Question about native German speakers

[Marla_Singer]

I think German sounds more authoritative.

My first lover was German. I met him during an exchange trip in Frankfurt as a high school student. Since then, I consider German to be the language of love. Actually, most Germans have a very soft way to speak their language. They very rarely talk it loud. I tend to find French more aggressive. Ironically, their reputations are exactly the opposite.

A similar thing is about Italian. Italian has the reputation to be a beautiful language, but after a month in Italy, it gets really annoying. Italians have a specific way to speak loudly which I've found in the end kind of irritating.

 

[Lotus49]

Listen to me Lotus. I'm not a fan of dubbing... and dubbed movies involving countries where your own language is spoken are probably the worst. The only thing I'm saying is that dubbing is better than nothing.

I know many people, specifically in one country, who consider that dubbing is ridiculous, and subtitles give a headache. As a result, they only watch domestic programs. Actually, I tend to think that watching dubbed movies is smarter than that behaviour.

Are you talking about the U.S.? That's because this is the home of Hollywood. We're spoiled. We're not going to watch some imported, 'B'-movie, where we have to constantly READ instead of watch the movie, NOR are we going to be driven crazy by peoples' mouths not moving in sync with what's being said.....

...NOR are we going to be bothered to go learn a whole new, exotic foreign language, just so we can watch the afore mentioned 'B'-movies. And that's all there is to it.

I have just spoken for many millions of people... not necessarily myself. I'm just giving you the prevailing point of view.

Anyway, Marla - if you're so interested in movies, and you really want to get involved in a big way... you come here to Hollywood, and you speak American. You know that.

 

[Lotus49]

My first lover was German. I met him during an exchange trip in Frankfurt as a high school student. Since then, I consider German to be the language of love. Actually, most Germans have a very soft way to speak their language. They very rarely talk it loud. I tend to find French more aggressive. Ironically, their reputations are exactly the opposite.

A similar thing is about Italian. Italian has the reputation to be a beautiful language, but after a month in Italy, it gets really annoying. Italians have a specific way to speak loudly which I've found in the end kind of irritating.

Yeah, it's possible for German to be used effectively as pillow talk. Just depends on how softly-spoken the speaker is, and the tone. In my mind, I hear the German language as very bossy, commanding, serious, business-oriented, calculating, etc. But yeah, I guess if you whisper, or try to sweet-talk some babe, then it can be a different story.

In my mind, the German voice is always yelling. Must be all the media I've been exposed to.

 

[Marla_Singer]

And that's just the whole mistake you're doing. Many movies in foreign languages aren't "B-class"... and in having such a vision on first hand, you limit yourself from seeing things you would most likely enjoy a lot.

A nice example would be a Korean movie named "Old Boy". I've seen it in Korean subtitled in French. It's a total wacko movie, but I personally really appreciated it... and if I did, there's absolutely no reason why any American wouldn't. Now considering that the movie is worthless, even before seeing it, and this for the simple reason it's not in English is really lousy. Clearly lousier than dubbing.

 

[Lotus49]

I think if you put 2 and 2 together, you should ultimately conclude that most Americans have little to no interest in other cultures, they are completely engrossed, occupied & captivated by their own. Thus, they can't get interested in the Korean subtitle movie.

Unless Hollywood makes it, and presents it as such - like the Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies, etc. Then we'll watch (provided there's enough action, sex, language and violence). We can't get into that foreign, exotic stuff. We're simple people, Marla. Shimple peoplesh.


(yet again, I'm not speaking for myself, though)

 

[Syntherio]

Sorry for jumping back
I just listen to your samples (I was busy the last days, sorry), Lotus.
It´s ok and as Thorbal already mentioned, considering your lack of practice, its impressive.
But as Marla said: You have problems with the "r" - it "rolls" too much. Just an english "r" and not a german. You can hear it in the second word of my sentence (Reinhold). From my point of view, this problem is compareable to my problem, to spell the "th" correctly.

"Old Boy" is one of my favourites, too. But I saw it dubbed. I don´t like subtitles... After watching hundreds of synced movies, most of it with little voice/mouth-movement-mistakes, I don´t bother anymore.
In these days even some tv-comercials are resynced, just to spare money...

 

[Lotus49]

So, just take the 'rolling r' out? That's easily done. Again, I have no real idea of how Germans actually speak - in detail. That was probably just my brain going into 'foreign language mode'... and keep in mind the first foreign language I learned was Spanish.

Btw, what really confused me was when I was taking German & Spanish at the same time. Some phrases I can't remember in German, yet I can in Spanish. A lot of things I can say in Spanish, but have no idea how to say it in German. So, if I ever meet a person that is fluent in both Spanish & German, I seriously think I could just about carry on an -elementary at least- conversation 'in a foreign language'.

I guess it would be better to actually know one language, completely though. Maybe I'll just go take some Russian, then Italian, and thoroughly confuse myself.

 

[warpus]

I think if you put 2 and 2 together, you should ultimately conclude that most Americans have little to no interest in other cultures, they are completely engrossed, occupied & captivated by their own. Thus, they can't get interested in the Korean subtitle movie.

Unless Hollywood makes it, and presents it as such - like the Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies, etc. Then we'll watch (provided there's enough action, sex, language and violence). We can't get into that foreign, exotic stuff. We're simple people, Marla. Shimple peoplesh.


(yet again, I'm not speaking for myself, though)

I think you're just talking for the simple-minded Americans.

 

[Thorbal]

I'm sure you never tried to actually pronounce some Klingon

You are quite right there actually . I just wanted to say that Russian sounds more agressive to me, but of course I´m biased in a way as well .

I think German sounds more authoritative. Russian has too many 'squishy sounds' or soft sounds (for lack of a better description), plus often ending in vowels, to be the epitome of a full-blown, 'made for battle' language. In German, the way the consonants & vowels roll off the tongue (especially when yelling) just seem to grab your attention more. It's more distinct, I guess. And for some reason the tone doesn't sound quite as potentially warm/friendly. Basically Russian sounds more like a romance language, than German does. German is all about business, seriousness, and giving commands, while not accepting any back-talk or nonsense!

Think about the ultimate Dominatrix... she'd need to have a German accent, no question right? See, right there...

As I said above, I´m certainly a bit biased there as it´s my native language. But your opinion is quite interesting, as I have ( of course, I might say ) never considered German to be sounding like that at all in comparison to others.
But I have to admit that I once thought that English sounds quite "soft" , so I see how it could be perceived the other way around.

 

[Thorbal]

I think if you put 2 and 2 together, you should ultimately conclude that most Americans have little to no interest in other cultures, they are completely engrossed, occupied & captivated by their own. Thus, they can't get interested in the Korean subtitle movie.

Unless Hollywood makes it, and presents it as such - like the Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies, etc. Then we'll watch (provided there's enough action, sex, language and violence). We can't get into that foreign, exotic stuff. We're simple people, Marla. Shimple peoplesh.


(yet again, I'm not speaking for myself, though)

I can understand it to a certain degree. If I was British, or American, I would not feel the need to learn other languages. At least, I would not feel the immediate and urgent need for it as I do now being German, because all ( most ) other people on earth would be trying to learn my English, so why learn their language when they are learning mine . The "trying to get to know other cultures" thingy is perhaps dependant on that as well. Thats certainly influenced by learning other languages and "developing" interest for that particular culture in the process.

 

[warpus]

I can understand it to a certain degree. If I was British, or American, I would not feel the need to learn other languages. At least, I would not feel the immediate and urgent need for it as I do now being German, because all ( most ) other people on earth would be trying to learn my English, so why learn their language when they are learning mine . The "trying to get to know other cultures" thingy is perhaps dependant on that as well. Thats certainly influenced by learning other languages and "developing" interest for that particular culture in the process.

Meh.. It's always good to know more than 1 language, even if your first language happens to be English.

When I learned German, I realized that when you think in German, you see the world through entirely different eyes than when you look at it through Polish eyes. Same with English, or any other language.

 

[Thorbal]

Meh.. It's always good to know more than 1 language, even if your first language happens to be English.

When I learned German, I realized that when you think in German, you see the world through entirely different eyes than when you look at it through Polish eyes. Same with English, or any other language.

Yes, of course. It benefits you in a multitude of ways. I just wanted to say that I can understand how some people develop this certain isolationistic mindset that is mentioned so often these days.

 

[warpus]

Yes, of course. It benefits you in a multitude of ways. I just wanted to say that I can understand how some people develop this certain isolationistic mindset that is mentioned so often these days.

Yeah, I see it in Canada too.. but our culture is so diverse - you see a lot of people who speak 2/3/4 languages as well.

I suppose it helps that we're not a melting pot.

 

[willemvanoranje]

I just listen to your samples (I was busy the last days, sorry), Lotus.
It´s ok and as Thorbal already mentioned, considering your lack of practice, its impressive.
But as Marla said: You have problems with the "r" - it "rolls" too much. Just an english "r" and not a german. You can hear it in the second word of my sentence (Reinhold). From my point of view, this problem is compareable to my problem, to spell the "th" correctly.

And on a smaller note, the 'a' is too short and the ü is absent.. then again, the 'ch' is very impressive, since most people find that really difficult to control. On the R I can only say: try to make it more from the back, almost from the throat. Then again, the Spanish R is ok in Bayern (Bavaria).

Rythm is another part, but that is probably the hardest thing to learn if you do not actually practice with native speakers.