101 Reasons German is a Great Language! (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

101 Reasons German is a Great Language!
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

55 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

Johntm
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Message 25 of 55

30 March 2010 at 9:38pm | IP Logged

cordelia0507 wrote:

Johntm wrote:

@cordelia - is this thread in response to the "Why does German have a bad reputation?" thread?

Of course, not ;-) where would you get a silly idea like that.. hehe...

I thought that since there was a thread with reasons people don't like German that you'd want one with reasons that people love German.
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psy88
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Message 26 of 55

30 March 2010 at 9:45pm | IP Logged

re: German's repuyation. During World War II, in the US there was a big campaign warning the American people "not to speak the enemy's language". As a result many loyal Americans stopped speaking (at least publicly) , or teaching, or allowing their children to speak, German or Italian. Many of the families , as "proof" of loyalty, did not speak their native language, and those who did were viewed with suspicion.
re: The German scientist, Wernher van Braun: after the War he worked in the US space program. In 1957, Russia lunched sputnik,thus beginning the "space race". America sound followed with the launch of its own satellite. The joke was that the Russian sputnik learned English so that it could speak to the American sputnik. Unfortunately, the story goes, the poor Russian sputnik discovered that the American satellite only spoke German,not English.
It should read, "reputation", not "repuyation". Sorry.

Edited by psy88 on 30 March 2010 at 9:46pm
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L1539
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Message 27 of 55

30 March 2010 at 10:03pm | IP Logged

psy88 wrote:

re: German's repuyation. During World War II, in the US there was a big campaign warning the American people "not to speak the enemy's language".

I never understood that. Isn't it smart to know the language of people who want to harm you?
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cordelia0507
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Message 28 of 55

31 March 2010 at 12:32am | IP Logged

PLEASE NOTE: It is explicitly forbidden to even mention the W word in this thread. Enough about that already! I request that the thread is closed immediately if anyone mentions it!
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The world's smartest police dog understands only German! KOMMISSAR "REX"

Unfortunately I am thoroughly out of date with German speaking popular culture so please add something more contemporary!
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Captain Haddock
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Message 29 of 55

31 March 2010 at 3:32am | IP Logged

L1539 wrote:

psy88 wrote:

re: German's repuyation. During World War II, in the US there was a big
campaign warning the American people "not to speak the enemy's language".

I never understood that. Isn't it smart to know the language of people who want to harm you?

When you're fighting a war, especially using questionable means, the politicians benefit if they can depict the
enemy's language and culture as intrinsically evil.

(I don't mean to cross the boundary from language to politics, but this tendency is something that affects all
language learners.)
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L1539
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Message 31 of 55

31 March 2010 at 4:56pm | IP Logged

Tombstone wrote:

As for the paranoia behind warnings "not to speak the enemy's language," it is easy to apply today's standards to the actions of almost 70 years ago...but it is not always fair.

While it's true that it's often not fair to condemn something that was done in a different time based on today's hindsight, I think criticism is warranted in this instance. It is "understandable" that people were told not to speak German, Italian and Japanese in the sense that it was an understandable product of the hysteria that's widespread during a crisis like WWII. Even at that time, however, there was no way to make a rational argument that American security would be harmed by Americans speaking those languages. As I said before, knowing the languages of your enemies can only benefit you, not harm you. I don't think that just because something is done during a different time and different circumstances, it should automatically be immune to criticism.
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