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Is the German language underestimated?
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Germanic languages sound cold and distant, but some varieties of German (Austrian, Bavarian and Swiss German) sound warm and pleasant. The warmest sounding Germanic language is Dutch, especially the SouthDutch (Utrecht, Maastricht) and Flanders' variety: Flemish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFqg5a5b3Jc
"Germanic languages sound cold and distant"...
Mooi: This is very relative because in my opinion German is a very intelectual language and good for arguing but that doesn't have to do with sounding cold and distant, rather that a STANDARD LANGUAGE might lack the regional and personal side of a language, which can be found in its dialects. In the case of Japanese, the Standard language is boring and non-personal whereas Osaka dialect is seen a language for comedy for instance. From the German dialects you quoted I only agree that Bayrisch sounds cool but can't say the same about Swiss German because I don't understand what they say. As for Dutch, my first teacher was from Belgium and I can understand it better than the Holland version and think it is more pleasant. Cheers!!
I think users with user names of war criminals like Slobodan Milosevis or Hitler should be banned from antimoon.
From a European perspective, German is clearly as important as English and French. It is very useful, it sounds beautiful, and it is a great cultural language. It's a shame that so few people choose to learn it though.
<<I think users with user names of war criminals like Slobodan Milosevis or Hitler should be banned from antimoon>>
Who's a war criminal and who isn't? Milosevic is but Ronald Reagan isn't? Mladic is but Margaret Thatcher isn't? What about Bush? What if I had my name as Bush? Surely no one would care. Anyway, just to please you, I will now call myself Radovan Karadzic, since he has not yet been convicted so is 'innocent until proven guilty'.
<<It's a shame that so few people choose to learn it though. >>
German was a lot more important as a 2nd language before WWII, and even moreso before WWI. Germany used to be supreme in technology, so science majors had to take it in college. The battering it took in the wars apparently put an end to all that.
claverackle Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:55 am GMT
<<It's a shame that so few people choose to learn it though. >> German was a lot more important as a 2nd language before WWII, and even moreso before WWI. Germany used to be supreme in technology, so science majors had to take it in college. The battering it took in the wars apparently put an end to all that. _____________________________ Overpopulatin, hunger, political suppression and wars led since 1800 to the exodus of great parts of the German population towards the USA. This has put an end to the proper definition of terms like "Germany" and "Germans"
<< German was a lot more important as a 2nd language before WWII, and even moreso before WWI. >>
The reason why is quite simple. Before WWI the big powers were: Britain, France, Russia, Germany and the Austrian-Hungarian empire. Two of them spoke German. After the war, Austria disappeared but USA joined the club, which sealed the dominance of English. The Versailles Diktat was entirely discussed in English (French Prime minister Clemenceau has spent several years in the USA, he was perfectly fluent). The Italian leader could not take part to the talks. This frustration gave birth to Fascism...
The Versailles Diktat was a big mistake and constitute, together with Communism, the root cause of the great disasters in the 19th century.
Il fascismo è nato a causa della "vittoria mutilata".
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittoria_mutilata
<< Plein de gens apprennent l'anglais juste pour ça.
Y aurait-il d'autres raisons de le faire ? >> Je suis d'accord. Il ne faut jamais y avoir des raisons pour apprendre les langues... ça devrait s'amuser!
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