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Language Learner Stereotypes | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4930 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 49 of 64 10 December 2011 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
I didn't get any sort of faux outrage from his comment. He does sort of have a point. To a lot of people that don't know German, it sounds like a harsh language. Isn't that the essence of what a stereotype is - making broad generalizations about something? R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HMS Senior Member England Joined 4907 days ago 143 posts - 256 votes Speaks: English* | Message 50 of 64 11 December 2011 at 12:15am | IP Logged | ||
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Whether it sounds harsh or not does not matter. The poster is clearly vexxed, or wishes to appear so by the assertion.
So what if German does sound harsh to some people? What's the big deal? Trying to score cheap points by leaping to it's defence when it does not need it is pathetic IMO. And isn't this thread about stereotypes? I'd add another one to the list: the language learner who harvests general opinion about something then tries to be the knight in shining armour at the first moment of opportunity. Probably sneakily holding the same opinion as what they protest against but sacrificing that for forum popularity. It happens on tropical fish forums - it happens here also :) Edited by HMS on 11 December 2011 at 12:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5215 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 51 of 64 11 December 2011 at 12:55am | IP Logged | ||
Well, I'm going to have to agree with Jdmoncada 100% on this. I can't help but feel that, if it weren't for WWII, this perception of German being an "angry" language wouldn't even exist. The way people imitate German ("ICH MUSS ES REINIGEN LASSEN!!!!"), you could transpose any language into that manner of speech and it would still sound like a madman. I'm certainly not "outraged". I just don't understand it. When I listen to Angela Merkel giving a speech at an EU summit, the last thing on my mind is, "HOLY COW! THIS BITCH IS CRAZY MAD!" Edited by nway on 11 December 2011 at 12:56am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6397 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 52 of 64 11 December 2011 at 7:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Hm, not sure. I love it a lot but I associate its sound with concepts like strong, manly etc. I can sort of see the logic of those considering it not so beautiful as French (which I myself dislike but also totally see why so many call it gorgeous).
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| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 5925 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 53 of 64 11 December 2011 at 7:04am | IP Logged | ||
I don't know where people get this idea, but I swear, people in the USA, and also Japanese, sometimes believe that Finland is going to be like Greenland or Antarctica. A barren wasteland of solid ice, surrounded by tiny communities eking a living off of whale blubber. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5215 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 54 of 64 11 December 2011 at 7:58am | IP Logged | ||
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| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4578 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 55 of 64 11 December 2011 at 8:06am | IP Logged | ||
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Norwegian- You have always dreamed of winning a Nobel Prize and hope that learning Norwegian will put you on the inside track. Finnish- You must have hit your head on something on your way back from the sauna. Turkish- You're taking your job as a prison guard way too seriously. Welsh- You have a fetish for the letter "w". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6420 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 56 of 64 11 December 2011 at 12:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hoping not to add fuel to the fire, but....
I think a lot of languages can sound angry, if you're not used to them. When I first came to Norway, I had learned Norwegian from books and tapes, so I had a reasonably good background, but I understood nothing of the local dialect. So I would hear people talking to each other and think they seemed to be getting very angry, while in truth they were only discussing the weather or some other innocuous topic. It was the stress and tone that made them seem angry to me. I heard the exact same thing about someone who moved to Finland. Before he was able to understand the language, he thought people sounded angry. I've heard from some people, that some Americans sound harsh and critical when speaking Norwegian because of the tone and the way they stress the words. Personally, I think any language can sound beautiful when spoken softly. Think of the millions of lovers all over the world who think their boyfriend/girlfriend speaks the world's most beautiful language, because they've only heard the sweet nothings whispered to them. On the other hand, if you hear two people shouting across the street to each other in an unfamiliar language, they usually sound angry, even if what they are really saying is, "Hey! Do you want to go to a movie?" The German language is perhaps unfortunate in that for many of us, we've heard it mostly in WWII movies and documentaries. Had the German-speaking countries been famous for romantic movies instead, the general opinion of the language might be very different. Like any language, it sounds completely different when whispered by a beautiful young woman than it does when shouted by an insane dictator. And for a stereotype: Perhaps those who study German really like beer and sausage. (I once knew someone who was planning a beer-and-sausage-tour of Germany, so that might even be true.) @tanya_b: I've been thinking of studying Welsh at some point, and it is true that I'm particularly fond of the letter w! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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