Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Why does German have a bad reputation?

  Tags: Stereotypes | History | German
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post Reply
45 messages over 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6  Next >>
IronFist
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6437 days ago
663 posts - 941 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Korean

 
 Message 33 of 45
30 March 2010 at 3:01am | IP Logged 
WWII.

Why is the stereotype of Germans super serious, though? Is it because people associate seriousness with intelligence (German engineering which is considered to be high quality)?

Like when someone is serious about [subject], they are called [subject]-nazi (such as "grammar nazi" for someone who is always correcting grammar).

Strangely enough, in German class in college, someone said "grammar nazi" in class and our teacher (who was from Germany) made this face: o.O and was like "wtf?" We had to explain it to him what it meant and that the guy didn't actually mean real Nazis.

But it seems that the stereotype of Germans is precise, perfect, strict, etc. Where did that come from? It can't just be from the language.

Edited by IronFist on 30 March 2010 at 3:01am
1 person has voted this message useful



The Blaz
Senior Member
Canada
theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5600 days ago
120 posts - 176 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto

 
 Message 34 of 45
30 March 2010 at 5:49am | IP Logged 
IronFist wrote:

But it seems that the stereotype of Germans is precise, perfect, strict, etc. Where
did that come from? It can't just be from the language.


Ok I'm just pulling this out my arse, but...

In the first few decades after WWII global economic policy was geared towards free
trade and global growth. Japan began manufacturing and exporting to the West on a much
larger scale than ever before. As much US funds and political capital was invested in
the rebuilding of Japan's economy, exports were encouraged. At least in the early
years, the quality of many products were quite low, and Japanese exports earned a
reputation for being low quality (much like Chinese exports do now... even though
Warren Buffet is now buying his suits from China). Conversely, German exports were
recognized for their quality. Thus the perception of industriousness, precision, and
innovation were capitalized upon and became a part of 'Brand Germany', which has
continued to this day, and certainly been supported by German's large industrial
sector.

... How's that?

Edited by The Blaz on 30 March 2010 at 5:49am
1 person has voted this message useful



lichtrausch
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5960 days ago
525 posts - 1072 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Mandarin

 
 Message 35 of 45
30 March 2010 at 6:51am | IP Logged 
IronFist wrote:

Why is the stereotype of Germans super serious, though? Is it because people associate seriousness with intelligence (German engineering which is considered to be high quality)?

The Prussian education system might have had something to do with it.
1 person has voted this message useful



hvorki_ne
Groupie
Joined 5386 days ago
72 posts - 79 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Icelandic

 
 Message 36 of 45
30 March 2010 at 12:00pm | IP Logged 
Marc Frisch wrote:
William Camden wrote:
I remember once having an Internet argument with an American about the Iraq War. He wrote that "if it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking German". I replied, "I speak German." :)


I've actually been told something similar in history class at school: "If it wasn't for the Americans, we'd all speak Russian now..."

Damn Americans... You know, if it wasn't for the revolutionaries- we'd all have British accents, too.

But what argument is that? Does it matter what language we might have been speaking? What would have happened to language if Rome hadn't had an Empire? Every time cultures have come in contact or taken over, language has shifted. For the better? Who knows. For the worst? Who's to say.

cordelia0507 wrote:
1) German does not have a bad reputation - in fact it's a great language - see separate thread.

You know what is reputation? Is people talking, is gossip.

Reputation is not "the fact of the matter is" reputation is association, what you feel someone is. If a person is only ever kind to strangers- they could secretly be murdering puppies, they'll have a reputation for being kind. Reputation is based mostly on exposure and association- not every single fact in existence.
German has a bad reputation in some places. It has a reputation for being angry and difficult and even useless. The reactions the OP got to learning German proves this. Just because it isn't a deserved reputation doesn't mean it isn't a reputation.

Why are you saying German doesn't have a bad reputation when we've spent hte entire topic explaining the reasons why it does?

Edited by hvorki_ne on 30 March 2010 at 12:04pm
1 person has voted this message useful



Johntm
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5422 days ago
616 posts - 725 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 37 of 45
30 March 2010 at 9:42pm | IP Logged 
cordelia0507 wrote:
Marc Frisch wrote:
William Camden wrote:
I remember once having an Internet argument with an American about the Iraq War. He wrote that "if it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking German". I replied, "I speak German." :)


I've actually been told something similar in history class at school: "If it wasn't for the Americans, we'd all speak Russian now..."

Silly propaganda if you ask me... But the US sure did its best to ruin any prospects of communism to succeed. Just ask the Vietnamese and many others. I just don't get why that bothers the USA so much what people on the opposite side of the earth believe.A lot of people/countries preferred communism after centuries of exploitation, injustices and colonialism in their countries. So what? And communism in Europe would not have happened if it hadn't been for WW2 which was not started by communists.. They just saw a great chance to spread their ideology and influence in 1945, and they took it.. They thought they were doing something good - and lots of people welcomed them -- it's a really seductive ideology. Sweden could easily have gone that way at several points in history; a lot of people supported it.

I'm not exactly sure why we do this, but when we see human rights violations (USSR & Germany had quite a number of those) we feel a need to protect those people.
1 person has voted this message useful



L1539
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5358 days ago
27 posts - 55 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish

 
 Message 38 of 45
30 March 2010 at 10:01pm | IP Logged 
Johntm wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:
Marc Frisch wrote:
William Camden wrote:
I remember once having an Internet argument with an American about the Iraq War. He wrote that "if it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking German". I replied, "I speak German." :)


I've actually been told something similar in history class at school: "If it wasn't for the Americans, we'd all speak Russian now..."

Silly propaganda if you ask me... But the US sure did its best to ruin any prospects of communism to succeed. Just ask the Vietnamese and many others. I just don't get why that bothers the USA so much what people on the opposite side of the earth believe.A lot of people/countries preferred communism after centuries of exploitation, injustices and colonialism in their countries. So what? And communism in Europe would not have happened if it hadn't been for WW2 which was not started by communists.. They just saw a great chance to spread their ideology and influence in 1945, and they took it.. They thought they were doing something good - and lots of people welcomed them -- it's a really seductive ideology. Sweden could easily have gone that way at several points in history; a lot of people supported it.

I'm not exactly sure why we do this, but when we see human rights violations (USSR & Germany had quite a number of those) we feel a need to protect those people.


Oh come on. Get real. The U.S. has knowingly supported many governments guilty of human rights violations, including Saddam Hussein (before the Gulf War in 1990-91). And the U.S. government didn't lift a finger when 500,000-1,000,000+ Rwandans (Tutsis and moderate Hutus) were being killed in a genocide in 1994. It's ridiculous to say American intervention in the world is motivated by concern for human rights.

America was so opposed to communism because during the Cold War it basically saw the world as divided into two camps, international communism versus everyone else. American involvement in Vietnam was based of the "domino theory." It was believed that communism was a monolithic entity, and if the Communists were allowed to control Vietnam they would keep trying to take over more and more countries. These beliefs were totally incorrect--Communism was not monolithic, and Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese patriot, not a puppet of the Soviet Union or China--but they were nevertheless the ideas American leaders operated on.   

Edited by L1539 on 30 March 2010 at 10:08pm
6 persons have 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 40 of 45
31 March 2010 at 2:12pm | IP Logged 
I think written German is very cool. It looks like everything could be a set of
instructions for some very expensive precision instrument. Besides, Gesellschaft is my
favourite word :)


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 45 messages over 6 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.2969 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.