Why German is unpopular

Guest   Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:24 am GMT
<<<<I've heard from multiple sources that German almost became the official language in the US but was narrowly defeated by English! Not sure how true that story is. I heard elsewhere that the US in fact does not have an official language, only a defacto one.>> >>

Had the vote to translate the documents into German gone the other way 'round, German would have been in a much better position to win out were a vote ever taken. We could very well all be speaking German today.
Skippy   Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:36 am GMT
If the vote had gone the other way, the documents would have been translated into German and not much else would have changed.
Guest   Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:55 am GMT
Actually, a Norse tongue almost became the language of America, if the vikings had succesfully colonised America when they first landed on it (500 years before Columbus).
Shuimo   Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:41 pm GMT
Oh, we can hardly speak of the popularity of German before Germany is economically strong enough to compete with the US in the world and win with hands down!
Chéng   Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:51 pm GMT
Lol!
J.C.   Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:23 am GMT
I recently found a book called "Dutch comprehensive grammar" and found the following explanation about genders:

Common gender nouns

The names of men and women
de burgemeester‘mayor’, de dochter‘daughter’, de koningin
‘queen’, de moeder‘mother’, de vader‘father’, de verpleger
‘male nurse’, de verpleegster‘nurse’, de zoon‘son’

Exceptions: het mens‘woman’ (see 9.1.2 (h)), het wijf ‘woman’ (pej.)

The names of most animals, including birds and fish
de haring‘herring’, de leeuw‘lion’, de mus‘sparrow’

The names of trees, flowers and fruit
de anjer‘carnation’, de eik‘oak’, de perzik‘peach’

The names of (precious) stones, considered as individual objects
(see 7.1.2.4)
de baksteen‘brick’, de diamant‘diamond’, de robijn‘ruby’

The names of days, months and seasons (except compounds with
jaar)
de laatste maandag in oktober‘the last Monday in October’,
de lente‘spring’, de zomer‘summer’ but het voorjaar.

The names of mountains and large rivers
de Mont Blanc, de Vesuvius, de Nijl ‘Nile’, de Rijn‘Rhine’

The names of objects whose names end in -aard, -aar
and-erd
de standaard‘standard’, de lessenaar‘desk’, de mosterd
‘mustard’

The names of tools or instruments, derived from verbs, and
ending in -el and -er
de beitel ‘chisel’, de sleutel ‘key’, de gieter‘watering-can’ 7.1.1.8

Words ending in -em, -lm and-rm
de bezem ‘broom’, de helm‘helmet’, de term‘term’, de storm
‘storm’
Exception: het scherm‘screen’

Words ending in -ingand -ling
de regering‘government’, de leerling‘school student’

Most monosyllabic words derived from verbs
de lach‘laugh’, de loop‘walk, gait’, de val‘trap, fall’, de zucht‘sigh’


The names of letters of the alphabet
de a, de b, de c
The names of numerals
de een, de zeven, de honderd

The names of musical instruments
de hobo‘oboe’, de piano‘piano’, de viool ‘violin’
Exceptions: het klavecimbel ‘harpsichord’, het orgel ‘organ’, het spinet
‘spinet’

The names of virtues and vices
de nijd‘anger, envy’, de woede‘rage’, de genade‘mercy’,
de liefde ‘love’

Words with the suffix -de
de kou(de)‘cold’, de vrede‘peace’, de zonde‘sin’
Exception: het einde ‘end’

Words derived from adjectives ending with the suffix -te
de duurte‘expensiveness’, de hoogte‘height’, de lengte‘length’

Words ending in -heid and -nis
de vrijheid‘freedom’, de waarheid‘truth’, de gebeurtenis
‘event’, de geschiedenis‘history’

Words ending in -age, -ei, -ie, -iek, -ij, -teitand -theek
de plantage‘plantation’, de pastei ‘pie’, de harmonie‘harmony’,
de fabriek‘factory’, de batterij ‘battery’, de elektriciteit
‘electricity’, de bibliotheek‘library’

Exceptions: het publiek‘public’, het schilderij ‘painting’
Words ending in an unaccented -(t)ieand -uw
de productie‘production’, de unie‘union’, de schaduw‘shadow,
shade’
Exceptions: het concilie‘council’, het evangelie‘gospel’
7.1.1.20

Words ending in -age, -ei, -ie, -iek, -ij, -teitand -theek
de plantage‘plantation’, de pastei ‘pie’, de harmonie‘harmony’,
de fabriek‘factory’, de batterij ‘battery’, de elektriciteit
‘electricity’, de bibliotheek‘library’
Exceptions: het publiek‘public’, het schilderij ‘painting’

Words ending in an unaccented -(t)ieand -uw
de productie‘production’, de unie‘union’, de schaduw‘shadow,
shade’
Exceptions: het concilie‘council’, het evangelie‘gospel’


There's also the section on "neutral nouns" but that's way too much to post here...

Tot ziens en dank!!