German words which are clear and confusing - in banks

Problem
1 How do you remember words? In a bank you may want to check your bank account, and ask how much money is in it.

Answer
Look for similarities. Similar letters or similar sounds.

German - English
Kreditkarten - Credit card
Finanzierung - credit, financing (looks like finance)
Frist (eine Frist) - deadline (a deadline)
Geld - money (originally it would have been gold with gold and silver coins)
Konto - account

English - German
account - Konto (German nouns begin with capital letters, unlike English words, where only p r o p e r names have capital letters) (P r o p e r was turned into paper by automatic spell correction.)
credit - Finanzierung
deadline - Frist (I think of rush to be first past the post before the race is over and you've missed your chance, like the hare and the tortoise)

Tips
Watch out for in the account which is auf - in this context meaning in, not from.

To test yourself, use Duolingo website which can be used on a laptop or as an ap on your mobile phone. You will have to go through the course from lesson one onwards in order. Unlike a paper textbook, or phrase book, you cannot skip around from one chapter to another.

Angela Lansbury, author and teacher of English and languages. Please share my posts.