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Why learn German? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Qbe Tetraglot Senior Member United States joewright.org/var Joined 7136 days ago 289 posts - 335 votes  Speaks: English*, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Japanese, German, Mandarin, Aramaic | Message 17 of 119 12 August 2005 at 8:06am | IP Logged | ||
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I wonder sometimes if Farber's statement is still true, or if the spread of English has changed the situation.
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| Nephilim Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 7146 days ago 363 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English*, Polish | Message 18 of 119 12 August 2005 at 8:32am | IP Logged | ||
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In Poland, it is starting to change.
When I first came to Poland in 1992, as soon as people heard I was English they tried their German on me which is about as logical as me trying Russian on them. One particluarly old boy, I remember, wanted to find out if I wanted a lift to the airport to catch my flight back to the UK. As he didn't appear to have sufficient command of the language to express: "Would you like a lift to the airport?" he pointed to himself, then to me and made some kind of steering motions - which I understood to mean that he was offering me a lift. I had no idea where exactly he was offering me a lift to, until he spread his arms out like aeroplane wings and started saying: "Luftwaffe, Luftwaffe" and then pointing first to the sky and then to what I presumed to be the general direction of England. "Good grief", I thought, "Am I the only sane person in this country." 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| brandon Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 7048 days ago 54 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French Studies: Dutch, Swedish, Italian | Message 19 of 119 16 August 2005 at 1:26am | IP Logged | ||
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I started learning German when my father was stationed in Germany. I was 9 and it was my first introduction to living abroad in another culture. When I moved back to the States, it was 8th grade, and time to pick a foreign language. Seeing as how I'd been learning some German already, the only logical decision was to pick German. I'm glad I did because I don't think I would've picked German had I not lived in Germany. Economically speaking, German is very useful. Many Europeans speak it: Germany, Austria, Liecht., parts of Switz., and many in Eastern Europe. Also, it facilitates my eventual learning of Dutch, some of which a German and English speaker can understand without studying it.
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| Bignicky Newbie United States Joined 7061 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes | Message 20 of 119 25 August 2005 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Plain and simple, Germany seems to offer the biggest "bang for your Euro".
I have fooled around with the thought of studying Czech and Dutch one day, but I'll probably settle on learning German. That, along with my native english, would probably be the best fallback language when visiting the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bart Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 7161 days ago 155 posts - 159 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish | Message 21 of 119 26 August 2005 at 5:04am | IP Logged | ||
Let me tell you as a native speaker of Dutch that you basicly understand Dutch when you have learned German and with little effort you could be able to speak Dutch in no time. It's true that you'll get pretty far with German in the Netherlands, but then I ask myself wether it wouldn't be better to just speak English as most Dutch people speak English better than German. And in Belgium most Dutch speaking people speak French a great lot better than German and will most of the time just speak Dutch with a German accent, thinking they're speaking real German ;) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bignicky Newbie United States Joined 7061 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes | Message 22 of 119 26 August 2005 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bart,
You are no doubt correct that it would be easier to speak english than German in the Netherlands. When I was in Amsterdam recently, every Dutch person I spoke to would initially speak to me in Dutch, and when I responded in english they wuld immediately switch to english. I wonder if this is the case throughout all of the Netherlands? Regardless, since I love language-learning I will likely pursue German for what usefullness it may present throughout Europe. Thanks for informing me that by learning German I will basically understand Dutch. Good to know! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bignicky Newbie United States Joined 7061 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes | Message 23 of 119 26 August 2005 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Forgive me for my ignorance (and slight stray off-topic), but Dutch is the national language of Belgium? I had no idea until I just read that on this site. I assume Dutch AND French are national languages in Belgium?
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| Bart Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 7161 days ago 155 posts - 159 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish | Message 24 of 119 27 August 2005 at 4:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Not even that!
The official languages of Belgium are Dutch, French and German (in that order of amount of people who speak it) I live in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) and thus I speak Dutch as my mother tongue. In the south (Wallonia or something in English) they speak French and in a very small part in the east they speak German. Hope that clears it up for you! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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