1

Das fühlt sich zuerst einmal an wie ein Schlag ins Gesicht: „Ihr (Frauen) seid doch selbst Schuld!“ Aber unterstellen

wir nicht gleich eine böse Absicht, sondern schauen wir uns den Bericht (iwd Ausgabe 3 v. 17.1.2013) einmal ge-nauer an.

Zuerst die FaktenIn 2011 women’s employment rate in Germany was 72 % in comparison to 63 % in 2000. Only in Sweden is it high-er (78 %). And in 2011 three out of four companies explicitly advertised for fe-male managers.

Nevertheless the female gross income is on average 22 % lower than that for men. In Germany they found out that women taking child-care breaks and working part time account for 56 % of this difference.

Only one fifth of the income gap between men and women cannot be explained by look-

ing at biographical or individual sta-tistics, such as age, part-time working, job characteristics.

But if you look at the OECD statistics which explain the reasons for the in-come gap in European countries, the percentages in the field/reason “not ex-plicable” in Italy (61 %), Spain (53 %) and Sweden (50 %) are much higher than in Germany.

Die Zahlen in DeutschlandThe factors in Germany are:• age/work experience 8 %,• working time (incl. part time work)

56 %,• education/vocational training 1 %,• job characteristics 15 %,• “not explicable” 20 %.

Down to Business

Diskriminierung und Entgeltlücke – Frauen in Führungs positionenHartnäckig hält sich in der Öffentlichkeit das (Vor-)Urteil, Frauen würden wegen ihres Geschlechts aus Führungspositionen ferngehalten. Einem neu-en Bericht des iw-dienstes des Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft zufolge ist das schlicht falsch. Die Unterschiede in Bezahlung und Karriere basieren da-nach auf einer falschen Berufswahl.

Demografischer Wandel

liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,hat vielfältige Auswirkungen auf unser aller Berufsleben. Davon handelt unter anderem dieses Heft.

Es geht um die Teilhabe von Frauen im beruflichen Alltag und um ein Mitei-nander unterschiedlicher Altersgrup-pen. Mit den entsprechenden Artikeln bekommen Sie jede Menge Hinter-grundwissen und gleichzeitig als Ne-beneffekt Themen für den Big Talk mit englischsprachigen Geschäftspartnern an die Hand.

Daneben kommen aber die klassi-schen Textaufgaben nicht zu kurz. Allerdings betrachten wir sie heute einmal unter den Gesichtspunkten Kreativität und Logik in der Gedanken-führung. Das wirkt sich selbstverständ-lich auf die Qualität Ihrer Texte aus.

Gespannt auf die Inhalte? Dann viel Spaß beim Lesen!

EDITORIAL

3 PO Box3 Tools, um komplexe Textaufgaben zu meistern

4 Advanced Learner´s CornerShake hands: How to welcome international guests

5 Speaker´s CornerJung und Alt in einem Boot: So klappt die Kommunikation

6 If in doubt – cut it outStille Begleiter – stumme Buchstaben im Englischen IN

HALT

1

Maureen Brown ist in London aufgewachsen. Sie hat viele Jahre als Assistentin und Sekretärin im Management eines Unternehmens gearbeitet und ist heute für die Bezirksregierung in Surrey, Südengland, aktiv.

Jennifer Hohensteiner ist in den USA groß ge-worden. Sie hat den Master’s Degree in Political Science und lebt seit 1990 in Deutschland. Hier hat sie langjährige Berufserfahrung als Fremd-sprachensekretärin, Wirtschaftsübersetzerin und Trainerin für Business English.

Ihr Login bei www.english-work.comBenutzername: english Passwort April: spring13

Professionelles Know-how & mehr Kompetenz für Assistenz und Sekretariat

English@work71703

05/2013 April

Maureen Brown (GB) Jennifer Hohensteiner (USA)

QuoteWe are not supposed to be all

equal. Let’s just forget that. We are sup-posed to have equal rights under law. If we do that, we have done enough.

Ben Stein, US American actor and author

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So the income and career gap is not such a matter of discrimination as many wo-men have thought for a long time.

Die wahren GründeThe real reasons are that women are still the ones who take care of the family and need to work part time (56 %).

And although the article states that in Germany only 1 % of the reasons for the income and career gap can be traced back to education, the author suggests that more women should choose technical jobs, as managerial positions in industry require techni-

cal, natural sciences or mathematical expertise. But only 12 % of all new stu-dents in such fields of education are female.

Die LösungAccording to the author the solution to the problem is that Government should enhance child care benefits so that everybody who would like to return to work earlier could do so. Which is a very good idea. Only would that be suf-ficient? What do you think?

Vocabulary Box

employment rate – Beschäftigungs-quote

explicable – erklärbarexplicit – ausdrücklichgross income – Bruttoverdienstincome gap – Einkommenslü-

ckejob characteristics – Tätigkeitsmerk-

malon average – durchschnittlich

PO BoxSo vermeiden Sie Logikfehler

You can say you to meFloskeln im Vergleich

Speaker´s CornerDie interne Kommunikation optimieren

If in doubt – cut it outWortfeld: rund um IT VORSC

HAU

PO Box

3 Tools, mit denen Sie komplexe Textaufgaben meisternIn der Korrespondenz herrscht viel Routine. Da sind Sonderaufgaben wie Reden, Präsentationen, Teambesprechungen, Artikel für die Fachzeitschrift oder Imagebroschüren nicht nur eine Abwechslung, sondern meist auch eine echte Herausforderung. Wir zeigen Ihnen, wie Sie mit der passenden Kreativitätstechnik erfolgreich sind.

JokeboxEverybody deserves to be trea-

ted equally. It doesn’t matter if you are black or yellow or brown or female or normal.

LiteraturtippIf you want to read more about

this subject and improve your English at the same time, why not try Hanna Ro­sins new book: “The End of Men”? It is a widely discussed and very provocative book, and could be a good subject for in-depth discussion with inter national colleagues.

An interesting German book on the same subject – with different conclu-sions – is Bascha Mika: “Die Feigheit der Frauen”. Although this book will not help to improve your English, it will add to your knowledge on this subject.

34. Deutscher Assistentinnen-Tag

12.–14. Juni 2013 in München

www.assistentinnentag.de

Wir beraten Sie gerne! Rufen Sie uns an: 08271.6141

Sichern Sie sich jetzteinen der letzten Plätze!

AnzeigeDAT_engl@work-esselte_66x90.indd 1 18.01.2013 08:08:55

In vielen, besonders in international tätigen Unternehmen werden solche Aufgaben in die Hände von Agen-turprofis gelegt. Es sei denn, Sie als

Assistentin sind als kreativer Kopf be-kannt und von der Geschäftsleitung ge-schätzt. Dann ereilt vielleicht auch Sie

zumindest die Vorarbeit für solche gro-ßen und ungewöhnlichen Textaufga-ben.

In kleinen und mittleren Betrieben fehlt für professionelle Unterstützung von außerhalb oft das Budget. Da ist ein Sachbearbeiter oder die Sekretärin oh-nehin in der Pflicht.

Nehmen wir einen verbreiteten Praxis-fall: Die Vorbereitung einer Rede des Chefs zum Firmenjubiläum, und zwar auf Englisch, da ein großer Anteil in-ternationaler Gäste geladen wird.

„Und nun machen Sie mal, Frau Schül-ler, Sie sind ja schon drei Jahre im Un-ternehmen und wissen, wie das hier läuft …“

Hilfsmittel zum Sammeln Well, great! Exactly what you needed to brighten up your boring day! But don’t panic, help is here!

Let us start with a collection of different techniques that are useful to know and that help you collect information and structure your speech.

QuoteOur work is the presentation of

our capabilities. Edward Gibbon, British historian

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Exercise: creativity tools

Here are three tools you will recognise from their names. (There are a lot more, but these are the most helpful ones.) Do you know exactly what they mean? And where/with whom you can use them? Fill in the columns!

Creativity technique

What does it mean? Where/how can you use it?

Brainstorming

Clustering

Mindmap

Answer key on page 4

Now it is time to take a closer look at what these steps mean and how they can help you with the challenge of a new text task. The following can be used for any subject.

Quellen anzapfenThis is how to begin all bigger text tasks. Start by collecting:• information about the subject (incl.

suitability),• facts and background knowledge,• information about the target group,• information about the speaker’s/per-

former’s intentions/wishes,• ideas about the kind of presentation,• individual style of speech/speaker,• company style,• anecdotes and humorous stories linked

to the subject,• ways of warming up the speech/pres-

entation …

Suitability of the subject means that, for example, you would not use humour in an

obituary nor irony in a presentation for children.

In addition to the brainstorming tech-niques you can include information from other sources, such as yearbooks, company websites, and reports.

MaterialsammlungNext you jot down and add “associated thoughts” as they enter your head and without thinking too much about them.

The clustering method is very useful as it allows you to look at every single idea and find inspiration in the connection between ideas. When you get a few ideas written down, you can start to group them, using colored circles.

By doing this you might very well find new approaches to a lot of subjects that initially seemed quite boring or uninter-esting. A fresh and unbiased look opens new perspectives and future possibilities.

After this step you have to come to a decision about how to structure the

material so that it serves your text task best.

Grobgliederung schreibenThe best technique for structuring your material is mindmapping. With this tool a mental image is created which gives your material a visual structure. You can arrange and rearrange the parts, make changes and see how they fit to-gether. In this step you can possibly get some new insights about what goes well together and what should be separated.When you are satisfied with the struc-ture of your mind map you can write an outline, which is a detailed plan of your text.

Rücksprache haltenAt this stage of your work it would be advisable to talk to your boss and ask his or her approval of the outline.

If you misunderstood some of his or her ideas about the subject or the details, this is the perfect time to fit this into your plan.

Schreiben Sie losWith your boss’s go ahead you can write up your big text. It will be great and your reputation as ghost writer will grow!

(And if you want to read an example of such a speech, look up your English@work 9/2012: “Reden für Fortgeschrit-tene: Die besten Tipps”.)

Vocabulary Box

brighten up – aufhellencluster – Anhäufungjot down – fix notierenobituary – Nachrufsort out – aussortierenoutline – Entwurfunbiased – unvoreingenommen

Insider tip from your Britisheditor Maureen Brown

It is important to let this cluster set­tle for some time, at least overnight. A longer time of about two or three days would be better, as you would then look at things differently and with a fresh mind.Perhaps you would be able to find new connections between different parts of your cluster, which would open up a new approach.

Insider tip from your American editor Jennifer Hohensteiner

For bigger projects it is important to get the go ahead of a senior colleague as otherwise you might waste a lot of time and manpower over a piece of work you have to change later on!

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Advanced Learner’s Corner

Shake hands: How to welcome international guestsNo matter where you meet your international partners, be it at the compa-ny, a trade fair or a meeting in a foreign country, a strong handshake might seem like a good first gesture. But it is not. A strong handshake is a Ger-man custom. In other parts of the world business partners might expect so-mething else.

Answer key exercise: Handshake1. a) can be real strong, b) like ours, c) a normal handshake, not too strong, d) longer than in Germany2. a) women in Russia quite often don’t shake hands, so wait to see what they do, b) never reach out the left hand, it is considered unclean, c) don’t squeeze too firmly: it is considered aggressive d) wait until a hand is offered to you. Some Asians don’t like skin contact.3. c) In Japan4. It is always best to research what is usual in the country of your guest ahead of time. These details should be easy to find out. If you can’t find anything or if you‘re sur-prised by an unexpected visit, smile, make eye contact and keep your body language open (i.e., open and welcoming hands). And follow your business partner’s lead.

ImpressumHerausgeber: GWI – eine Marke der WEKA MEDIA GmbH & Co. KGPostanschrift: Römerstraße 4, 86438 Kis-sing, Tel.: 08233 23 7850, Fax: 08233 23 7860, E-Mail: service@gwi.de, Internet: www.gwi.dePersönlich haftende Gesellschafterin: WEKA MEDIA Beteiligungs-GmbH, Sitz in KissingGeschäftsführung: Stephan Behrens, Michael Bruns, Werner PehlandRedaktion: Ulrike Rudolph (Chefredak-teurin, V.i.S.d.P.), Anschrift siehe obenObjektleitung: Michaela TimeusHerausgeberinnen: Maureen Brown (GB), Jennifer Hohensteiner (USA)Satz & Layout: contentsign, AltenahrDruck: Druckkultur GmbH, MünchenErscheinungsweise: monatlichAlle Angaben in „English@ Work“ wurden mit äußerster Sorgfalt ermittelt und überprüft. Sie basieren jedoch auf der Richtigkeit uns erteilter Auskünfte und unterliegen Verän-derungen. Eine Gewähr kann deshalb nicht übernommen werden, auch nicht für telefo-nisch erteilte Auskünfte. Wiedergabe – auch auszugsweise – nur mit schriftlicher Einwilli-gung des Herausgebers. ISSN 1862-4316

Answer key exercise: Creativity tools

Creativity technique

What does it mean? Where/how can you use it?

Brainstorming In brainstorming you try in a sin gle session to express or write down everything that comes to mind on a given subject as freely and quickly and non-judgmentally as possible. Quite often cards or small pieces of paper are used.

In a meeting with your boss, in a preparation meeting with colleagues who are fa-miliar with the company, the task, the boss’s and the visitors’ expectations. Or on your own.

Clustering Is a method where all the above in-formation is put down on a piece of paper, a flipchart or white board in a very unstructured way. You put the subject in the center and all the other ideas surround it. The ideas can then be linked by drawing lines to make connections. It is im-portant to do this in handwriting as this stimulates your brain better than typing on a keyboard.

During the meeting and analysed later on. Don’t think about it too much, just let your thoughts flow and follow them, no matter how funny or misleading they may appear! This step is still about collecting/clustering, not about structuring!Take your time, and don’t give up too early!

Mindmap Is a method of structuring the ideas you discovered during brain-storming sessions or clustering. Now you can put into order the ideas and thoughts from the pre-vious sessions. Start with your sub-ject in the centre and then draw lines to separate different subjects and connect those that belong to-gether.

This is the third step to fina-lise your collection.Now you can sort out what is not relevant to your sub-ject. This is the last step be-fore you start writing.

Now let us check your inter-cultural skills. You can look all this up in your English@work archive on the internet.

But try to figure it out yourself first!

Exercise: Handshake1. Where is a strong handshake welcome?

And are there any differences to Ger-man standards?

a) In Latin America? _________________

b) In the USA? _____________________

c) In Scandinavia? __________________

d) In the Emirates? __________________2. What is special about the handshake in

a) Russia? ________________________

b) India? _________________________

c) Egypt? _________________________

d) Asia? __________________________

3. In which countries is a handshake com­pletely unusual?a) In Italy?b) In Australia?c) In Japan?d) In Canada?

4. What do you think is the best solution if you are uncertain of how to welcome a business partner?

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________Answer key on the right

TippYou can find all these details –

and many more – in the special issues 04/2012 and 08/2012 of your English@work.

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Mehr Tipps zu Kommuni­kation

Finden Sie immer wieder im kostenlo-sen Newsletter „Secretary´s weekly“! Speziell für Assistenz und Sekretariat und ganz neu mit der Rubrik „Kommu-nikation und Korrespondenz“. Hier an-melden: www.sekretaerinnen-service.de ➜ Newsletter Archiv ➜ E-Mailadres-se eintragen ➜ Fertig!

Speaker’s Corner

Jung und Alt in einem Boot: So klappt die KommunikationDer demografische Wandel führt dazu, dass immer mehr ältere Mitarbeiter in den Unternehmen bleiben und mit jüngeren Managern zusammenarbei-ten. Nicht immer führt das zu den gewünschten Synergien. Oft kommt es zu Reibereien, weil die Erwartungshaltungen und die Kommunikation nicht stimmen. Eine Fremdsprache kann eine zusätzliche Hürde sein. Mit unseren Tipps überwinden Sie sie leicht.

Gerade in internationalen Un-ternehmen spielt die verän-derte Altersstruktur eine große Rolle. Ein Schlüsselbe-

griff ist die „Employability”, die Beschäf-tigungsfähigkeit älterer Mitarbeiterin-nen und Mitarbeiter.

Die demografische EntwicklungOver the last decade the workforce per-centage of people between 55 and 65 years in Germany has grown from under 40 up to about 60 %. On the other hand there was a shortage of junior managers employed in companies. This has led to a quite new and more acceptable apprecia-tion of older employees than previously.

Older employees are no longer looked upon as being past their sell-by date, but are instead respected for their many years of insider knowledge and long-standing professional relationship with the company. There is more to the demographic development than this. Younger employees quite often have to take care of their children, and older ones of their parents. These needs have lead to a changing awareness of the need for more flexibility within companies.

Apart from this need for organisation-al change there is a strong demand for good communication between the two age groups to manage their differ-ent needs and to fulfill company aims at the same time. And quite often commu-nication is the core problem.

Ursachen der Kommunikations­probleme erkennenOlder employee sometimes feel they have more experience and know the

company structure, the rules, its aims, expectations and customers better than newcomers.

Junior managers, on the other hand, feel their education is more theoretical and therefore deeper, more far-sighted and efficient than the older employees’ experience. They feel they know better what will serve the company aims in the long run than do older employees, who might retire soon and therefore might not be interested in the future develop-ment of the company.

All these factors can contribute to difficult communication as the two groups concentrate on

discussing their different approaches in-stead of finding common aims through empathetic communication.

But – no matter whether you belong to the older or the younger group of em-ployees – it is easy to find a way to com-municate differently.

So gelingt die KommunikationPflegen Sie Ihr BewusstseinThe most important prerequisite for change in a somewhat hostile communi-cation environment is to be aware of the different approaches and the reserva-tions both age groups may hold against the other group.

A second aspect is the fact that face-to-face communication is only one means to reach the company’s aims, which serve all employees, regardless of age, gender or other differences.And a third point is the fact that there might be more than just one way to

reach the same aim and that it might be worthwhile giving all of them a chance.

Vermeiden Sie Herablassung If you know about their reservations it should be easy to avoid a tone that might be mistaken as condescension.

Don’t say: “Oh, well, I thought you were too old/too young to know about this rule in our company!”

Don’t put the emphasis on the nega-tive part of the message. Try to say it positively.

Say instead: “The experience we gained by using this approach over the last two years was invaluable. This is why we im-plemented the rule of ….”

Achten Sie auf die korrekte FormEven if the e-mail etiquette is quite easy-going in your company it is cru-cial that communication between criti-cal age groups sticks to good old con-ventions such as• addressing the recipient: “Dear Ms Di-

termann”, “Hello Mr Ermel”,

Jokebox Five great truths about growing old

1.) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

2.) Forget the health food. You need all the preservatives you can get.

3.) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you’re down there.

4.) It’s frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

5.) Wisdom comes with age, but some-times age comes alone.

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If in doubt – cut it out

Stille Begleiter – stumme Buchstaben im EnglischenWenn es um Aussprache und Rechtschreibung geht, ist es schön, wenn das Gehörte und Geschriebene übereinstimmen. Die englische Sprache tut uns diesen Gefallen oft nicht, wie Sie an Wörtern wie „two,“ „climb“ oder „sign“ erkennen. Sie beinhalten sogenannte stumme Buchstaben. Sie werden ge-schriebenen, aber nicht ausgesprochen. Wir decken jetzt ein paar Regeln für diese „stillen Begleiter“ auf, damit Sie Sicherheit bekommen.

• saying “Thank you” and “please,” and• greeting correctly: “I’m looking for-

ward to …”, “Best wishes”, “Kind re-gards”.

Suchen Sie positive AlternativenInstead of giving negative feedback like “there are far too many mistakes in the letters you have written today” you could very well give a positive “feed-forward”:

“Please double-check your letters before handing them over.” And don’t forget to give positive feedback after the other has fulfilled your request!

If you keep all this in mind you should have no problems in communicating with people who are a lot younger or older than yourself. And perhaps you can help if a colleague or your boss asks your opinion on these difficult ques-tions.

Verschiedene FälleWritten English is full of silent letters, but some of them pose more problems than others when it comes to spelling and pronunciation. It is easiest to re-member silent letters if they follow a consistent rule and have an effect on

the word. The best example of this in English is the silent e. Although it itself is silent, it makes a short vowel long. The change in sound also often causes a change in meaning: fin/fine, rod/rode or cub/cube. Sometimes a silent letter makes sense because it helps distin-

guish same-sounding words. Two, to, and too are all spoken the same, but the different spellings, including the silent w in two makes them look different. Si-lent letters are easier to remember and understand in such cases.

But there are many other words where the silent letter seems to pop up for no reason and serve no purpose except to make certain words hard to pronounce and hard to spell: climb, island, palm, gnat, write. Before we look at these and other individual cases, it can be helpful to understand why and how silent let-ters generally come about.

Warum stumme Buchstaben?Silent letters are usually silent because they simplify the pronunciation of a word. Let’s face it: two or more con-

Insider tip from your American editor Jennifer Hohensteiner

Don’t end with “Hope to hear from you soon!” It might be mistaken as a hint that you think the recipient of the e-mail takes too long to respond to your requests! Instead write: “I look forward to hearing from you!”

Exercise: Positive Alternativen finden

Now let us do a little exercise: Fill in the cross word puzzle and find the solution word!Down Across1. Bewusstheit 1. Offenheit 5. Menschlichkeit2. Mitgefühl 2. Anerkennung 6. Wertschätzung 3. Zuhören 3. Aufmerksamkeit 7. Lächeln 4. Ungezwungenheit 8. Ruf, Ansehen

1

3

1 2

3 2

4   5

6

7

8

The solution word in the dark field is what is absolutely necessary for a good style of communication: ______________________ Answer key on page 7

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sonants in a row can be tricky for the tongue. For example, if the “g” in sign were spoken, it would be very hard for English speakers to pronounce. The re-sult would not even sound much like an English word.

Sometimes sounds get left off even though they are not hard to pronounce. Each language has its own logic about which sounds go well together and which sounds can be left off. This is why, for example, English speakers do not pronounce the “d” in sandwich or the “p” in assumption.

Fast jeder Buchstabe kommt als stummer Buchstabe in der englischen Sprache vor! Nur j,

q, v und y sind niemals stumm.

Die stillen Buchstaben im EinzelnenWe have put together a list of common silent letters and – where possible – the rules about when and how they occur. This list is not exhaustive. Many silent letters occurring in words from other languages are quite specialised (BE)/specialized (AE) or rare. We have there-fore decided not to discuss the silent “g” in diaphragm, or the silent “m” in mne-monic, or other silent letters that do not occur often or in common words.

Das stumme BThis is certainly one of the more puz-zling cases of silent letters, especially for non-native speakers. It does, however, occur in predictable ways. The letter “b” is silent when it follows “m” at the end of a word: tomb, lamb, numb. But that is not all. It remains silent in words that are derived from these words, such as climb-er, who is someone who climbs, and dumber and dumbest which come from the adjective dumb. Likewise, when verbs that end with a silent “b” are con-jugated, the “b” remains silent: climbs is pronounced “climes” and numbed is pronounced “nummed”.

Otherwise, however, if the “mb” combi-nation is not at the end of the word, the “b” is pronounced: combination, rum-ble, ambulance, number, member. There are two tricky cases to be aware of: plumber is pronounced “plummer”

although a plumber does not plumb (which is to drop a weight of lead on a string to test the depths of something). Both words, however, are derived from the Latin word for lead, plumbum. Lim-ber, on the other hand, is pronounced “limBer” although limb (pronounced “lim”) might logically be thought to be its root. The origin of limber is, however, uncertain, and therefore limb does not pass its silent “b” on to it.

“B” is also silent when it comes before “t” within a syllable: debt, doubt, sub-tle. If there is a syllable break between the “b” and the “t”, however, the “b” is spoken, as in obtain and subtract.

Das stumme CThe “c” is often silent in “sc”, especially at the beginning of a word or syllable followed by the vowel “e” or “i”: scene, scent, descent, scissors, discipline. But please note that although the “c” in mus-cle is silent, it is pronounced in muscular.

The “c” in indict and indictment is al-so silent. This has to do with the word’s Latin origins.

Das stumme DEspecially in British English, a “d” that

comes between “n” and another con-sonant is not pronounced: sandwich, handkerchief, windmill.“D” is also silent when followed by “ge”: lodge, edge, badger.

And as you well know, the “d” in Wednes-day is also silent.

Das stumme GIn words beginning with “gn” the “g” is silent: gnaw, gnat, gnome.

In words ending with “gn”, the “g” is al-so silent: sign, foreign, design. The “g” is sometimes pronounced in related words however: signal, signify, designate. In these instances the syllable also breaks between the “g” and the “n”.

You are probably familiar with the com-bination “gh” which is silent before “t”, as in night, ought, brought, fight, etc.

Das stumme HThere are several common words that begin with a silent “h”: honest, hour, heir, honour. In American English the “h” is usually also silent in herb, but not in British English. And remember: if the “h” is silent, you use “an” instead of “a”.

Answer key exercise: Positive Alternativen finden1O P E N N E S S

M 3L

1A 2A P P R E C I A T I O N

W A S

3A T T E N T I O N 2C T

R H O E

4E A S E   Y 5H U M A N I T Y

N P

6E S T E E M A

S S

7S M I L E S

8S T A N D I N G

O

N

The solution word is: Empathy

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If you listen closely, you will notice that native speakers do not really pronounce the “h” that follows “w” in words such as what, why, where, when, whether, whip or whale. (But in who and whole it is the “w” that is silent, not the “h”!)

“H” is also silent after the “r” in rhyme and rhythm, and after the “ex” in ex-hausted and exhibition (but it is spoken in exhale). If “h” occurs between two vowels, it is also silent: vehicle, vehe-ment, annihilate.

Finally, a silent “h” is sometimes found at the end of words that end in vow-els. There are two general categories in which this happens. One is in words im-ported from other, often Middle-East-ern languages: Allah, hallelujah, pariah, pharaoh, cheetah. The other is in inter-jections: oh, yeah, huh, hurrah, ooh.

Das stumme KWe’re pretty sure you know that the “k” in “kn” is always silent: know, knife, knee, knock.

Das stumme LYou will often find a silent “l” before the consonants “f ”, “m” and “k” at the end of a word: half, calf, palm, calm, talk, folk. If it comes after “ou” and before “d” it is also usually silent: could, would, should, etc. These are not absolute rules, however. The “l” is pronounced, for ex-ample, in mould, wolf, golf, elk, and realm.

Das stumme NThere aren’t many words in this cate-gory, but you are likely to come across them. So please note that a silent “n” occurs in several words that end with “m”, such as hymn, autumn, column, solemn. The “n” is always silent in words that end in “mn”, which is a good thing because how would you even pronounce it? The “n” can easily be pronounced when these words are modified, though, and it is: autumnal, columnist, hymnal.

Das stumme PIf “p” occurs in combination with “s” at the beginning of a word, the “p” is si-lent: psalm, psychologist, pseudo.

It is also usually silent when it occurs in the combination “mpt” as in these words: assumption, exempt, empty, con-tempt, redemption.

Das stumme SThere are a few common words, mostly of French origin, that contain a silent “s”: island, isle, aisle and debris.

Das stumme TThe silent t occurs in the combinations “sten,” “ften” and “stle”: often, soften, fasten, whistle, listen, castle. The “t” in Christmas is also silent.

In English the “t” in words like catch, match and pitch is also considered to be silent.

In deutschen Wörtern wie Matsch, Pitsch oder Tschüß ist das „t“ eigentlich nicht stumm,

da das „t“ aus dem „sch“ einen anderen Laut erzeugt. Im Englischen hingegen gibt es keinen Unterschied in dem End-

laut von z.B. peach und pitch, oder touch und catch. Da dieser Laut im Englischen normalerweise mit „ch“ gebildet wird, ist das „t“ hier als stumm zu betrachten.

Das stumme WWe mentioned above that the “w” is si-lent in who and whole. This also applies for whose and whom. Another case for silent “w” is the combination “wr”, as in write, wrong, wreath, and wrinkle.

And then there are a few miscellaneous words with silent “w”: answer, sword, two.

Im Zweifelsfall nachschlagenWith this article you have a good over-view of the most common words and oc-currences of silent letters. Since there are few absolute rules, however, you should always keep your spell check on when writing e-mails or letters, and look up the pronunciation for words you’re un-sure of.

To be continued

Vocabulary Box

assumption – Vermutung, Annahmecome about – zustande kommenderived from – abgeleitet vondiaphragm – das Diaphragmaexhaustive – erschöpfend, komplettevolve – sich entwickelnfew miscellaneous – ein paar verschiedene/gemischteindict/indictment – jemanden anklagen, die Anklageinterjection – der Ausruflimber – in Bezug auf der menschlichen Körper: flexibel, beweglichlisten closely – genau hinhörenmnemonic – Eselsbrücke, Merkspruchmould – Abdruck, Formplumb – auslotenpose a problem – ein Problem aufwerfen