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Why does German have a bad reputation? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Fazla Hexaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6262 days ago 166 posts - 255 votes  Speaks: Italian, Serbo-Croatian*, English, Russian, Portuguese, French Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 9 of 45 26 March 2010 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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It is perceived as an angry language, as many have put it.
It is not as useful as it was, as it can be used in Germany and Austria "only" (I would have agreed with stories about it's usefulness in Eastern Europe some years ago, now English has replaced it and nobody can convince me of the opposite). It is perceived as difficult. If you know a romance language already (which the majority of polyglots do), choosing another one comes more natural, as it is... much simpler. Now exotic language are trendy and German definitely isn't exotic. In my case, I started to study it 2 months ago. Anyone who speaks English and knows another Romance language, doesn't know what is he missing. Any talk about it's perceived difficulty went down the toilet for me when I started to dwell into it... so many common words with English and other Romance languages, especially Italian. Definitely on my "to learn to speak good" list. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 10 of 45 26 March 2010 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Huh!? I find these threads that are negative about a particular language so irritating!
German is a great language! I always thought it sounded better than English. In Sweden it was the first foreign language for everyone until the 1950s or so, when English really took over. Hearing German is my first foreign language memory. Who says it's not beautiful??!!! You need to listen to opera in German, or poetry. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nescafe Senior Member Japan Joined 5409 days ago 137 posts - 227 votes | Message 11 of 45 26 March 2010 at 10:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have seen a thread on a Japanese language forum entitled "I am crazy with German language, too cool!" (ドイツ語かっこよすぎてワロタ). In Japan I think most people see German language as very cool, especialy German R sounds cool.
I heard Germany is still associated with the Third Reich in English speaking world. Japanese image for German language is (I think), the Language of Philosophy and Science, Einstein, Kant, Beethoven, etc. Very intellectual and sounding serious. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zoba Newbie United States Joined 5357 days ago 10 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 12 of 45 26 March 2010 at 10:43pm | IP Logged | ||
That's exactly my point!! I'm not saying anything negative about the language. I'm defending the language. I love German opera and poetry. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JS-1 Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5983 days ago 144 posts - 166 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), German, Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic (Written) | Message 13 of 45 27 March 2010 at 1:17am | IP Logged | ||
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I like German, but for some reason I can't abide the dumbed down "light hearted" version
of the spoken language I hear on many recordings intended for students -the Assimil course nearly drove me insane. I love the language as it is spoken in authentic German media. Somehow the dumbing down of other languages doesn't annoy me at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sunny Groupie United States Joined 6248 days ago 98 posts - 128 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Welsh, French | Message 14 of 45 27 March 2010 at 2:46am | IP Logged | ||
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A lot of the feelings against the German language are echoes of what happened in the years after World War I (not II). In the United States German language newspapers were shut down, and in fact in 35 states the teaching of any foreign language to students before the 8th grade was made illegal. Teddy Roosevelt(in his post presidential days) spearheaded this anti-foreign sentiment.
Fortunately these laws didn't last long, but the damage to the concepts of the teaching of foreign languages in the United States was done, and has yet to fully recover. Prior to these laws there many flourishing schools where mostly immigrant children learned in their native languages as well as in English. These are gone. Another thing, concerning German being an ugly language. If all you have ever heard of German comes from Hollywood, you certainly haven't heard the real thing. German as spoken by natives is as melodious as French or Italian, and every bit as beautiful. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zoba Newbie United States Joined 5357 days ago 10 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 15 of 45 27 March 2010 at 3:17am | IP Logged | ||
I agree. In fact, there's a family story about my great grandfather and other relatives being arrested around that time for speaking German in public. They were outside working on a roof and yelling back and forth to one another in German. And someone called the police... Crazy, huh? This is actually one of the reasons German started dying out in my family. My great grandparents decided that the children shouldn't speak it anymore (around World War II) because it was just too dangerous. This led to the younger generations not passing it on to their children as much. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hvorki_ne Groupie Joined 5386 days ago 72 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Icelandic | Message 16 of 45 27 March 2010 at 4:46am | IP Logged | ||
It is beautiful- but most of the time when English-speakers are introduced to it, it's a very harsh version of it, playing up the stereotype that German is an angry language. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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