Why learn German? (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Why learn German?
Tags: Reasons for study \| Usefulness \| German
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

119 messages over 15 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 13 ... 14 15 Next >>

LauraM
Pro Member
United States
Joined 5353 days ago
77 posts - 97 votes

Studies: German
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Message 97 of 119

09 December 2010 at 7:01pm | IP Logged

I have, perhaps, the most simplistic reasons for studying German. I like the way it sounds and it's not a language
that is very popular here in America...and I was born different therefore have always liked doing things differently!
Even if I'm not, I'd like to appear to be an interesting individual! LOL
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Gorgoll2
Senior Member
Brazil
veritassword.blogspo
Joined 5147 days ago
159 posts - 192 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*

Message 98 of 119

09 December 2010 at 9:29pm | IP Logged

I would learn to read Goethe, Thomas Mann and Kafka and the Tische Redden.

Edited by Gorgoll2 on 09 December 2010 at 9:30pm
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JW
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United States
youtube.com/user/egw
Joined 6123 days ago
1802 posts - 2011 votes

22 sounds
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew
Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian

Message 99 of 119

10 December 2010 at 12:45am | IP Logged

Gorgoll2 wrote:

I would learn to read...the Tische Redden.

Ah, to read the Tischreden is alone worth learning German:

Denn ein Herz voll Freude sieht alles fröhlich an, eine Herz voll Trübsal alles trübe

Because a heart full of joy sees eveything as joyous, a heart full of misery sees everything as miserable

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YoshiYoshi
Senior Member
China
Joined 5532 days ago
143 posts - 205 votes

Speaks: Mandarin*

Message 100 of 119

10 December 2010 at 9:16am | IP Logged

jbbar wrote:

I always wonder what makes so many people think Spanish is so important and somehow "a must" for language learners, leading to questions like the one this thread is about. It's quite mind-boggling to me that anyone would think of German as plain useless and a waste of time. And mind you, I've been a student of Spanish for several years, in case you think I'm biased. Looking back on it it was about the biggest mistake I've ever made because it is really quite useless, no matter how many people speak it. Tell me, is Hindi important just because it is spoken by over half a billion people? No, it ain't.

I'm noticing this "anti-German, pro-Spanish" trend among Europeans but also among Americans who think they have to adopt the language of a minority and that will somehow pay off. Wrong. A basic working knowledge is just fine but German or French or even Italian will be far more useful and enriching to you than Spanish.

What a coincidence. We've nearly got the same view on this subject, especially in recent years the "anti-German & pro-Spanish" trend has also gained the upper hand over the actual situation in mainland China, in fact it's hard to find a place or company where the learners of Spanish may practise their speaking skills. Fortunately, your comments about popular languages (German, French, Italian, & Spanish) could prove my point once again.

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Monte_Cristo
Newbie
United States
Joined 5198 days ago
27 posts - 30 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 101 of 119

10 December 2010 at 4:51pm | IP Logged

I want to learn German for 4 major reasons.

1) I love European history, and for better or worse, Germany has played a major role in Europe's developement.
2) I like the way it sounds. Granted, most of my experience has been from WWII movies, so that may not be exactly what it is suppose to sound like, but it can't be too far off.
3) I love the country. I have never been anywhere that I enjoyed more. Breathtakingly beautiful.
4) My German heritage. I mainly identify with my Italian side ('cause we're just louder and harder to ignore, lol), but I am very proud of my German heritage as well.
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jdmoncada
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5035 days ago
470 posts - 741 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish
Studies: Russian, Japanese

Message 102 of 119

26 February 2011 at 2:50am | IP Logged

1) I learned and want to improve my German because it is a language of classical music. One of my first experiences was singing Lieder of texts by poet Moerike. They were beautiful!

2) I think the language itself is quite lovely. To me it is beautiful when Germans speak it. Any harsh accent I have heard in the language, the stereotype, has usually come from an Austrian. I am sorry if that offends, but for my experiences it has been so.

3) As with any other language I have tried to learn, it comes with a new view of seeing the world, and I rather like this one.

4) It's fun to be able to make sounds that other people (English speakers, usually) seem to think are hard or difficult.
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PonyGirl
Groupie
United States
Joined 5020 days ago
54 posts - 70 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: German

Message 103 of 119

28 February 2011 at 12:18am | IP Logged

People ask me this quite frequently and I have wracked my brain for a witty answer and have always come up dry. Basically I just like it. My mom has a degree in German, so she gave me and my siblings a rather random foundation when we were little. Through high school I dabbled, picking up new things randomly. Now I'm getting serious, because I did my research and discovered that Germany is a place that I would love to go to, possibly even go to grad school there.

Yeah. Not very witty :D
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anothername
Triglot
Groupie
Brazil
Joined 5062 days ago
96 posts - 195 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English

Message 104 of 119

01 March 2011 at 5:10pm | IP Logged

jbbar wrote:

German is spoken by a hundred million people in Europe in several countries, of which the most important one is still the biggest European economy and the third or fourth largest and strongest in the world. Germany, like France, has had an enormous impact on history and greatly contributed to Western civilization. It is spoken in highly developed countries and on the whole it is not nearly as difficult as Russian, despite the fact that it has cases. It's written pretty phonetically. Now it's true you can do without but German is a very in-demand language in business and knowing the language will certainly pay off in Europe, but the same may be true for other developed nations like the U.S. that have strong economic ties with Germany. Apart from that, the language is also of great use in academic research, and it can even be heard in places outside Europe such as Turkey and even Iran.

I always wonder what makes so many people think Spanish is so important and somehow "a must" for language learners, leading to questions like the one this thread is about. It's quite mind-boggling to me that anyone would think of German as plain useless and a waste of time. And mind you, I've been a student of Spanish for several years, in case you think I'm biased. Looking back on it it was about the biggest mistake I've ever made because it is really quite useless, no matter how many people speak it. Tell me, is Hindi important just because it is spoken by over half a billion people? No, it ain't.

I'm noticing this "anti-German, pro-Spanish" trend among Europeans but also among Americans who think they have to adopt the language of a minority and that will somehow pay off. Wrong. A basic working knowledge is just fine but German or French or even Italian will be far more useful and enriching to you than Spanish. Let the Spanish speakers in America make more efforts at studying English instead.

Sorry if I got a bit off-topic here but I think it's still relevant to the discussion. I'm speaking from my own experience with these languages.

German and french are very important languages, probably the most important along English in the western/european civilization context, but I don't think it's necessary to disdain Spanish or hindi to claim that.

Do you think Spanish and hindi as useless? Well, the fact that they are both among the 5 most spoken languages of earth is just one of the points that prove you're mistaken. Spanish culture, be it alone or along with latin american culture, could be considered less interesting than German if we talk exclusively about phylosophy and classical music, but just take a look at literature and visual arts.

And hindi is so unjustly bashed. It is far from useless. Even if we consider its pure form, it has great writers (Premchand's realism is unique in asian literature) and it is the language of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous and, regarding indian classical culture, the most interesting. It is also, script and specialized vocabulary aside, the same language as Urdu, the language of Pakistan and the former language of the Mogul empire, once the most important state of earth. Besides that, much more indians study hindi than their regional-state prouds allow them to admit.

Chinese was also said to be useless in the eighties. See how the$e per$pective$ change quickly to western eyes.

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