The German Language
 

As someone who grew up in Germany, and as someone who is just fascinated by languages, I always wondered, how the German language must sound to someone who doesn't understand it, or is just not used to hearing it.

I mean.. ofc. You always hear that German must sound ultra stiff and edgy, but I somehow can't really believe that. So does that mean the language does not sound beautiful? Cuz as I recall it it's ****ing beautiful.. It's poetic and deep and you can express urself so flowery, lol..

Like when I listen to calm german music, like Max Herre, I think: "How can that sound hard to anyone? It's such a soft, and flowing language.
Max Herre - Anna

ofc.. when you hear Rammstein you think: "Whaaaat the **** is going on?", but Rammstein do not really talk german. They roll their R like ****, NOBODY would ever talk like that..

I believe Bavarian might sound cool tho, hehe.
Hans Söllner - Marijuana fürn Herrn Zimmermann

I'd be really thankful if someone would try this out and listen to the songs and just tell me how the language sounds in their ears.
thank you :)

I've been listening to Flaming Bess, which seems to include a lot of German speech. I have to say, and I apologise in advance, but German is the roughest, most gutteral language I've ever heard. Even if someone was saying "I love you" in German it would sound to me like someone hawking up and drilling into a wall at the same time. I can listen to French, Spanish, Italian, even Russian but German is, sorry, the ugliest language on the planet imo.

*sigh*
Ya. That's what a lot of people say.. :/
Still I really don't understand it. I mean, I'm from bavaria - we speak a much softer german, but still: it can be very very beautiful, if you talk sophisticated german. Hmm.. Maybe one has to understand the language to understand its beauty.
Well.. it's your opinion. thank you for the answer tho :)

Ooh! Hans Zimmer

lol jk

What is the genre of that first song? That music in the background sounds like an awesome sample for a rap song!

sorry, the language for both still sounds...edgy and rough. I don't like it. Sorry.

:laughing:

ALSO: you can post youtube videos like this:




If you go to the "Music banter newcomers guide" in the introduction category of this forum, you can learn how to make videos appear directly like that from that thread.

The genre is called rap :P
but mäxchen sings sometimes,
that's the confusing part

thanks :P i'm a lil stupid sometimes.
just need a little time to learn all that ****

I've always thought the stereotypes about how the German language sounds were way off base. To me, German has kind of a sing-song quality to it and has some words that I actually find kind of cute sounding.

But isn't that the CHARM of german?
I mean it's just not a wussy language..
if I want to make hit someone in the face,
I can just tell him he sucks in German,
and that's as good as a punch.


see? just words, but sounds like a kick in the crotch :)
beautiful...

Yeah. At least I'm not alone :)
I really find German a very beautiful language,
you just have to get used to it a little


If I may ask: Which words are cute?
Gartenzwerg? Eichhörnchen? Zwischenseelentraum? Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmützenstrickanleit ungsschreibmaschinenhersteller? Quark?

lol. I'm trying to remember. I went to Germany last year and did some German language lessons on CD before I went. At the time I remember thinking some of the words were kind of cutesy sounding now I can't remember a thing. :/

damn it. you have to remember. maybe you'll find the CD's or something.
i mean i've already heard everything, but not that something is cute in german..
except the word "gartenzwerg", which is a..gardengnome? is that the right word?

i wrote my girl a song that has english lyrics that are sung and german lyrics that are spoken, and she said it was like: english part sounds like "oh, i love you, the world is beautiful, birds tweet in the sky", then the german part "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" ...but she finds it sexy, so its fine :P

I can't say krankenwagen without smiling.
Anyway I don't think it's much more guttural than English, really. It is a west Germanic language after all. Also, I've always loved the German language's ability to express very specific or hard-to-communicate things.

I love your new avatar's ability to express very specific or hard-to-communicate things.

:laughing:

I can't look at your avatar without laughing my ass off.
Well people who are used to the english tongue can't really pronounce our ch,
like in the word "lachen" or when you say "gute nacht", which is kind of an indicator for the german language to be more guttural.. they always pronounce it like "gute nackt", which means "good naked" ...

Well, I have a pretty good knowledge of Lieder, like Schubert's "Gretchen am Spinnrade"

süß <3



Well at least there are more and more people confessing that they don't find the german language too edgy 'n hard 'n ugly :/

lol, I'm not absolutely sure, if you have to be too guttural, but it must feel like it. almost every word contains a ch, ck, k or g and our r is spoken much more in the back of our mouth than in any other language, i guess..
still, when you're talkin bavarian, as it's a completely different language, it gets kinda easier to talk. it's not that guttural, but you will never be able to remember the words if you werent born here :D ...for example: when I want to say squirrel, and i talk german, then i say "eichhörnchen", which kinda means "oakcroissant", but when I say it in bavarian, i say "oachkatzal", which means "oakcat". And there are so many words, that nobody can really..memorize. You're born with it, or you forget it. When i find somebody ugly, then i can say in bavarian "du gsichtskrapfen!", which kinda means "you facebismarck!"..

There is also this sentence, which shows the might and beauty of the bavarian language, lol :D

"Sie schaugt aba oba oba a obat"
"But she looks down, to see if he's working"

I had to take some basic German when I was there almost 30 years ago, and from what I remember is that vowels, or was it consonants... I forget... were placed a bit off kilter, or backwards in comparison to English. Once you wrapped your head around that, things got easier.

I'll always remember Einfahrt, and Ausfahrt though.

Yeah, who could forget the fahrts.

:P Strange words to remember.

backwards in comparison to english? :/
i have to check that.. dunno yet, but i'm givin english lessons tonight,
so i'll just watch the languages when spoken simultaneously

I'm an atypical male, and fart jokes are funny.

I never found German too hard to listen to as an English speaker. I think a lot of the perception of it as a "harsh" language is linked to stereotypes of Germans being cold and intimidating. The more understated speakers I've heard have made it sound far less angry and mean. If you want a good example of a Germanic language that sounds alien to English ears Dutch is probably the best example, particularly with Flemish speakers. It has just the right combination of similarities and complete differences to English to sound completely bizarre, and that's not getting into how weird Dutch accents sound when speaking English.

Oh now I get what you mean! Yeah, of course. That's very different in english, but we germans pronounce our vowels much more different. Plus, the three vowels a o and u have a combination with the vowel e making them to ä ö and ü, which makes them completely different. ya, i kinda get the hang of it now, and it's definately pronounced the other way round. we pronounce ei like the english would say "I", and ie like the english would say "e"

"Freundschaft" means friendship. A "Freundschaftsbeziehung" is just a long useless word nobody would ever use, lol. it means "friendshiprelationship" :D sounds like two people being friends and ****ing at the same time.
But yeah, we have very long words. But that's only, because in German you can fuse words together to a longer word. I can create a long word right now myself..uhhm...wait: "Bilderrahmengeraderückgesellschaftsangestelltena usweisproduktionswerkstelle", which means "the place where the ID card of an employee of an agency that helps crooked picture frames being straight again is produced"

Roeken is dodelig! or sth like that
Dutch sounds so awkward, when you're german.
They almost talk our language, but then they dont.
I mean the girls sound amazingly hot, but that's all... :/
The problem about their language is that they don't pronounce a "sch" like a "sch", but like a "s" sound..which..is really..ANNOYING!
The "sch" is the same thing as the english "sh", as in "****"

Yes. Before I use a word that's as long as the one I created, I just describe what I mean to the other person. You can have a lot of fun with the German language, but building the most long word ever, is not very fun :D
They're not even on government forms (at least not that much of them), because there's a HUGE difference between sophisticated German, and standard German and also between older German and modern German. Me, for example, I talk like an old man, when I talk German. Many people don't get the heck of what I'm saying and ask me all the time what I meant by the words I used...For example: When you say cinema in German, most people would tend to say the word "Kino", which is a very modern word.. but I usually say "Lichtspielhaus", which means "Lightplayhouse", and is a very old word...80% of young germans do not understand what I mean by that.

= Friendswithbenefits, only the German pronunciation makes it sound like the dude (or one of the dudes nttawwt) has a massive member.

amiright?

Yes! That's exactly my point. And that's just how I use my German tongue. I play wordgames and use older and sometimes longer words, because they are more poetic than the modern words.


No. That we call a "Fickbeziehung". a "****relationship", if you will. lol
The word "Freundschaftsbeziehung" does not exist, that's the funny thing :D but maybe in another district of germany. It just sounds like that, yeah

Oh you mean "freundschaftsbekundung" ?
like..that you and another person decide to be friends?

well i'll be damned. that's the problem with german. you can create new words.
I'm sorry, i thought that you made a typo, but yeah.. "freundschaftsbezeigung" was correct then.. ."bezeigung" means, that you point out something. so in that case of course it's them showing off a "friendship"

but the word "bezeigung" is like 200 years old, lol

I think you might have solved the riddle ;)

Let's listen to German Pagan Metal, lol :D



Ok..Here german sounds really hard

schnuckiputzi :thumb:

aww :D where did you learn that word, lil honigbienchen?


@ rostasi:

;) I took a couple years of German back in highschool and was fortunate enough to visit Munich when I was a kid. I've forgotten most of what I used to know, but I love that word

Jah, ein leibe Deutschland.

I learned German at school because my late Granddad was teaching himself how to learn the language and he wrote letters to me in German with the English translation, before he died. I have a German heritage with my last name being German, based on a town in Germany where my ancestors came from. We have our own shield and family tree in a Dahlenburg book which includes a diary of my great great great Grandfather who's mother wrote in a diary on the ship to New Zealand. I eventually want to teach myself the language again as I have forgotten a lot of the words I knew from school. I plan on visiting the town and the rest of Germany when I have got some money saved.

What? :P

Dahlenburg? That's in the north, right? Ya, the north of Germany is kinda flat, but it's still very beautiful. Especially because of the ocean and the vegetation there :)
Yeah, you should really try learning the language. It's a tricky language, but you have the best chance of learning it well if you talk english, i guess. the languages are still very similar.

Lol, you don't speak the language?

Yes it's in the north, Outside of Hamburg. That's the reason why my family on my dad's side is pale because of the ancestors coming from the north to NZ.

It's actually very close to English and there is 27 letters instead of 26. I can't wait to go there and see the beautiful countrysides. I will make sure I have a good grasp of the language before I visit though. I believe a lot of Germans can speak English as well, correct me if I'm wrong.

Natürlich sprech' ich deutsch ;P I was born here
The sentence you posted just means "Yes, a body Germany.", hehe :D
That's why i got confused


Actually there are 30 letters, if you count ä, ö and ü, but they are just ae, oe and ue. You should really visit bavaria, if you get to germany. it's so amazing here. we have lakes 'n mountains 'n snow 'n beauty everywhere

Yeah, english is taught here in 3rd grade and all the rest of the time in school

I thought liebe meant love? Lol obviously I have some work to do on my German skills!

Oh okay, I thought they were just a, o and u with dots?

Oh wow that sounds amazing, hook a brother up! It sounds like New Zealand beauty wise except we only have snow on the mountains mostly. It's actually great to talk to someone from Germany so stick around bb!

Yes I thought English would be mandatory. :)

Have you traveled at all?

Yeah Liebe means love :) you wrote leibe

yeah the dots alter the sound of those vowels. they make them very very different. maybe the internet can show you some examples of how much they differ.


Yes, bavaria is seriously amazing. I love it so much. I've travelled a lot in my life, but i've never found a place, that was as beautiful as my home :)
Yeah, I've been to France 'n Spain for a year in 2012, with my best friend, her dog and our Volkswagen bus. And I've travelled through Germany, so i've been in the north, also in the east, berlin, leipzig, in baden württemberg(stuttgart) and cologne and bonn. Also i've been to switzerland and austria a few times. And a week in Holland, but that doesn't count, because i was ultra high 24/7. And to the UK. Oh yeah, and i've been to the USA for 6 weeks and later again for 3 weeks, but I only saw the west :(