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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tuffy Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 7035 days ago 1394 posts - 1412 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 41 of 119 24 September 2005 at 9:02pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Orion,
I'm not really sure. Some people indeed don't like Germans. You can really notice that when Holland has a football match against Germany. And sometimes I still hear stupid jokes on the radio for instance. But I also read in some polls that the younger generation these days likes Germans. I really hate it when people have stupid, arrogant and prejudice ideas about Germans. So my hope is those polls are right and things are getting better. By the way, not everyone who has lived through the war has negative thoughts about Germans. My father was a young boy too during the war. And the Germans who occupied his small village were in fact quite friendly. They hated the war and they gave my father chocolate bars :) But I gues it depends greatly on the experiences you had ofcourse! Tuffy 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 7022 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 42 of 119 25 September 2005 at 12:01am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the reply Tuffy. The guy I know was also a small boy during WWII. His mother was forced to do laundry for the German officers, and his father, a policeman, was made to work as a guard in a prison camp. As you can imagine, their experiences were not pleasant. I am glad people of our generation are willing to put the past behind them. There are also still some older Americans of the WWII era who harbor ill feelings against the Germans and Japanese.
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| tuffy Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 7035 days ago 1394 posts - 1412 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 43 of 119 25 September 2005 at 8:04am | IP Logged |
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I agree. It's 'just' a matter of trying to see everyone as an individual. I wouldn't like to be held responsible for things my ancestors or neighbours have done :)
But I know it can be difficult when one has had hard experiences! The pain and trauma can be overwelming!! And it's even harder when more people (a nation) are involved. But despite this pain and stuff it's important to keep your eyes and mind open, look around and SEE people for who they are. Not letting your mind judge before seeing things and people as they are. In the end that will be good for one's own healing as well. Then it's comforting to see that there are still good people and then you can cooperate in making this world a better place :) Tjüss :) Tuffy Edited by tuffy on 25 September 2005 at 8:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jtmc18 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7246 days ago 119 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 44 of 119 25 September 2005 at 2:48pm | IP Logged |
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This past summer I worked at a US national park. I'm a student of Spanish, but, in spite of all the foreign contacts I had every day, I only had occasional opportunities to practice Spanish. The language I heard the most and would have found more useful was German. Prior to this, I believed that most Germans could speak fluent English, but after this summer I'm not so sure. I had a lot of difficulty at times communicating and a knowledge of German would have been a real asset. In fact, some national park positions now require knowledge of a second language, and German is among the most desired.
(The largest proportion of foreign visitors this summer actually came from the Netherlands, Germany being a close second. I never had any difficulty communicating with Dutch visitors in English, whereas I sometimes did with German visitors. Sometimes, much to my embarrassment, I would mistake Dutch visitors for British ones.) Edited by jtmc18 on 25 September 2005 at 2:49pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 7022 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 45 of 119 26 September 2005 at 10:43am | IP Logged |
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I imagine the Dutch visitors were quite pleased that you thought their English was so good that they must be British. I know I would be pleased if I was visiting a national park in Austria, and an Austrian park ranger thought I was Dutch or German. I am always amazed to hear accent-free English coming from any non-native speaker. This seems to happen most often from a Dutch or Scandinavian citizen. I hope I can reach this level in some foreign language (if only I could decide which one to concentrate on!)
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| tuffy Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 7035 days ago 1394 posts - 1412 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 46 of 119 26 September 2005 at 12:12pm | IP Logged |
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That shows me that it is handy to know some German then.
Maybe I could get a job in the US, working in a national park? :-) Dutch people have a big advantage when it comes to exposure to the English language. We have a lot of American and English programs and movies on the telly. And we only use subtitles whereas Germans have German voices instead of the original voices in movies. That can be very irritating, hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger say: "Ich komme wieder" instead of "I'll be back" :-) But there are some movies I only watched in German and when I hear those in English I prefer the German version :-) Tuffy Edited by tuffy on 26 September 2005 at 12:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arti Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 7013 days ago 130 posts - 165 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: French, Czech | Message 47 of 119 27 September 2005 at 12:48pm | IP Logged |
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I haven't read the full thread, but here people learn German because they have to (at school or for business), so it s quite usefull as Germany is one the biggest economies in the world. Most people don't like its sound, but there are very beautiful dialects as well and disgusting ones (we have to accept this).
But personnaly me, I like German, it s abueatiful language (like most of world languages for me) I am thinking to learn it, i have already a self studiing book and a dictionnary but too little time don't allow me to begin sprechen Deutsch, I hope soon I ll manage to have a small talk:) My favourite author is Erich Maria Remarque, for me it would be great to read books in original. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Paul Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7122 days ago 114 posts - 124 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German Studies: Italian | Message 48 of 119 27 September 2005 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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Well, i think that German can sound both beautiful, when spoken softly,
and extremely powerful. It's enjoyable, and easy to pronounce. It's the grammar rather than the sound that is unpleasant! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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