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Why the huge popularity of German? | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 33 of 42 30 April 2010 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
You are right, my mistake. But the fact that I have worked in the EU-Commission (admittedly for only three months, but still) without hearing that, speaks volumes about how little German is used. I went to heaps of meetings in English, and several meetings in French, but not once did I hear German used in a meeting. Even in one-on-one conversations the Germans themselves spoke English or French, unless they were speaking to another German. The only times German was heard, was at the really big meetings, like in the Parliament, where everyone would speak their mother tongue, and there would be a gazillion interpreters. Having said that, I am sad that it is not used more. Ironically enough, it suffers under the fact that most Germans, and certainly the ones in international affairs, are fluent in English, and often speak French. You find very few English or French who are fluent in German, and therefore that language is less used. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 30 April 2010 at 1:44pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 34 of 42 02 May 2010 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Solfrid, interesting to hear about your experiences in Brussels. I just can't believe I am Swedish and never studied German.. but it's true.I picked up a fair bit of vocabulary and phrases anyway, but I don't know the grammar.
Huh, people don't understand why others learn German?? Where have you been? It's the biggest mother tongue in the EU, the language of the most influential country in Europe. It's a relatively easy language to learn if you speak one of the Scandinavian languages, or Dutch, (or maybe English (not sure about that one)). I remember well that one of the things that flashed through my head when I was a kid and saw the Germans smashing the Wall was "Darn!!! I should have chosen German like my dad said.....!" (Obviously, happiness for them too, of course :-) The coming of Germany as the giant of Europe was a done deal at that point, but of course it took a while to get back on track. But thanks to "globalisation", Americanization etc, whether the German language is needed is a different story. Right now DE is like the friendly sleeping giant of Europe, it's playing down its' importance, only showing its' real strength in emergencies, such as lately the Greek crisis. For people in Northern Europe it will be the biggest and most influential neighbouring country. I see many good reasons to learn German. Agree that speaking with educated German people in English is not a problem whatsoever. It would take me many years to get better at German than the average person in DE is at English. The fact that such people are generally so good at English is something that makes me think twice about learning German... After all, it's about easy communication, not about the language per se, at least for me. That said, when I go to DE for work, I feel like a complete muppet when I have to speak English as I get around town. It just feels so WRONG. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| GauchoBoaCepa Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5419 days ago 172 posts - 199 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 35 of 42 03 May 2010 at 4:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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After checking a nice German movie out last night called "Soul Kitchen", I'm eager to study German within a couple of months. All right, with my spoiled ears I'm not sure if I will be able to catch the words just basing on the sheer difficulty that the language provides.
Getting by properly with English, would things get a bit less harder for me? Edited by GauchoBoaCepa on 03 May 2010 at 4:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 36 of 42 03 May 2010 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
The problem with the "Greek crisis", plainly and simply, is that Germans don't want to pay the bill for Greece. I sympathise with that. It makes sense politically ('cause Germany will also suffer if the Eurozone goes under), but Merkel will have a real hard time explaining that to the taxpayer. France reacted more quickly but they also contribute a smaller amount. Let's pray the plague won't spread to Spain and Portugal... ^_^ Edited by Sennin on 03 May 2010 at 5:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frieza Triglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5353 days ago 102 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, French Studies: German | Message 37 of 42 06 May 2010 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Personally, I'm learning German because I wanted to learn another language besides English and French and since I already had a relatively vast passive knowledge of Italian and Spanish, I figured it would be more useful to learn German instead.
I must say I don't regret my decision, German is a constant challenge and has quite a lot of interesting features. I even understand English better now because of it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5855 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 38 of 42 06 May 2010 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Young German woman are hot..... that's my motivation to learn perfect German.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5339 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 39 of 42 07 May 2010 at 1:49am | IP Logged | |||||
People in America and perhaps elsewhere, because of the nature of Hitler, are forever altered once hearing the German language from his lips, you must confess he was one of the greatest German orators in all of history. And I see no reason to twist the focus of the conversation (being languages) to the Holocaust. And there is more German natives in Europe than any other language. That is all I meant about it being the language of the EU and the principle language of Continental Europe (being that it has the most natives) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hellblazer Tetraglot Pro Member Australia Joined 5322 days ago 7 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Armenian*, Russian, English, German Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 40 of 42 07 May 2010 at 4:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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When someone says that the popularity of the German language may have something to do with Hitler, they forget that German is also the language of the great Goethe. And there is no way in the world that Hitler's supposed great oratorical skills, which are nothing more than ravings of a lunatic, could better attract a thinking person to the German language than Goethe's immortal works. Edited by Hellblazer on 08 May 2010 at 2:09am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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