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Ever criticized for learning German? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| PonyGirl Groupie United States Joined 5020 days ago 54 posts - 70 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 33 of 68 06 June 2011 at 4:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I get people whose knee jerk reaction to the word "German" seems to be hacking and spitting to show how skilled they are at the language. I just raise a brow and let them finish making a fool out of themselves, then I pleasantly quip, "No, actually that is just Americans trying to speak German." Edited by PonyGirl on 06 June 2011 at 4:43am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5568 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 34 of 68 06 June 2011 at 7:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I once got called a Nazi for studying Russian and wearing an ушанка (ushanka). That kind of put any further criticism of my language study habits into perspective. For every jerk who has a negative opinion of you studying German, there are a thousand German speakers who would congratulate and encourage you for taking an interest in their language. Edited by Levi on 06 June 2011 at 7:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 5051 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 35 of 68 06 June 2011 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
And this is true, I've been talking to some people from Germany now, and they do appreciate me wanting to learn German, considering the American stereotype is to be lazy and not learn a 2. language. Sometimes I wish I didn't live in America lol. And my bf just doesn't understand, he doesn't speak German and I kind of think he wished I didn't either... considering there are times I would rather study German than make love to him ^_^ But I haven't been tot criticized about German lately. And ya, the whole hacking and spitting thing, they do make a fool of themselves and I find it rather interesting to hear the harsh sound of ignorance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Meelämmchen Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5084 days ago 214 posts - 249 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 36 of 68 07 June 2011 at 8:27am | IP Logged | ||
Ha, I knew The Simpsons have not made this up. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cokate08 Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5848 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Russian | Message 37 of 68 09 June 2011 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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When people find out I study German, they often criticize the language, but don't usually have much problem with it--they figure it's justified because they know Bavaria's beautiful. I used to get annoyed about it, but the German criticism is nothing compared to what I've received since I started studying Russian. I've actually had people tell me that I should give it up.
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| Phantom Kat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5064 days ago 160 posts - 253 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Finnish | Message 38 of 68 14 June 2011 at 3:40am | IP Logged | ||
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I plan to study German in college (might dabble into it before college starts), and the only criticism I received was from my mom, who said with something of a gasp, "But isn't German one of the hardest languages to learn?" I found it funny considering I'm studying Finnish and she wants to one day learn Mandarin Chinese. Other than that, I've never gotten any criticism. apart from the, "Why German?" question.
- Kat Edited by Phantom Kat on 14 June 2011 at 3:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 39 of 68 14 June 2011 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | ||
I've not ever really had the impression that German is particularly hard. It came as a surprise, then, when I was at a career event at uni a few weeks ago and I was asked which languages I speak besides Russian which is (or was, as I'm finished now, wow...) my major at uni. I mentioned having studied French for more years than I care to remember and Slovene, but the one most people were impressed with was German. One of the representatives from one of the companies was German, and I impressed the hell out of my dad by conducting the entire 15 minute-ish conversation in German. I've always thought that if people were going to be interested in the languages at all, Russian would be the one which got the most praise, then Slovene would be mentioned as being an odd choice, but I never banked on German as getting so much interest. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 5051 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 40 of 68 15 June 2011 at 3:09am | IP Logged | ||
Ya I would think Mandarin Chinese is a bit harder than German... thank God I am learning German! And ya I get asked the why German question to by people, but then again that is where my roots are, so I can always use that as a answer... but like others say I really do not need to justify my reason for learning German, it is just an awsome language!! Personal bias. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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