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine with corresponding definite and indefinite articles.
• Consequently, pronouns reflect the gender of nouns.

Concerning personal pronouns:

• Both German and Spanish have formal and informal forms of address depending on the social rank or status of the person(s) addressed: du= tú, Sie = Usted, or Ustedes, ihr = vosotros, etc.

Concerning adjectives:

• Adjectives have endings according to the gender and number of nouns.

Concerning verbs:

• Verbs are conjugated in all tenses with specific endings to match singular and plural subject nouns and pronouns respectively.
• Verb tenses are the same in both languages. With regard to compound tenses, both languages require special attention to the verb "to be."
• Reflexive verbs in both languages are used in very similar ways.
• Both languages have an elaborate system of subjunctives.

Concerning prepositions:

• In each language there exist groups of prepositions which require certain cases to form prepositional phrases.
• Prepositional phrases in both languages have idiomatic applications.

Concerning sentence structure:

• Both languages follow their rules in a stricter sense than is the case in English.
• With parts of the body, for example both languages would say "I wash me the hands" instead of the English "I wash my hands".

This list is not meant to be an exhaustive study in comparing the two languages. Obviously, there exist many differences as well. But bilingual students definitely have an advantage in acquiring a third language and, thereby, increase their marketable skills. The knowledge of German is important and even essential to such areas as:
 
                                          

- International Business	- Chemistry	- Art History
- Political Science	- Music	- Banking
- Journalism	- Theology	- Travel and Tourism
- Engineering	- Philosophy	- The Military

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