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The Awful German Language (1880)

(faculty.georgetown.edu)
187 points nalinidash | 9 comments | 16 May 25 04:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.605s | source | bottom
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chilldsgn ◴[16 May 25 06:07 UTC] No.44002271[source]▶
I absolutely love German, it is one of my favourite languages, there's such beauty in it. I am not a native speaker, but enjoy studying it. I am a native Afrikaans speaker and I see so many similarities between the two, which I find intriguing.
replies(6): >>44002292 #>>44002508 #>>44002552 #>>44003183 #>>44003410 #>>44005113 #
1. submeta ◴[16 May 25 06:58 UTC] No.44002508[source]▶
I am a native speaker. And I find German to be a very ugly language. Pronounciation wise. Compared to French or English. It sounds like someone is constantly having a quarrel with you.
replies(6): >>44002533 #>>44003170 #>>44003287 #>>44003906 #>>44005910 #>>44006526 #
2. chilldsgn ◴[16 May 25 07:05 UTC] No.44002533[source]▶
I feel the same about Afrikaans, ugly and harsh as hell :D
replies(1): >>44002563 #
3. pixelpoet ◴[16 May 25 07:10 UTC] No.44002563[source]▶
I speak both and to me Dutch is the super harsh spitty one, compared to German and Afrikaans it's not even close!
4. otikik ◴[16 May 25 08:52 UTC] No.44003170[source]▶
Weaknesses can become strengths. Sometimes you want to have a quarrel. When French people quarrel they must rely on changes on pitch, cadence and volume because otherwise it sounds like they are ordering baguettes at the boulanger.
replies(1): >>44006511 #
5. zelphirkalt ◴[16 May 25 09:12 UTC] No.44003287[source]▶
German has harsh sound. But in terms of quarrelling, I find that Korean sounds like someone is complaining all the time. But then again I have never learned Korean, so my impression would surely change.
6. fransje26 ◴[16 May 25 11:07 UTC] No.44003906[source]▶
> Schmetterling!
7. odiroot ◴[16 May 25 14:24 UTC] No.44005910[source]▶
There's this fun video from Easy German, where native speakers (Austrians in this case) express their feeling of uneasiness when flirting in German. As in, the German language not being the sexiest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEx0edmLdLo

8. Beretta_Vexee ◴[16 May 25 15:17 UTC] No.44006511[source]▶
Is this the game ‘Tell me you've never visited Italy without telling me you've never visited Italy’?
9. Beretta_Vexee ◴[16 May 25 15:18 UTC] No.44006526[source]▶
I invite you to listen to Danes conversing before forming an opinion on German pronunciation.