Why is German not as popular?

generalebriety

's easier because English is a Germanic language.

I would disagree with that - French has been far and away easier to learn than German in my experience.

Reply 22

shyopstv

I think that German is one of the best sounding languages out there (http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3 if you don't believe me). The grammer is not as bad as people say it is, the rules are mostly very rigid and without exceptions unlike French which to my expereience is one rule and 1000 exceptions to it.

My school did not give us a choice about which language we wanted to learn (it had to be French) so I can't say why people didn't chose it but French does seem to bee seen as the more natural choice as the foreign language to learn for some reason even though German is Germanic more similiar to English (More similar != Easier though). imo, it is also more useful for business, Germany is a larger economy than France and German is also useful for Switzerland or Austria.

Reply 23

Happy1

14

My school forced everyone to do French, but split the year group in half. One half did German and the other did Spanish. (I did german but i would have referred spanish lol)

There was no choice in the mater, and i think a lot of people resented it.

Also, remember that French is usually taught from an earlier age, so many people decide that they have more chance of getting better grades in it than a language they havent necessarily done much of.

Reply 24

shyopstv

I think that German is one of the best sounding languages out there (http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3 if you don't believe me). .

ooh does she say "its no problem" and "it's so fantastic" ? if she does i understand more german words than i first thought!

generalebriety

German's easier because English is a Germanic language

i disagree with that also, it's just the feeling i get but maybe its because i've never learnt german before.

its true that french is very illogical, with all the irregular verbs and weird pronounciation (like why are ville and fille pronounced so differently, and why are foie, fois and foi the same), these are the things that have taken me longest to master in 11 years of learning french and i only really started getting the hang of it once i lived in france. when i asked a friend who did german about it she said she found it easier than french cause it was more "say what you see", and once you master the basic rules it's quite easy.

Reply 25

Fleece

princessa

ooh does she say "its no problem" and "it's so fantastic" ? if she does i understand more german words than i first thought!

Given that the German for "problem" = "Problem" and "fantastic" = "fantastisch"

it wasn't really any great leap :p:

Reply 26

michaelyus

10

I'd like to make a point:
At GCSE level, the grammar covered is very basic. These grammatical points are viewed as being subsidiary, and of course it is harder to succeed if you go into an exam knowing grmmar rules but little vocabulary. So at GCSE it is much easier and more efficient for teachers and pupils to teach vocabulary, especially if they get a D for saying "C'est bien" or "Das ist schön", and that's what they're aiming for (even in the higher GCSE classes). German's lexical structure is a little more different than French's or even Spanish's, since German prefers aggultination of natural words, whereas English and French both have hundreds or thousands more lexical items in common, based on Latin sources. So it is easier to teach all of this vocabulary.

Reply 27

Fleece

Given that the German for "problem" = "Problem" and "fantastic" = "fantastisch"

it wasn't really any great leap :p:

yeah, thanks for raining on my parade :frown:

Reply 28

Bex!

ok i do german and these are my opinions

1. french is easier than german.
2. when you start learning at the age of 11, we generally go on holiday to france rather than germany.
3. most of our parents did french at school so they want their kids to do it
4. french sounds nicer
5. the war

BUT because fewer people od german it makes it more valuable to you in terms of employment. If you were down to the final 2 for a job and the employer couldnt separate you, but they did french and you did german, they might pick you because most people speak french....and you can offer something different!
There is also more business in Germany....BMV, Continental Teves etc!

Reply 29

Bex!

BUT because fewer people od german it makes it more valuable to you in terms of employment. If you were down to the final 2 for a job and the employer couldnt separate you, but they did french and you did german, they might pick you because most people speak french....and you can offer something different!

not really, if they wanted people with language skills they would specify which ones when adevertising, so i dont think it would necessarilly be the deciding factor between two equally strong candidates. it would depend whether the employer had more links with a german speaking country or another language. if they need german speakers they would say when looking for employees. i dont think any potential employers will employ me over someone else just cause i know catalan which not many people learn. i see where you're coming from though.

Reply 30

jokeroid

Isn't germany seen as quite a cold country as opposed to Italy, france and Spain. I'm just picking reasons out of a hat here!

cold weather or cold people? the latters definitely not true! i think the holiday argument is quite a good one. the german and austrian tourist boards need to up their game. i always used to want to go to austria because of the sound of music.

Reply 31

khil

shyopstv

I think that German is one of the best sounding languages out there (http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3 if you don't believe me). The grammer is not as bad as people say it is, the rules are mostly very rigid and without exceptions unlike French which to my expereience is one rule and 1000 exceptions to it.

My school did not give us a choice about which language we wanted to learn (it had to be French) so I can't say why people didn't chose it but French does seem to bee seen as the more natural choice as the foreign language to learn for some reason even though German is Germanic more similiar to English (More similar != Easier though). imo, it is also more useful for business, Germany is a larger economy than France and German is also useful for Switzerland or Austria.

Did that German woman say something like - I speak German... something about chocolate... and finished it with - I wanna live in America, it's so fantastic?

I could be completely off the margin here! :p:

I've been told time and again that German's a difficult language by the Germans I know. The German endings are so freaky (freaky because I can't for the life of me remember it all! And I have a good memory - I write Chinese and learnt the Japanese alphabet in a week lol. But I can't remember the cases and endings for German. Haha I am always complaining why Germans have to make life so difficult with all its endings. Of course it's only because I can't appreciate the specificity of the language, which is actually a very intricate and beautiful thing in a language. I just wish it wasn't so complicated cus I'm in the process of learning it :redface:

Reply 32

khil

jokeroid

Probably to do with the wars and so 'it' being seen as the enemy.

Also, its quite secluded to an area of Europe whereas Spanish is in spain and most of central and south america as well as southern US.

And French is overhyped. So is Italien.

That probably summarises why german is not so popular. Combination of history and being beat by languages which sound more "romantic."

Isn't germany seen as quite a cold country as opposed to Italy, france and Spain. I'm just picking reasons out of a hat here!

Cold? Cold!? :eek3:

Cold!!?? Ok, granted I did go to Germany in the summer (just under a month ago), but it was so deathly hot I couldn't believe it! Although I do also know that it snows more often there than England and my bf have mentioned the lake freezing to the extent where they can ice-skate on it.

The cold preconception is probably the same with England. All the Chinese come over to England thinking it'll be deathly cold, brings no T-shirts and shorts with them, to find themselves stuck with woolly jumpers at temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius lol :biggrin:

Reply 33

generalebriety

16

shyopstv

I think that German is one of the best sounding languages out there (http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3 if you don't believe me).

*drowns in the accent*

Does that say "meine Großmutter gab mich immer eine"? :eek:

Reply 34

shyopstv

I have no idea what she is saying, I just thought it sounded nice. At that point, it sounds like she says "meine Großmutter gab mir immer eine" to me which seems to be grammaticaly correct if a bit dirty and wrong when taken out of context

All I can make out is that she says she is speaking German (today?), and something is just so fantastic. My listening comprehension sucks

Reply 35

(http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3

something about chocolate...

"have you tried white chocolate milka? oh it's super". maybe? white chocolate milka is super, so i think that's what she says. prefer the almond milk chocolate one though.

Reply 36

carefree_sloth

shyopstv

I think that German is one of the best sounding languages out there (http://www.1destinyproductions.com/ElenaEgerman.mp3 if you don't believe me). The grammer is not as bad as people say it is, the rules are mostly very rigid and without exceptions unlike French which to my expereience is one rule and 1000 exceptions to it.

Hey, I just realised that German sounded like Japanese! :eek:

So cool! And I like the way it ended too in that video ... "something something fantastische" The way she pronounced it is so awesome!

Hmm, maybe I should take a beginner's course on German if I'm free, and after I finished my Spanish's :biggrin:

Reply 37

Fleece

Haha. That soundbite is quite funny. It's a really strange accent though.

Anyway, if anyone's interested managed to transcribe it...There may be a few mistakes, I've only just woken up :biggrin:

"Ich muss heute Deutsch sprechen. Es ist kein Problem. Ich liebe das. Haben Sie gehort von die Schweize Schokolade Milka? Oh das schmeckt super. Meine Grossmutter gab mich immer eine. Ich kann nicht warten, wenn ich sehe die wieder. Ich kann nicht ohne Milka leben. Die ist so fantastisch."

Translation...

"I must speak German today. It's not problem. I love it. Have you heard of the swiss chocolate Milka? Oh it tastes super. My grandmother always gave me one. I can't wait until I see her again. I cannot live without Milka. It is so fantastic."

I'm not sure why she says "meine Grossmutter gab mich immer eine" because i'm pretty sure it should be mir, unless i heard it wrong but seeing as that speaker seems to pronounce 'ch's like 'sh's it seems like she's saying mich. Anyhoo.

Reply 38

Jammertal

3

Just woken up?! Your transcript and your translation are correct, and yes mich IS wrong. There are also some other mistakes:

"Ich muss heute Deutsch sprechen. Es ist kein Problem. Ich liebe das [alternative: es, even though it's not clear to what the es/ das refers]. Haben Sie von der Schweizer Schokolade Milka gehört? Oh die [because it's die Schokolade] schmeckt super. Meine Grossmutter gab mir immer eine [Tafel]. Ich kann nicht warten, bis ich sie wieder sehe. Ich kann nicht ohne Milka leben. Die ist so fantastisch."

Reply 39

Fleece