Now that the basics of how each letter is written are learned, you are ready to go into some of the concepts that will help you to decipher difficult to read writing styles. We will bypass a discussion on upper-case letters simply because the concepts that we talk about with the lower-case letters will apply to the upper-case letters as well.

1. Rule number one is that whenever you encounter words you can't decipher, look for those letters that are most similar to their Latin script counterparts. These, as shown in Fig. 15A, are usually the B, F, I, J, L, 0, and Z.

Fig. 15A

2. Rule number two concerns five letters. They are the only five letters that extend high above the line. These are the B, D, K, L, and T (see Fig. 15R). Two of these letters, the B and the L, are usually easy to recognize because of their Latin similarity. This narrows it down to just three letters, the D, K, and the T. Among these three it is not too difficult to determine the correct one.

Fig. 15B

3. This has to do with seven letters which begin on the line and then extend below it (see Fig. 15C). These letters are the G, J, P, Q, X, Y, and Z. two of these, the J and the Z, are similar to Latin. The G, Q, and Y are very similar, especially the G and the Q. of these three the G is probably used the most and then the y since it is often used interchangeably with the letter I. the P and the X are also very similar. Between the two of them, the P, of course, will be used more often.

Fig. l5C

4. Three letters that you must be careful of are the F, H, and S. All three of these (as shown in Fig. 15D) extend both high above and far below the line. They are also written using the same type of strokes. The F, as we have already mentioned, is written much like our Latin F and it may be easier to identify. All three of them are used extensively in German writings.

Fig. 15D

5. The next eleven letters can be broken down into four groups due to their similarities with each other, see Fig. 15E. All of these letters are written on the line. The O and the I are the only two that are similar to the Latin script. The letter U is placed with two groups because of its similarity with the A and 0, and the M and N. Most German writers will put either a slash or a dot over the u to distinguish it from the letter N. If a dot is used, then the letter u can be mistaken for an ei or maybe a ci. The use of the dot is not too common.