Noun classification and congruence in German and Zulu – a contrastive analysis

Abstract

Teaching German as a foreign language in post-apartheid South Africa is different and more complex than before, because of the multilingual nature of the groups of learners with which the teachers are confronted, as opposed to the monolingual and monocultural groups before 1994. Taking cognizance of the full repertoire of languages represented in the classroom is not a new idea, but the current situation is such that teachers of German in South Africa have little or no knowledge of the Bantu languages, which renders them unable to do so. Contrastive analyses of German and the Nguni and Sotho languages and textbooks aimed specifically at the needs of South African learners of German as a foreign language have become a necessity. The focal point of this article is a comparison of the congruence systems in German and Zulu.

Keywords: contrastive analysis, cognitive approach to language learning, primary language, first language, foreign language, congruence

Journal for Language Teaching Vol. 39(1) 2005: 1-16