Hey guys, here are two things that I forgot to mention in the video that I'd like to add! :) Annotation 1: [I was actually going to mention this in the video and wrote it down in my notes too but then I totally forgot when I wrote the script and didn’t notice it until I saw all of your comments just now. This fits in right at around 13:18 .] Bands like Rammstein use this style of speaking, including the overly rolled R, in their music to this day in combination with other stylistic elements that create somewhat of a “Nazi aesthetic”. The band is known to be politically anti-fascist though and seems to use this style mainly to provoke. Annotation 2: I should have mentioned in this context again that there are many regional dialects in Germany (mainly in the South) as well as in other German-speaking countries where people use the rolled R in their normal, everyday speech. However, they don’t use it in the same overly expressive way as Hitler did, and -- with exception of Swiss German -- these dialects don’t usually stress the Rs at the end of words either.
Great Video! Danke Feli, so ein Video war wirklich überfällig. Ich persönlich finde es auch nicht so witzig, wenn Comedians oder Schauspieler in Talkshows so sprechen. Du trägst einen guten Teil zur Völkerverständigung bei. Wunderbar und vielen Dank!
So far with using the Kleo app and talking to Germans in real life, the “r” is almost always sounding like an English w noise except when its rolled like in bröt for example.
I was going to leave a separate comment but recently deleted it when I read this. I always thought the Deutsch language had sounded a bit aggressive but I just acknowledged as a unique characteristic to emphasize seriousness. But in song, it can be quite beautiful. As you said about Rammstein, there are songs of theirs like "Onhe Dich" and "Rotor Sand" that hardly have this aggressive tone.
When I thought of the German language as a teenager in the late 90s, I always thought not of an aggressive dictator, but of aggressive music. Ask anyone who was younger around the late 90s to early 2000s and liked rock to say something in German and they'll probably say this: *Du* *Du hast* *Du hast mich!* The band Rammstein was actually pretty big in the US among fans of metal and rock (and industrial) They added to the idea that German is an aggressive, masculine language.
There is a recording of Mussolini in his normal voice tone saying how Roosevelt would make America great (sounds familiar?). Doesn't sound harsh or aggressive there. He was speaking in English admittedly. The recording is somewhere on RUclips but I can't find the link straightaway.
You have a rare talent for presenting culture in its historical context and within the larger world perspective. Growing up in America, the only German I heard was my grandfather and his siblings trading the fragments they remembered from their parents, (a jumble of Black Forest (High Alemannic?) and Swabian). It was a light language with a musical quality to my ear. I now understand how so many people have the impression of German being aggressive and dour. Thanks for being such a wonderful ambassador of German culture and language.
The German branches of my family kept their language for three generations after arriving in Wisconsin in the 1870s. As a child, it was a natural thing for us to hear German words interspersed with English. They also worshipped in German until the 1950s, and I have my grandmother's Bible and hymnals -- all in German, but printed in the US. So we learned not only to be proud of our ancestry, but to know it had no connection to the Nazi regime. Many thanks for debunking the myth!
I'm Dutch, but when it comes to nazi's keep in mind that a lot of Germans weren't nazi's by choice but very afraid. I'm living next to the German border and there were 15 concentration camps (Emslandlager) were people kept prison if they were against them.
I'm Japanese but... 1930s Germany is the most interesting period for me. I collect Nazi memorabilia. I didn't get a chance to try Hitler Fried Chicken in Thailand.
@@xXTheoLinuxXx The Americans had camps for a a certain subset of their population who they also happened to be at war with. The British did the same in the Boer war. It is sometimes necessary in wartime to intern possible subversives/enemy populations. The only difference in Germany was that towards the end of the war when the whole of Germany was starving and disease ridden these conditions also manifested in the camps. People generally died from starvation and typhus, not from being forced to inhale a delousing agent. Hmm..a delousing agent in camps where typhus spread by ticks was endemic.
We hired a German college girl in our office. She was very sweet and very quiet. She certainly didn't have the stereotypical roughness in her language or manner. Hitler was in most part an actor. Not at all representing the people of Germany.
I've always loved German. In fact, growing up in Houston, while most everyone else was taking Spanish and French, I took German in junior high, high school, and college. (Alas, I've forgotten most, not having used it in many years.) I love the culture, the countryside, the food, the classical music, and the language.
Pretty much my situation in San Antonio, though I lived in (West) Germany for 3yrs as a kid. I was a German language nerd, did German Club, Pasz Auf team, Sprachfest, TAGS, etc.
Yeah, that is the death of nearly all things learnt. Not using it. I've taught myself a programming language twice, because I hsvent used it in between. And now, I would need to learn it a third time.
I grew up in El Paso myself and my mother (whose native spoken language is Mandarin Chinese) actually encouraged me to learn Spanish instead from my step-dad (who is from Peru). Upsides include living a city where 70% of the 700k population (and 99% of the 1.2M population across the border) are native Mexican Hispanic and can speak Spanish and also seeing most public signs in both English and Spanish.
I opted to take German as a ninth-grader in my school system in Indiana (around 1980). That was the first year German was offered, alongside French and Spanish which had been in the curriculum for years. On the first day, our teacher (Herr Kinnard) had us memorize a little song that I remember to this day, and it first opened my eyes and ears to how melodic the language can be. Hopefully I'm spelling the words correctly: "O, wie woll, ist mir am abend, mir am abend, wenn zuruh, die Glocken leuten, Glocken leuten, bing, bong, bing, bong." Translated roughly as, "In the evening, I feel at ease when I hear the bells ring." Danke, Herr Kinnard.
As a German who studied Linguistics and Communication Science this video makes me so happy! Love how you make such detailed aspects of spoken language, speaking trends and their effects known and connect them to today's perception of the German language! 💪
Hey Fili. When I was first posted to Schwabstadl Kasserne in 1981. They had a Headstart program to teach us enough German to get by. They taught us how to use the public transportation schedule, order a meal, etc. My post had about 350 Americans. And the rest was Luftwaffe support personell, for the 32nd Jagbomber Geschwader on Lechfeld Kasserne. They had a Mannschaftshiem on post, where we could get bier and a good Schnitzel dinner. So I started learning Bayrisch and Swabisch from the Luftwaffe troops that shared our post. One thing I've learned. Any people appreciate when you show an interest in learning about their language and culture. It's a great way to break the ice with anybody. Though it can be embarrassing when you mispronounce a word or phrase. And end up saying something completely different. My Luftwaffe friends wanted to know about me, and my life in America. I drew a picture of a pickup truck on a napkin. And said, "Was ist Das I'm Deutsche?" Das is einen Last Kraft Wagen. Oder LKW. I said Lust Kraft Wagen. It was quite embarrassing. Still they appreciated the fact that I was trying to learn their language. I was exposed to the Bayrisch culture along with learning the language. Much Gemudlikiet came with that. So to me, I always thought the Bayrisch and Swabisch dialects of the German language was really quite beautiful. Because there is much beauty in the culture and people of Germany.
Your video's timing is perfect! Just the day before yesterday, I was at an event for international students (I am currently studying in Canada). On the way back home I spoke to another German student in German. A guy overheard us and asked what language that was because he said it sounded so nice. I told him it was German and he first wouldn't believe me as he was convinced German sounds angry and harsh. It turned out he had seen some of these videos and assumed the words/sentences were pronounced normally just like they were in other languages. He didn't realize that this was not how German actually sounds like. I told him that every language sounds harsh when you pronounce it in an angry manner. Then, I pronounced some of the commonly ill-portrayed words such as Schmetterling, Krankenhaus, etc. in both an angry and my normal voice. He recognized the words when I spoke angrily and laughed. It made me a little sad that the idea of German being a harsh language is still very much present in people's minds and that this is something that some people wouldn't question. Later on, we had a long conversation about the German language and he showed genuine interest. Still, it was a little frustrating to learn that these videos (whether it be people pronouncing words in different languages or German sentences in talk shows) that are very common on social media make people dislike the German language without / before actually knowing how it really sounds like. While I somewhat get the comedic aspect of these videos, I also find it incredibly sad that they keep reinforcing stereotypes that are far from reflecting the reality.
Well for me as someone from England you can imagine what we were taught and shown in history class. That’s about all we learn about Germany unfortunately. I’ve been surrounded by the idea of this mysterious place called Germany all my life and I’ve finally over the past year and a half learned quite a lot about Germany and the language, because I was so curious that I wasn’t told everything there was to know. Low and behold I’m friends with a few Germans now and I adore the language and hearing them speak it. I do find videos ragging on the language funny too but I do feel for you guys when everyone assumes it just sounds evil. I think more exposure to modern German language and people would help peoples understanding. I’m glad many schools here teach French and German.
Yes, Aline. There is also, methinks, a tradition of poking fun at Germans and the German language. People in general like mocking any foreign accents; it's only human. Except that some jokes about some other nations or races would be politically incorrect, while the Germans seem to be "free game" bc of what happened 80 years ago. I heard people on CBC (I'm also in Canada) trying to mimick the German pronunciation in a grotesque way, bc they thought it funny - but they wouldn't dare do the same to the Chinese or Creol accent.
I'm an American that studied German for 11 years- from 7th grade through college. Many times I have heard non-German speakers say "German sounds so angry." My reply- When did you ever hear German being spoken other than Hitler giving a speech or a German officer barking out orders to his troops in a movie? One person replied back- "I've never really thought about it that way." I said German can be very smooth and soft especially if a pretty girl is talking in a calm voice. I am vindicated!
You are right but ..... that's something the rest of the world has only heard of: Hitler yelling in his German speeches . Sorry but that's how it is. It's like knowing that the stereotype of Mexicans was dark-skinned fellows wearing Sombreros and taking a nap out in the open on a sunny afternoon (by the way am South American but that's how international people, especially Americans, sees Latin Americans). I have to say as well that, being us all mixed-blood people, with strong healthy native American ancestors, those theories of inferior races absolutely scandalized our societies during WW2 and to know their Final Solution was to kill all non-white populations..... Guess why here usually average people born 1930/1970 feared Germans.
The world is not allowed to hear Hitler's speeches.. You will only find a few clips on RUclips. Because what he said makes perfect sense, but doesn't suit those still in power today. The Hitler ranting and raving image is a carefully crafted image created by 80 years of uncontested anglo-saxon propaganda/media to ridicule and stigmatise.
@@amiquigonzales7917 Danke! ich bin kein Denker und kein Dichter , sometimes i think english is schlichter ! doch würde ich es niemals wagen , zu sagen , das meine deutsche Sprache einfach ist! so ist es nicht! doch jeder Fremde , der sie sprechen kann , ....es lernen will von Anfang an! der sei Willkommen jederzeit ! Doch machst Du Stress und bist ein Räuber , dann beruf ich mich auf Stoiber!
I’ve been learning German for almost two years, and even when I started studying it I thought it sounded a tad aggressive but then I went to Germany. And people there sounded so soothing, adorable and friendly. Like even in general I thought Germans were simply some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, like everyone was so welcoming, helpful, nice. I truly wasn’t expecting that, like I didn’t have the best experiences in Europe cause I went to Spain and people there sounded too loud and weren’t friendly and then to france which without trying to offend Spanish and French people, both were really unfriendly and legit made you feel uncomfortable when you didn’t know their language (I know Spanish but not French, so yeah). Germans were really helpful when you couldn’t express yourself in German, I always tried my best but it was hard. But I swear, I felt so great in Germany, I wanna move permanently there and I know it’s gonna be great, they are so different from the people in my country and I loved that
One thing about France mate is know bonjour madame merci! At least your being polite I had a lovely time in France I speak a little French. As far as Germany goes eat ist ausgeziegnet!
Hi Feli 🥰 I've learned English and German as foreign languages during my university time. Being an interpreter I mostly use English, but I do love German and enjoy speaking it. And when someone says in a conversation that German is harsh and unpleasant, I start reading a poetry by Heinrich Heine for them. With my subtle voice and Heine's incredible poetry it changes the opinion instantly! 😉❤️
Feli I lived in Germany, mostly in Trier, 13 years. My ex wife is German, from Trier, and my two daughters and granddaughter live there. When my oldest came over to live for a while, she was in High School. She was very worried that Americans would treat her differently because she's German. She was worried that she would be called a Nazi because...German. I assured her that no that isn't the case. And it wasn't. She loved living here. Wichita, KS at the time. We live by the Space Center on the east coast of FL. HItlers performance art when he spoke publicly versus his private voice is dramtically different. But that's what he did, perform for the masses in his speeches. I love the language. I'm so happy I'm fluent.
To Europeans, a fluent speaker is indistinguishable to native speakers. Even if you try, you can't ever get rid of your accent. I try this with Japanese.
As a child we moved to Upstate New York in 1967. My oldest brother was the one I really looked up to and he influenced me more than the two brothers between us. In our school system they offered German as a language and my oldest brother took it, he was in the 10th grade, I was in the third. For summer one year he did an student exchange to Germany. When I got into Junior High I took German, like my oldest brother had done. My oldest Brother had lived in New York for two years then moved back to the South for college and stayed there. I wound up taking German for three years, till I moved back to the South. I always enjoyed learning German. A few months ago I called my brother and for some reason I had selected his home phone instead his cell. Whenever he gets a call on his home phone and does not recognize the number, he answers the phone in German. Even though I had not spoken German for over 40 years, his greeting, triggered my memory and I responded with the proper response we had been taught in school. My proper response caused him to stuttered out a question, which I answered, this really got him and in English he asked "Who is this". We both had a great laugh. I would end this by writing out in German, Goodnight, I hope you a wonderful day tomorrow, but I know every word would be miss-spelled, and I want to be honest and not go online and get the proper phrase.
Answering the home phone in a foreign language is a great way to stop junk calls. I lived in Japan for three years and learned some of the language. I started answering the phone in Japanese. My junk calls dropped by two thirds. When in Japan I would ask questions in German, and they would ask if I speak English. Simplified things.
Feli, I think you’re an incredible ambassador between the two cultures. It’s been over 35 years since I had German in school & yours is one of my main “go to” sights for information & to try to stay somewhat familiar with the language. Thank you! I hope to visit Germany one day & see how well I can make it through daily activities.
I too studied in high and college, but never did anything with it. Now some 40 years later, I am learning new vocabulary, and discovering lots of Englisch Fremdwoerter in German. Many of the cultural differences you explained in othervideos, I had been aware of, but not all. This one: can I have been naive to have heard of, or noticed this stereotype?
I have been trying to learn German for years. It is an extremely difficult language to learn and living in Australia doesn't make it any easier. I work with a German lady and she said my German is not so bad but she is an extremely nice lady and probably thinks she'll hurt my feelings. Anyway i love your videos. Please keep going. ❤
If you think than German is difficult than try any of Slavic languages (Polish, Czech, Croatian, Ukrainian, for example) or Chinese, Korean, Japanese. There was assessment done which languages are difficult for English speakers. Languages were divided in 5 categories from easiest to more difficult to learn. Here are some examples: (1, easiest) -- Languages closely related to English: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish. (2) -- Languages similar to English: German (3) -- Languages with linguistic and/or cultural differences from English: Indonesian, Malaysian, Swahili (4) -- Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English: Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Taqaloq, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu. (5) -- Languages which are exceptionally difficult for native English speakers: Arabic, Cantonese (Chinese), Madarin (Chinese), Japanese, Korean.
@@robertab929 Interesting. Though my japanese is just kind of advanced beginner, I found it to be quite an easy language to learn compared to what I know of german, spanish, french, finnish and whatever. The grammar and pronunciation seem very clean and simple to me. Seems like the simplicity of english grammar but also with consistent easy pronunciation too. Perhaps the big challenge that many refer to is learning the thousands of kanji characters one must know in order to read and write fluently. For context, english is my native language, though I grew up learning some finnish because of family (definitely a complex language imo) and am sort of fluent now, and have been slowly learning german for the last year or two.
@@robertab929 I totally agree that English and German are closely related. I am a German native speaker, I speak English and a little french and Spanish. And I doubt, that eg french is closer to English than German. There are so many words, that are at least similar in German and English. French is totally different. And even the concept of Du and Sie (being polite) used to be just alike in English maybe 150 years ago. Eg "Du singst" (you sing) was then something like "thou singst"...
@@frankmunster1566 There is this order English-Frisian-Dutch-German with languages in the middle being understand better than at extreme positions. So you as German/English speaker may also understand a lot of Frisian and Dutch. French is different than other Romance languages. This is caused by Frankish (Germanic) influences in 6.-10. c. Spelling and pronunciation of born Old French was different than earlier Vulgar Latin from 5. c. English has Germanic roots (Lower German/Saxon root with some Old Norse influence). Plus many Romance words because of Norman invasion in 11.-13. c. English has ~26% words of Germanic origin and 58% of Romance origin (29% French and 29% from other Romance language like Latin, Italian). Problems in English with lack of correlation between writing and pronunciation are caused by Norman French influence.
Bingo! This is the influence that media has on society. Media influences the way we think, so when media spread lies like it has when it comes to the German language, then people take it as fact. Growing up in NY, I've taken trips to rural Pennsylvania for antique shops (besides for Hershey) so the first time I've heard someone speaking a variety of German as their language was through the Pennsylvania Dutch, and they sound quite the opposite of being angry! I've always thought it was fascinating that Pennsylvania managed to keep this old variety of the language intact. Stereotypes lead to so much unnecessary hate, and it's scary to see its consequences. People really need to give cultures and languages a chance. That's how we grow as people. By learning another culture, we start to expand our horizons and change our perspectives.
Just wait to see what they try to do with the Russian language in western controlled media, it'll be no different. Just watch, it's all going to shift to Iran, Russia and China and how they sound or look now. But for that they'll need new narratives. Nobody is gonna die, like they did in the Middle East, because "but Hitler" and 1940s whatever. Which should be interesting, since Hollywood and the globalists have been running on that mode for nearly 100 years now. Whole new world. I bet they can't believe they got so far, and it all came crashing down, coincidentally, with the Jeffrey Epstein end, Benghazi and the failure of Soros projects and the end of Mafia state Ukraine. And now RUclips Ceo Susan W is also stepping down. Totally destroyed this platform. Bye bye
Ich bin Brasilianer und habe Deutsch selbst gelernt, am meisten durch Duolingo und RUclips-Videos. Ich arbeite als Uber-Fahrer und benutze eine deutsche Stimme auf meinem Waze, und viele Leute haben mich gefragt ob es Französisch wäre. Sie werden fast immer überrascht wenn ich sage, dass es Deutsch ist.
A fascinating video, thanks a lot for your effort Feli!!! As a professional German teacher in Poland, I often face those prejudices or attitude towards the German language you mentioned at the beginning, and not only from Polish native speakers. Your contribution helped me a lot to understand this attitude (which has many other, mostly historical reasons) and I'll use this video in my lessons. Thanks a lot for this very well written and resesarched video, great stuff! Greetings from Cracow
I used to know someone who never heard any Hitler’s speeches or Nazi-propaganda but acquainted with German in early 1990’es by watching porn. In late 1990, when we worked together, every time I spoke German with someone, the guy shouted “das ist fantastisch “. To that guy, German must have felt like a language of lust.
I’m an American girl who spent middle school stationed abroad in rural England. I was in the top (academically-performing/gifted) homeroom class for my year group, so the school made my class take German, French, and Latin as our foreign languages. The kids took French in sixth grade and then Latin and German as well in seventh. I joined the school in seventh grade, so I liked that everyone was on the same page as me with German and Latin (it took me a bit to catch up to my peers in French, as my sixth grade school didn’t offer French). Also, honestly, my German teacher was a significantly better teacher than my Latin teacher, so I quickly grew to love German and prefer it over Latin and thought it was such a neat language (my teacher also constantly emphasized the similarities to English, which helped me catch on to it). One set of my great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Düsseldorf, so I also liked the connection to my ancestry. In all, I spent 8 school years studying German, going all the way through college (by this point, back in America). I love the language and how it sounds (for me, the words seem easier to differentiate orally than say French or Spanish or Latin, which I appreciate). I even influenced my little sister to start studying German when we were next living in the US (she was in primary school when we were in England, so no languages for her)- she even ended up double-majoring in university in German (and political science). We both quite enjoy the language and how it sounds.
Bravo. I'm also a native German speaker in the US, and the caricaturization of German has bugged me for a long time. Your response is brilliant and so well done. Had no idea about Bühnendeutsch...! Wieder mal was gelernt. Vielen Dank!!
Actually most languages have/had distinctive styles of speaking for public speeches, theater and movies. It's definitely a thing in english, too. You can hear it in most old recordings. Nowadays with better microphones it became less important, but actors in theaters still use it because they don't use microphones all the time. On the one hand movie actors tend to speak more normal than ever, on the other hand it's quite hard to understand some actors at all.
Bühnenaussprache was created, as the name implies, for use on the stage. It would be ridiculous if a play were staged where in the one family the father spoke with a Berlin accent, the mother with a Munich accent, the daughter with a Frankfurt and the son with a Karlsruhe accent. So a "standard" pronunciation was produced. Like all standardisations, it had an element of artificiality to it - just as standard written German is to a certain extent an artificial creation. In the US tv series "Murder, she wrote", one episode was set on a Caribbean island, but no doubt filmed in a studio in Los Angeles. Most of the "Caribbean" characters were members of one family. The roles were played by UK actors. Each of the actors spoke in their normal English-speaking voice. It was immediately obvious to British people that each actor came from a different region of the UK. The American audience wouldn't have noticed this, but for British people watching it was simply ridiculous that each member of the family had a different accent.
I’m eighth-generation PA Dutch, and I found this immensely interesting. For one thing, my four grandparents trilled their “r’s” -particularly my Swiss Mennonite grandfather. Their German dialect was their first language, and they learned English when they went to first grade (they were sixth generation Americans!) By the middle of the 20th century and after two world wars, the younger generation tried to shed their accent, as it was seen to signify being unlearned, i.e. “the dumb Dutchman.” It is interesting to note that my grandparents and parents did not identify with Germany by this point, they considered themselves to be fully American.
Some people in Germany still trill or roll their r. My grandfather born 1913 from Hamburg did...as did many Hambrgers of that time. Now no one in Hamburg does.
@@erichamilton3373 Because older people spoke plattdeutsch nativly which younger generations dont do. Somehow germany lost a native language and nobody cares.
As a Brazilian from south (Rio grande do Sul), my parents used to speak some german, but i do not speak (Still, cuz i'm learning). Here in the South of Brazil the german spoke is not similar to "Hochdeutsch" but sound like a mixture of german + Portuguese, like "brot" we say "Broto" (that means Knospe[?] in german) and "kuchen" we say "Cuca" (is the same cake). My late grandma that past away some months ago used to say a lot "katze" here and "katze" there, and i notice that she say that to our cats when she call them, so when i start to learn german i realize a LOT of things my grandma and my grandpa said.
Despite several years of studying German I always had difficulty understanding what Hitler was saying in those old newsreels. I chalked it up to the fact that he was Austrian and was basically shouting all the time. Thanks to this video, I now know he was using Buhnenaussprache, which I never knew of. Thanks for this.
I looked Buhnenaussprachup and apparently it is considered to be "pure High German". So that's what Hitler spoke! It seems that pure High German sounds horrific too 🤢
@@gdok6088 Hallo. "Reines" Hochdeutsch spricht in Deutschland im Alltag wohl niemand. Bei Hitler war es nicht nur die Aussprache, er hatte auch einen sehr besonderen Sprach Rhythmus.
As a German speaker and a linguist, I braced myself for the usual stereotypes but was most pleasantly surprised. Very well done! Anyone familiar with German literature, poetry, and song will know that language can be as beautiful as any. I also speak Japanese, which, again in part because of the war, is often judged to be somehow harsh and aggressive....Feli is clearly well trained in linguistics. Congratulations!
Ich spreche auch Deutsch, und habe in Japan gelebt. Also, ich finde die beiden Sprache sehr schön. Die Sprache der Japanischen (Japanisch?) ist überhaupt nicht so “hart” wie man oft denkt, und die “Buchstaben/Logographen” sind sehr kompliziert, und dabei etwas “fremd” scheinen. (Mein Deutsch ist sehr rostig geworden. Schon seit 25 Jahren habe ich fast kein deutsch gesprochen, und die Wörter kommen mir nicht so schnell!)
@@jcawly1 I've been teaching myself German on and off for about 4 years now, and my little language win today was reading and being able to understand your comment. Vielen Dank für die Gelegenheit!
@@jcawly1 Ich habe mit der App Duolingo anfangen, und Ich suchte online nach Grammatikfragen. Ich habe mir deutsche Shows und Filme angesehen (shout out to Dark!). Ich habe deutsche Musik gehört. Ich habe ein paar Videospiele auf Deutsch gespielt. Ich habe jedoch nicht viel Übung im Sprechen oder Schreiben. Ich möchte Deutschland eines Tages besuchen.
German is a rich, fascinating language. One I would love to learn at some point. I've never thought of it as harsh just a few sounds are harsher sounding. But that is the case with most Germanic languages, English included.
Man, there are more than enough great resources for free you can use to learn German. Deutsche Welle, Easy German on RUclips, and the RUclipsr Radical Living made some kinda video course for this as well. I guess I'll learn some German after I master Norwegian.
When studying Germany in WWII in high school, my history teacher played one of Hitler's speeches. Setting the content of the speech aside and only focusing on the oration techniques he used, I can tell you its not surprising that he created such a strong cult of personality. His pattern was often to start a speech rather meekly and softly then slowly build power behind his words until it crescendos near the end. Its a pattern that works well with humans in general and is often used in music for a similar, attention grabbing effect. I could see how some person in the crowd had somewhat relatable opinions of the state of Germany at the time could be suckered in by his oration. I am by no means singing any praises to the content of Hitler's speeches, just merely explaining a reason as to why they were so effective.
I'm Italian and since last year i always thought that german didn't sound good at all, but then around january last year, after hearing a german song (ich war noch niemals in new york) i fell in love with this language, I decided to learn it and now it has become my favorite language, I just love the way it sounds, in particular i love the sound "ch" in words like "fertig, zwanzig, vielleicht" and so on, the sound "ch" in words like "doch, Bach, noch" and the "r" sound. I find german words to be simply amazing, and very deep and rich of meaning (like Zweisamkeit, Ehrfurcht, Heimweh" and many many more). I hope that in the future my job will have something to do with german cuz its weird to say but this language just makes me feel good and happy
That's a really pleasant compliment to our language! Coming from an Italian even adds to its significance. Don't you ever forget Udo Jürgens to whom you owe your love to your favourite language!
@@friedrichstock6377 ja natürlich, ich habe tatsächlich ungefähr 250 songs von ihm, vielleicht sogar noch mehr, in meiner Playlist auf Spotify und ich höre jeden Tag seine Musik, er ist, zusammen mit dem Pianisten Ludovico Einaudi, mein Lieblingskünstler, und es ist wegen ihm dass ich angefangen habe, Deutsch zu lernen
ah, i started to learn german as well because i found the sounds like "ch" and "r" very beautiful. the pronunciation of the language is very elegant and just satisfying for my ears to hear...
Thanks for the lesson. I became a fan of German after hearing The Beatles “Sie Leibt Dich” & “Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand”. The two songs sound awesome to me. I can’t speak a word of German in conversation, but I can sing along with these songs. For someone who speaks English as a second language, you sound more “natural” than some who speak English as a first language. Amazing! I liked this video and subscribed. Thanks again.
I’m a native Swedish speaker and I’ve been learning German but the words “auf” and “auch” mess me up a lot in verbal speaking because of how it sounds and quite similar sounding when I’m not very used to the sound of the language yet. Love from Sweden
There was a time when I was deeply interested in WW2 because of videogames I was playing, then learning about it at school and watching documentaries at home made me more interested in the topic, it made me tune into the German language a bit more. I obviously new about the harsh sounding speeches, but I actually didn't think of the German language that way. I remember seeing movies and documentaries where the language was spoken regularly and for some reason I loved the sound of German, I don't even know why, I just like it. I speak Spanish and I've heard many languages, but for some reason, German really stands out to me. It's a precise sounding language and I just love how the vowels and consonants sound. I don't know, it's a very impressive language.
I was speaking German with my family as we were standing in line at a cash register in a US supermarket. The clerk then asked us what language we were speaking. She was very surprised when we explained that we were speaking German. She said it sounded so "nice" and "smooth". I thought that was funny. : ) Your videos are awesome, Feli! I love how much research you put into everything! Super interesting! Weiterhin alles Gute in den USA!
I think the 'aggressive ' quality of Germany is also often enhanced in movies, due to the bad pronunciation. Like, not to be mean, but German in movies is often pretty terrible and even I, as a native speaker, have trouble understanding it sometimes. Idk if it's the same with other languages, but I often get the impression that there's just a lot less effort put into accurate German than, say French
I don't know much about other languages, bit It's definitely the same with russian. Not only the characters are mostly villains but also their accent is horrible. Like why can't they hire native speakers, it's usually just a few phrases that need to be said, it can't be a very hard job
@@nastyasunny6977 oh yeah, I feel your pain of always being portrayed as villainous characters, it's so annoying, like, unless it's a movie that involves WWII, which , no argument against doing it then, but so often modern media will stick to this, so yeah, I feel you
It's the same with Spanish, they don't even worry to make it sound natural in American entertainment. Just by watching breaking bad, which is a great show, you can see that Spanish sounds very robotic and unnatural
@@luisleal7301 it's really unfortunate that these languages aren't being accurately represented, you can do so much with that kind stuff, especially if you take into account how little nuances in the language can elevate the text
I took German in college, and I was very lucky to have a teacher from Köln who spoke so beautifully, that I have thought it as a beautiful language since then. Really wish I would’ve kept up with it!
Hi! The Cologne dialect belongs to the rhineland area - and the dialect of the people from the rhineland is known to be extremly soft and 'singing', because they use to give every sentence a melodic appeal! The origins of this lie in the historic fact, that the residents of tge rhinish area always had many trade contacts to thecpeople from other countries, especially those, where dutch and french language were spoken, which are more soft and emotionally painted.... Greetz, Lincoln
That was meant ironical, and there is no need to be that agressive. Do you know Karl Lauterbach? He is the exact opposite of the in deed very melodic and singing rhineland dialect, so I made this joke, not guessing someone could be p!ssed *ff. ruclips.net/video/gvseJXrsuS0/видео.html Btw, I am a native rhinelander. How about you?
I grew up in Canada with English as my mother tongue. I don’t know why, but by my mid-twenties, I fully recognized that German was much sweeter sounding than most people realized. Now, decades later, I am finally making a serious effort to learn this wonderful language. And I thought French was hard! 😅
As a Mexican, killing millions of people is bad, but I have to admit that our ancestors were heroes and sacrificed their culture and religion, converting to Catholicism to acquire the white race (for marrying with Spanish people), thanks to this half of the country is white and curiously all good artists are white in Mexico
@@692ALBANNACH russian is the bane of my existance!!! I tried so hard to get a hold on it and i just can not figure out how it is spoken. Welsh, france, italien, japanese, swahili, hawaian, I might not nail it, but I get a decent aproximation I can work with togeather . . . but russian? No matter how hard I try to focus I can not hear the melody to follow
Ich bin ein Amerikaner und ich liebe deutsch! I'm likely one of the few Americans that actually learned German just for fun and am self-taught (no formal schooling in it). So happy I found your channel and am now subscribed; Vielen dank, Feli!
Ausgezeichnet, Feli. As a young kid growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, I heard just about no one speaking German and my exposure to native speakers was largely limited to a few clips of Hitler that might have shown up on TV in documentaries or movies. In 8th grade I was at our local library and found the old Berlitz language instruction books and started poring over them; that was my first exposure to written German. In high school I read a bilingual version of "Parabeln und Paradoxe" by Kafka with English on one page and German on the facing page and that helped me creep towards a bit more knowledge. It wasn't until college, where one of my roomies was a modern language major who was already very fluent in German, that I found the great treasure trove of German poetry and stories--Heine, Hesse, Holderlin, and many others. One of the most beautiful lines I've heard are from a poem by Hesse ("Beim Schlafengehen") set to music by Richard Strauss at the end of his life; it probably appeals to my old night-owl nature: "Und die Seele unbewacht Will in freien Flügen schweben, Um im Zauberkreis der Nacht Tief und tausendfach zu leben." Your comments about German versus French, Italian, and Spanish make sense; those languages seem to have a much higher ratio of vocalic sounds to consonantal sounds than German (and, for that matter, the Slavic languages and other central European languages like Hungarian). It's an interesting distinction. In English we can often say the same thing two different ways: using Anglo-Saxon words, or using Romance language words. "I saw the car go over the hill" or "I observed the automobile traverse the prominence." Hardly anyone would actually say the latter sentence, but you get the idea. It's almost like there are two different "sub-languages" lurking within English. I think a lot of people profile others by the types of words they use and their pronunciation.
English vocabulary is said to be about 60% French & Latin on the Germanic base. I've heard it described as, Middle English was sort of a creole of Old English and Norman French.
Regarding "I think a lot of people profile others by the types of words they use..." I agree. I believe the words we choose reveal our individuality or style. Just as every musician has their own way of expressing themselves, and every book writer must be original (not plagiarize,) we are unique in the words we choose.
You forgot another source of the English language, that is even larger than the Roman/Latin one. That is the Nordic/Scandinavian influence. It is extremely. I, as a Beatles fan, was always impressed by those word games of John Lennon's. Like, 'imagine there's no heaven(!), above us only sky(!)'. This does only work due to the possibility to use the Anglo-Saxon based 'heaven' versus the Nordic 'Sky'. Both source languages are Germanic ones (West Germanic, North Germanic, respectively) but very clearly different to a certain degree. Lennon's sentence makes no sense in German, since we haven't got separate words for a spiritual or a physical Himmel. It's all heaven to us. To create a similar message we would have to use 'All' , or maybe 'Raum' (in the meanings of outer space) and it would not cause the same easy, immediate, emotional reaction. And a third group of languages had a very strong impact on modern English. That is the Celtic ones. Because there, of course, was a huge amount of nativ Celtic speakers that were forced to get into use of English as their second language but without learning it by the rules but instead by sheer contact to it, they were creating a sort of creole form of English. This mirrored back to the original native English speakers. But this did not lead to a large Celtic based vocabulary, but rather to a heavy change in the grammer and thereby moved the words around in their position in a sentences structure and a few other aspects as well. German hasn't changed in grammar very much since it emerged out of Western Germanic but English moved away from the common base a lot. That is the main reason for difficulties when learning German or English from each opposite perspective.
I notice that, in German, each word is very clearly demarcated and fully pronounced (even within compound words) unlike other languages where words elide. In Spanish a whole sentence can become a word in effect when spoken. This German demarcation can sound aggressive to some. It's actually a joy to those learning German as a foreign language. It's easier to understand Germans.
There are some studies on the Internet that show Spanish is the fastest spoken (European) language while German is the slowest. That probably helps too.
Elision is rare in German but not entirely unknown. When I'm in Germany, I like to mess with people's heads by using the one elision I know, in a very colloquial sentence: "Ich hab' kein Deutsch" (I can't speak German).
My wife learned French in school. When we were stationed along the border and listening to a French radio station she had great difficulty separating the words. Whereas, she thought German to be easier because she could distinguish between them.
not sure why you would say that about spanish. in french one sentence can become one word. spanish is so easy because you can clearly differentiate between every word, same with german.
I remember 9th grade German class, the teacher asked the worst student in the class "how do you say ____" and he replied "probably a lot of spitting and yelling". I couldnt hold in my laughter, even though the teacher was obviously not happy with that comment.
I lived in Germany for 8 years, in Wiesbaden, and loved learning the language and speaking it.. i have to say that it took a while to get used to the abrupt and blunt way in which many Germans in my area spoke. Americans can sound “saccharine” to Germans, as one of my German friends told me. I never realized how soft American English sounded until I lived in Germany. There is nothing timid or hesitant about the way germans speak. So, I understand the funny parodies of German harshness. I got used to the way Germans spoke after a while, and it was okay. Personally, I don’t think the stereotype came just from Hitler. Just my own experience. This was a great video!
The same is said of the PA Dutch in eastern Pennsylvania (I'm one). I remember my great-aunts in particular, who came off sounding as gruff and almost angry, but they had a smile on their faces! Our culture didn't sugar-coat, we said what what we meant. However, we didn't like conflict!
Great video, Feli! I think you touched on a lot of good points. I think German culture is interesting (I love authentic German recipes. My dad's great-grandmother was from Germany). But getting back to your video, your breakdown of how the view of a language can be distorted was fascinating. I think another prime example where German sounds beautiful is "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night). It sounds pretty and tranquil in English, but it sounds amazing in German. The fact it was originally written in German and the story behind the song also makes it incredible. Great job!
Funny enough, we still sing one German verse of Stille Nacht at my Catholic Church in NY around Xmas time. And we have no connection to Germany in our local parish that I know of. Some of the youngsters think it must be Latin! (I know the neighboring Lutheran church has several German hymns).
I'm a German and felt sad because of our language being so harshly jugded. I NEVER thought about Hitler, maybe having ruined the reputation! So that is a huge Aha- moment, thank you very much! Hitler was terrible in so many ways. Even in speaking.
@@rjadolf6782 as an argie i love German language its beautiful and sounds strong too l love it we have germans living here even some surnames in Argentina are germans :)
It sounds harsh because it's an old language compared to other languages in Europe. Modern languages produces sounds which are more from the mouth area. I don't judge your language und ich könnte es sogar sprechen oder schreiben (Ich komme aus Die Niederlande) :)
True. He really ruined the perspective of other people from other countries on the view of germany itself. The worst part is that people still hate germany or have a bad view on the country itself just because of ww2 and hitler.
I took German in high school for two years. Later I was sent there by the army for three years. Having learned some Hochdeutsch, I thought that I’d be ok. I ended up in Bavaria. That would be comparable to learning English in London and then moving to Mississippi. Fortunately I was able to muddle through, and the locals practically all spoke English.
I did German (not very successfully) in England for four years. I spent a long time learning to say phonemes that don't exist in English. A good example is the ch sound in 'nicht'. Then I went with the RAF to Wildenrath in Germany for 2 years. I was then amazed to find the locals said 'nay' (or nee) just like the Dutch. They were of course speaking PlattDeutsch which is a bit of a mixture of German and Dutch. I found on my travels that when I went to Hamburg I could understand and speak German much better. By the way I found Germans very friendly and after a couple of beers would want me to use the 'du' form to them. I had trouble explaining that the du forms are somewhat irregular and using the sie form is much easier as I could use the infinitive! I had a friend who then lived in Dusseldorf and he spoke a very peculiar German more or less with no Grammar. For example all definite articles were D' as in D' haus. And all the inflections were ignored as there was no ein eine einer einem etc. He spoke it very quickly and most of the Germans he worked with assumed he came from some 'foreign' place like Munich or Saxony. As a native English speaker I can spot a foreigner a mile away but Germans are easily fooled if you speak a form of German. I did find that I would always ask people if they spoke English before using my terrible German. Otherwise they would think I was a Turkish 'gastarbeiter' and not get good service.
@@jimattrill8933 You wouldn't have had to worry about being mistaken for a Turk, their highly typical sociolectal version of German is easily distinguishable from a person having a strong English accent. Turkish "German" sounds insulting to native ears, bordering on painful, while Germans are very forgiving towards English speakers, who actually try their best at speaking German.
I’ve been learning German for two years as a second language, and anytime I mention learning German, People usually mention that they think it sounds aggressive. I really like the sound of the German language.
I lived there for 3 years and learned the language pretty well. Somehow, whenever I mention German, though, people haven't said anything about how aggressive it is to me, bur rather how difficult of a language to learn it is or they mention the umlauts quite often. It is an awesome language and very similar to English than most if not all languages. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to speak it with, though, and it has been roughly 4 years since I've been to Germany and spoke German on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to taking some classes at a university here where I live soon.
@Kari Freud I don't do well with online learning, but I didn't know they had native speakers that you can talk to. That might be worth looking into. I've tried so many online language learning apps, but I never get anywhere with them.
@@weiserwolfsgeistWell are you into gaming? I found German servers on some games and met people to practice and speak to while playing. Playing a video game in another language really covers many aspects you’ll need in real life. Navigation/coordination, questions, answers, requests, instructions and much much more. Some Russians youtubers I like actually learned English through games and speaking to people online. That blew my mind lol. But yes seriously great idea to study it properly at a university, well done for taking that step I wish you luck! Try gaming if you have free time ;)
Growing up in the US during the late 80s and onward, German was definitely seen (in my experience) as a rough language and culture. It was indeed always referred back to Hitler, and most examples came from his speeches. You would rarely see any other examples, except when at the theme parks, you occasionally would hear German in a strict raised voice at children who weren't listening (like every single other family of many different languages there 😂). When I went into high school it was time to start foreign language classes and I didn't want to take Spanish or French, so I chose German. My German teacher was an older rougher-around-the edges kind of lady. I liked her, but looking back, she definitely represented the language in a rough way. So this vision of German remained true for those years and into adulthood. This changed in college for me though. I still very much loved the German language, the beautiful landscape, and the cultures. When it came time to do another few semesters of a foreign language, I went back into German classes as a refresher. This time, I had a gentle kind older man as my professor who had spent a lot of time in Germany and around native Germans. He was completely opposite from my high school teacher. Like yours, his German was soft and more natural. This is where I learned proper German and absolutely fell in love with the language. I think it's actually a beautiful language that is very clear and easy to understand once you learn to be more fluent in it. I actually do not find it much different from English. So in my experience growing up and from talking to other people along the way about it when they find out I know/learned to speak German... I can relate to what you brought up in this video and I'd say this is probably where it stems from. Interesting topic for sure. Thank you for covering all sorts of these topics. I love your videos and enjoy learning some new things coming from a native Germans experience.
exactly MOST AMERICANS ARE FROM GERMANIC INDO EUROPEAN DESCENT THE hEBREW SNAKE PEOPLE TRICKED US WITH SNAKE LIES TO GET US TO KILL OUR OWN .THINK ABOUT IT REAL HARD AND YOU WILL KNOW I AM RIGHT.
Excellent video! I studied German as a minor in Hunter College because my grandmother couldn’t learn it. She was born in 1911, here in the US. During World War I, it was against the law in the US to teach German or speak it in public. If you spoke German in public you would not get arrested, but you would certainly be suspected as an unpatriotic, anti-American, German sympathizer. This could, at worst, get you investigated or detained by police or, at best, cause you to get a lot of angry looks and arguments from non-German speaking Americans. As I was growing up, being a 4th generation German-American, I felt a subtle discrimination against German-Americans. When I was born in 1969, World War II was still fairly fresh in people’s minds, with many veterans still alive. I think that this is also part of the reason that German is portrayed the way it is in film and TV for both comedic as well as dramatic effect. It was so bad for me, I legally changed my name from Robert Kaiser to Robert Bennett. I felt ashamed to be German-American. I don’t feel that way anymore but the stereotypes still persist, somewhat. For example, there is a children’s animated Christmas show called, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” In it, the bad guy is Bürgermeister Meisterburger. His guards are all spike helmed, mean looking types, who take toys away from the children. The town’s peasants look much like Warsaw ghetto Jews, though not expressly Jewish. Everyone is miserable until, Kris Kringle gives out toys and must struggle against the Bürgermeister who has outlawed toys. Also, look at another film, “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.” In this one, German actor, Gert Frobe, plays a King who lives in Schloss Neuschwannstein and hates children. He keeps them locked up in a dungeon. And on and on. American war films propagated this hatred for Germans and there was even a TV Sitcom called “Hogan’s Heroes,” produced by the very Irish-American Bing Crosby, about a German POW camp. I don’t know what’s worse, showing a POW camp in the 1960s and 70s, or the fact that the Germans in it are stupid, fools that make one wonder how they were able to put up much a fight during the war. But that is the point, right? History is written by the victors. Whenever someone mentions how harsh German is, I play the German version of “It’s a Small World After All” or “Druck die Eins” by Annette Louisan. Thanks for this video.
Hogan’s Heroes show the Germans as fools because it’s, you know, a comedy. Also, most of the actors playing the Germans were German themselves, usually German Jews, some of whom survived concentration camps. It was the actors who insisted on this comedic take on the Nazis. It’s no different than the approach Mel Brooks used for The Producers or to portray racism in Blazing Saddles. It’s not meant to be an attack on all Germans, nor should it be taken that way.
@@PaulMcElligott whether intended or not, it pointed to destroying German culture pride in America, just like everything now discontinuing similar. you write: "Also, most of the actors playing the Germans were German themselves, usually German Jews" It's telling that Einstein never referred to himself as German, he's only now shilled as German. The others weren't so different from Einstein, with their outlook and motives, were they? At first, that's odd; calling themselves Germans allowed them to BE the definition of German instead of being the out-group they had been to the Germans. Is that not the ultimate smite and ethnic triumph? Of course, that could only help the very German people move on who they were literally shilling to bomb to pieces ten years earlier, and we've seen the hate parade continue to at least 2020, milking the German people for "what happened" for all they are worth. Around the Christmas holiday, they air Spielberg's Shindler's List. That's intentional. It's a power play. How can you watch a film like Dr. Strangelove and not see the same, the effort like elsewhere in society, to perpetuate a solid narrative with self-benefiting values and worldview hostile to Germans? There are more examples, like the Sound of Music. Or the film "The Mouse that Roared". Always undermining, characterizing and preaching in a way that accelerates openness to their outlook, and hardly a homage to what you perceive it as.
@@larryhats4320 I lived in Germany in the late 60s. At that time Hogans Heroes was very popular among Germans. The dialogue was overdubbed in German. Sergeant Schultz was the most popular character as I recall.
Hi Feli, I have never thought of German as a harsh language. Having a German last name, Seelhorst, it has been part of my entire life. People are always asking where my family came from. I speak and understand a little German and am trying to learn more. I love the language. We, here in the USA, use it daily and most people don't even know it. Thank you for this video.
8:38 And yes, Till Lindemann, the main vocalist of the well-known German band Rammstein, also employs the mentioned Bühnendeutsch (theater stage German) including rolling his R's.
Yes, that's exactly what I thought, too. Plus since Rammstein is one of the most popular music bands abroad this stresses the impression that German is harsh. Maybe people should listen to Reinhard Mey as well .....
Feli, you are a massive asset to not only Germany but the whole world because of your incredibly informative, sensitive and sympathetic educational videos. Well done!
My high school German teacher used to play Hitler speeches so we could pronounce the language correctly. What a wonderful man he was. During my freshman year in college , my German professor took me aside and told me I had some of the worst pronunciations he had ever heard. Now I know why, lol
Haha, Hitler spoke High German very good, although with Austrian accentuation. The express use of German as language was also better those days. Lots of the present day texts sound more like gibberish by by people that try to sound 'education' and 'clever'. Some of the semantics has changed as well.
Despite growing up in the US and thus having the standard perception of the German language you’re talking, Feli, I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful German people as an adult and soon realized that it is, as you say, a very beautiful language. If I weren’t already committed to mastering Spanish and the dizzying number of different direct articles in German, not to mention the different cases, acquiring German would be my #1 hobby instead. I may take another crack at it in the future.
I thought German was more of a harsh sounding language. Even after a few years of learning the language, I felt like it was almost short, direct, and aggressive. It wasn’t until visiting Germany when I heard people speaking it in everyday life when I realized it was such a beautiful sounding, calm language. It can sound very open and pleasant as with someone who has a very soft English accent. That’s the best way I know to describe it. 😅
Feli, thank you for this information. I’ve been to Germany twice to visit my son and his family and I do not recall hearing the German language being spoken harshly. The German people I had contact with were warm and friendly. My son was in the Army and stationed near IdarOberstein. After getting released from the Army he stayed in Germany and works for a large construction company. He’s been there for over 30 years! Keep up the good work with your informational segments.
Great video. My exposure to German was my grandmother and my father. Their first language was German. My father started teaching me German when I was five. My grandmother stopped him because she wanted me to focus on English. Our family had a hard time learning English. I speak with a slight German accent. I learned a lot from this video. Thanks!!
Born and raised in the US but with German relatives on my father's side, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Germany in the 2010's and absolutely loved everything about my time there. My husband works for a German company, ZF so I was tagging along on a business trip. Hearing your question at the end brought up an experience he had back in the late 1980's because it was so funny and seemed to sum up American's views of Germans as you were pointing out. He was at the International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan as a part of his job. Bosch was giving a presentation on one of their new products where one of their engineers in a very thick German accent declared near the end it, 'And NOW vee vill take CONTROL of the VEHICLE from the DRIVER!' We still laugh about it.
I started learning German when I was 15, and took to it so well that the teacher had me skip the second year. Some years later (1989) I was walking through a bookstore in Britain (of all places), and I heard a woman speaking Hochdeutsch, and I was completely captivated by the sound and rhythm of the language.
I'm russian but i love german language since i've heared it first when i was about 8. It was love from the first sight and the main reason of my interest was it's strange sound. I admire speaking this language and always tryed to copy famous persons with the most difficult or strange ways of speaking, my biggest problem always was and still is this "R' from the throat) Only few month before i got that it's not necessary to pronounce it this way, expecially in the middle of the word. Thank you for the video, Feli!
It' so funny, I am a German who began to learn Russian two months ago. The sound and the pronounciation are very fascinating for me. In the beginning, the cyrillic script has been challenging to me. I appreciate it very mich!
@@dr.woodguard4021 Ich lerne Deutsch jetzt hehehe. Have you found some difficulties in pronunciation? I also started learning 5-6 days ago and the sounds R and H are just ahhhhh? Big adventure for me haha. And I wish Glück
@@chinesecake Hi my friend, the "RRRR" is very easy to pronounce, because I speak spanish and italian too... ("rrrrribera"; "rrrragazzo")... And the differences between "ch", "sch", "tsch" and "schtsch" are good to comprehend and to express. I have some colleagues with polish and russian decent, so I can practice on nearly daily basis... меня зовут Walter. как тебя зовут?
I used to think that German was a phlegmy, aggressive language. But then, I decided to try to learn it to impress someone (spoiler alert: that never works). After studying it as long as I have, now I feel like German has a certain subtle beauty to it, and I look forward to my lessons or watching videos like this. Great job, Feli!
Hallo Feli, wieder ein so genau recherchiertes Video. Ich kannte die Aufnahme mit Mannerheim und du hast sie natürlich auch mit einbezogen. Ich frage mich schon, wie du es schaffst, immer so genaue und umfassende Beiträge zu einem Thema zu erstellen. In dem Pefektionismus bist du dann doch typisch deutsch. ;-) Viel Erfolg weiter.
Es ist interessant was andere über unsere Sprache denken. Das Gute an der Sprache sind die Vielzahl von Möglichkeiten und Wörter die es gibt. Man kann vieles damit gut ausdrücken.
Danke Feli! Es ist zwar bis zu einem gewissen Punkt lustig, aber irgendwann ist es eher nervig, welche Vorstellung viele Menschen mit anderer Muttersprache von der deutschen Sprache haben. 😅
You've hit the nail on the head, Feli. I gave up teaching high school German (in Australia) because it was impossible to get enough students past these stereotypes to keep a class going beyond the compulsory language hours. You said everything I've been telling people for years (except the post-party recording, which is a wonderful bit of research - thanks!). We seem, as a culture, addicted to stereotypes and unfortunately when it comes to German not even Octoberfest can outcompete that particular but of history... I did, however, wish to correct the idea that German is difficult for English speakers (who speak one of the hardest, most irregular languages in the world!). The only languages easier than German for English speakers to learn are pidgin, some creoles, Africaans and Dutch. This is because so much of English is based on Germanic languages (Anglo-Saxon or Anglisch). The transitional grammar of Middle English (eg Chaucer) includes cases and often throws extra verbs to the ends of sentences, two things that new German speakers find difficult. The main difference between German and languages English speakers think are easier (Romance languages) is that the difficult parts of grammar come up early in German, whereas in French, for instance, they come up at intermediate rather than beginner level. As languages, there's an enormous overlap between German and English, which appears to have been forgotten around the same time that said dictator managed to wipe out English speakers' interest in German culture.
@Isabella Lucia, Thanks for sharing your observations. Many of these came up in private conversations with my first German teacher over 45 years ago. On ease or difficulty of learning German: Among other advantages, I emphasized the Saxon (Sachsen?) connection to classmates who were struggling more than I was. Not sure if it helped, since even those who were not influenced by media-driven stereotypes simply gave up for reasons of their own. At my highschool, our German class enrollment went from 54, to 33, to 16, to 5 over a span of 4 years. (Ich war Überlebender). On a lighter note, got a kick out of the comment about English being one of the hardest, most irregular languages. That ain't no shit. 😄 I feel sorry for those trying to learn American English. With such a dizzying array of seemingly conflicting rules, exceptions, silent letters, various foreign influences, plus situationally dependent speech patterns jam-packed with colloquialisms and idioms, it's damn near impossible for them.
Iets put this into perspective germany was being carpet bombed for 4 months solid before they retaliated. Adolf Hitler did everything in his power to avoid war, he met with Winston Churchill on 6 separate occasions to try and strike up a peace agreement with that war criminal Winston Churchill, and he even when to such lengths to drop thousands of peace leaflets over London itself at that time. Adolf Hitler painted the mother and child do evil men take it on their self's to paint works of art like that ? Why don't you call Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt despots for bombing Hamburg and Dresden in which millions of civilians were genocided during that attack on these two non-military installations because they were looking for a high civilian death rate in Germany..l would advice the likes of you to go away and stick your head into a book to try and educated yourself on the facts, and stop listening to J Propaganda. Some one as ignorant as you must of been some rubbish german teacher... ?
@@toms8937 Spelling is the bigger issue here, at least in my opinion. But I don't struggle with things like your/you're like some native speakers seem to do. Words like through, thorough, though, taught, dough, depth and so on are what drives me mad. Like, throw some consonants at the end and dare to guess which one is silent. Surprise, sometimes it's all of them. And which one means what again? Other thing is the fact that "oo" and "ee" are vowels, but "i" a diphthong made of two vowels and that's kind of ridiculous. And it's not consistently flipped either, it's just a mess.
@@Alias_Anybody yes, it is a mess, and it's true that many native speakers don't get the spelling correct, e.g. "they're, their, there". From an early age, a relatively large amount of reading from various English and American authors (mostly history and philosophy) proved to be a tremendous help with both spelling and grammar. It's somewhat like a process of osmosis combined with the taking of mental pictures to determine which one is to be used in a particular situational context.
@@Alias_Anybody you might not find any humo(u)r in this, but just for fun: (Al)though [obwohl] it's tough [hart], it is only through [durch] thorough [durchsätzlich] immersion to a sufficient depth [Tiefe] that this can be taught [beigebracht].
Feli, thank you for making this video. I also think it was very brave of you to make it, because I suspect that Hitler and WW2 aren't easy topics for you to talk about, since there are many people who are quick to associate anyone German with WW2 and Hitler and make all kinds of snap judgements just because of that. Your willingness to talk about these topics, and the intelligent way you present them, says a lot about your character -- all good things, I assure you. My grandparents were born and raised in Germany. They didn't speak German often, but I did hear them speak it, so I've known since I was very young that German only sounds harsh and angry when the speaker wants to make it sound that way. I also met some Germans in college, including one of my science professors. They didn't sound anything like the German stereotypes, comedic or otherwise. In fact, my science professor had a very calming accent. (A little too calming, actually; it tended to lull me to sleep in class! 🤣) And you sound like music to me, whether you're speaking German or English. Your boyfriend is a lucky man - he gets to hear you all the time!
I can only speek for myself and not for Feli but I think the Nazis etc. aren't that hard of a topic for us Germans than many non Germans think. Sure it is far from an easy light hearted topic and regarding RUclips it most likely won't get monetized (not suitable for many advertisers for obvious reasons). But it is not like Germans don't want to talk about it or something. Yes it's rude if your first question after you learned someone is German is about this topic but if it comes up naturally in a conversation I and I guess many other Germans are happy to give you the modern German point of view on the topic.
@@lenab5266, thank you for your perspective. I grew up in the 1960s and '70s, and at that time, Hitler, WW2 and the Holocaust, in particular, were topics that few Germans wanted to acknowledge, much less talk about. Or so it seemed to me, at least. In retrospect, that shouldn't be a surprise, because that was only 20-35 years after it ended, there were still plenty of people alive who had lived through it and the horrors of that time were still felt, even by those who weren't victims themselves. I'm glad things are different now. It's healthier to be able to talk about things, even things that aren't comfortable.
According to a documentary I saw about him, friends of his said that he didn't speak a typical Austrian accent. When his father was alive, and still working with the Austrian government, the father moved the family to the German side of the border (he was born in Braunau...).
This is the first time I’ve come across your channel. I just wanted to say how excellent I think this episode is. I’ve subscribed to your channel as a result of it. The part about stage/theatre German was especially illuminating, and provides much material for further thought. Thank you.
I was born by the end of 1933 in Schlesien and had the "pleasure" to listen to some of the speeches (screaming) of Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Everybody I knew, spoke a normal-sounding German language without the rolling R. I moved to the USA in 1957 at the age of 23½, but I never forgot my mother-language.
My mother and her family spoke German and my brother and I grew up hearing it and never thought it was harsh. And all these years later I still find it to be the language of my childhood and all the love and happy memories I associate with my mom. She's gone now and I treasure the language and the culture it represents. My life in Germany was filled with joy and I absolutely love this country and the people and their language. And BTW English sounds a bit punctuated and oddly stressed to speakers of other languages. But in the end, we need to remember that each language is the language of families and children and daily life. Endlessly beautiful and rich. And as for Hitler, that's not the Germany I grew up in and adore. Thank you Feli, you represent your country so well. Germany is simply amazing!
Hello Feli, thank you for a very interesting video. Back in the early 1970s, I worked for Polydor Records in London (part of Deutsche Gramaphon) and occasionally experienced the German language. In the 1990s I became interested in satellite television and found German music programmes. One such programme was Schlagerclub mit Frank on Super RTL. I started buying CDs from a German supplier and using the TV programmes and the internet found various artists that sang in German and in English. One of my favourite singers is Claudia Jung singing “Komm und tanz ein letztes Mal mit mir.” I’m sorry to admit that I can only say a very few things in German. Best wishes from Oxfordshire 🇬🇧❤️🇩🇪📡🎤🎼💽
Hi Feli. Great presentation! I spent my early years in Oberammergau so I was surrounded by German. I attended an American school, but each week, Frau Zimmermann (one of the village locals) came to our school and gave German lessons. Thus, I never thought German was a harsh language, even today. To me, German is a very precise language. For example the way the "L" sound is pronounced like in Ulm and zwölf. It wasn't until I was in middle school that I started hearing the strident and angry "Hitler-ized" form. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to future videos!
I have always recognized the beauty of the German language. I grew up listening to opera and found sung German to be appealing to the ear. When I was an undergraduate at UCLA majoring in German, one of my professors invited a PHD student to recite poetry to us. She was an actress from Vienna. It was then, after her recitations, that I fell in love with the beauty of the language…and with her. Thanks for this important video, Feli.
I was stationed in Germany for 5 years in the late 80's and early 90's. When I got there I knew two words Ja und Nein. I had some airmen who worked for me that gave me a basic German book by Maria Madrigal and I picked up basic phrases. Then ZDF had American Series like Dallas dubbed in German from the previous TV season and that helped in following conversations. German friends added to my knowledge and by the time the returned to the US I could carry conversations in German. I went back in 2017 for the first time and was surprised how quickly it all came back.
I was born in the late ‘50’s, when there were 6 or 7 TV channels, and practically no opportunity to listen to normal German being spoken. I can attest to the fact that Hitler was probably the first person I heard speaking German (through either video in school or that old Mike Wallace program “Biography” which Channel 11 in New York showed at six thirty in the morning). I thank Feli for bringing this to light because I have discovered German is a beautiful language with many nuances.
Feli, you are absolutely right. The only German I knew growing up was from movies. German always sounded angry and aggressive. Then, at the age of 26 I visited Germany. For the most part I was so focused on trying to communicate that I didn't pay attention to whether the language sounded angry and aggressive. Now that you brought it to my attention I have to agree that in ordinary conversation German does not sound angry and aggressive. I only wish I had learned to speak it better. Feli, as always, your video was delightful, entertaining and informative. Thank you.
Thank you for this video. My mother’s family came over from Germany to the US in the 1890s so there was no stigma attached to the language (they lived in NYC for about 100 years and in the Upper East Side of Manhattan which was called “Little Germany” in the 1930s and 1940s) I had No Idea that a non-staged recording of Hitler was made and survived. That is amazing. My grandson started college his Sept. and his major is German.
I contracted bacterial meningitis in January of 2018 and was hospitalized for nearly two months. My speech became slurred and I couldn't afford restorative therapy, so I began instinctively reading texts in German, starting slowly and building speed gradually. I also taught myself German songs such as Reinhard Mey's antiwar anthem "Nein, meine Söhne geb' ich nicht". It helped a lot!
My grandfather was a first generation German-American in the early 1900s. I've always been proud of that heritage but he didn't teach German to his children because of unbiased fears. I've always wished he had. Great video. Thank you.
Anyway, that long post aside. I actually AM learning German as a second language. I love how guttural it is, how complex it is, the sound of it as a whole, and how different it is from English, while still having resemblances from shared history in the past. I've only been learning for 2 months, but gradually tackling its complexities and understanding it bit by bit, and is rewarding. I love it when I understand flecks of German (Be it spoken or written) in various mediums. It lets me know I'm making true progress. It's going to be a long road, but worth it! I also love the music, been listening to Wir sind Helden and Die Toten Hosen, while finding other German acts I like that sing in German....Also, I find it amusing Rock music is still called Rock, in German, despite Rock also meaning, "skirt". The detail makes me smile a little
I once played Peter Fox's "Alles neu" to some hip hop loving friends in the US. They absolutely loved the way the lyrics sound. I also remember a video with Natalie Portman in some Late Night show. I think it was also Conan. She was almost having a crush on German poetry and how it can sound like when NOT being read the way many non-German speakers think the German language sounds like. And as far as I know Portman does not even speak German or is/was at least not fluent in it back then. But that was a rare moment on American television - next to a lot of people like Sarah Chalke (although I really admire her), being nearly perfect in her German skills, sitting at Conan's too and telling this nonsense just for the fun of it and the cheap laughter of an audience and a host not getting the joke (and not being meant to).
Now that I think of it - it was also Sarah Chalke doing the "I can do a sweet little milk maid" bit on Scrubs (in contrast to her "Evil Old Hausfrau"). So she definitely should and did know better.
While not my first exposure to the German language, the most defining for me was the show Elisabeth das Musical in which I feel the German language sounded so very expressive whether it is words of love and affection, or proclamation of freedom, or even desperation, and of course anger. The consonants are what made it sound so clear and expressive to me 💖
@@simonruf7188 yes!! Emotions and thoughts are described in such profound way like they reached into the very corner of the human mind and, with the German language as the medium, interpreted the human condition
Hey guys, here are two things that I forgot to mention in the video that I'd like to add! :)
Annotation 1: [I was actually going to mention this in the video and wrote it down in my notes too but then I totally forgot when I wrote the script and didn’t notice it until I saw all of your comments just now. This fits in right at around 13:18 .] Bands like Rammstein use this style of speaking, including the overly rolled R, in their music to this day in combination with other stylistic elements that create somewhat of a “Nazi aesthetic”. The band is known to be politically anti-fascist though and seems to use this style mainly to provoke.
Annotation 2: I should have mentioned in this context again that there are many regional dialects in Germany (mainly in the South) as well as in other German-speaking countries where people use the rolled R in their normal, everyday speech. However, they don’t use it in the same overly expressive way as Hitler did, and -- with exception of Swiss German -- these dialects don’t usually stress the Rs at the end of words either.
Great Video! Danke Feli, so ein Video war wirklich überfällig. Ich persönlich finde es auch nicht so witzig, wenn Comedians oder Schauspieler in Talkshows so sprechen. Du trägst einen guten Teil zur Völkerverständigung bei. Wunderbar und vielen Dank!
I would recommend adding this in a smaller part 2. A rammstein thumbnail would probably garantee clicks ;)
So far with using the Kleo app and talking to Germans in real life, the “r” is almost always sounding like an English w noise except when its rolled like in bröt for example.
I was going to leave a separate comment but recently deleted it when I read this.
I always thought the Deutsch language had sounded a bit aggressive but I just acknowledged as a unique characteristic to emphasize seriousness.
But in song, it can be quite beautiful. As you said about Rammstein, there are songs of theirs like "Onhe Dich" and "Rotor Sand" that hardly have this aggressive tone.
When I thought of the German language as a teenager in the late 90s, I always thought not of an aggressive dictator, but of aggressive music. Ask anyone who was younger around the late 90s to early 2000s and liked rock to say something in German and they'll probably say this:
*Du*
*Du hast*
*Du hast mich!*
The band Rammstein was actually pretty big in the US among fans of metal and rock (and industrial) They added to the idea that German is an aggressive, masculine language.
To be fair, if you hear Mussolini speeches you’d think Italian is an aggressive language as well.
Maybe
Andrea Bocelli doesn't make it sound that way..
There is a recording of Mussolini in his normal voice tone saying how Roosevelt would make America great (sounds familiar?). Doesn't sound harsh or aggressive there. He was speaking in English admittedly. The recording is somewhere on RUclips but I can't find the link straightaway.
Why does Italian have fifty words for retreat?
@@philipm06because yes
You have a rare talent for presenting culture in its historical context and within the larger world perspective. Growing up in America, the only German I heard was my grandfather and his siblings trading the fragments they remembered from their parents, (a jumble of Black Forest (High Alemannic?) and Swabian). It was a light language with a musical quality to my ear. I now understand how so many people have the impression of German being aggressive and dour. Thanks for being such a wonderful ambassador of German culture and language.
*its
@@frontenac5083 Using autocompletion with different languages tends to raise the number of typos, especially for older people on mobile devices
She has a very common talent for revisionist apologetic nonsense. If she were alive then she would have been an aspiring Eva Braun.
Are you proud of being german?
@@joem3999That's very unkind.
The German branches of my family kept their language for three generations after arriving in Wisconsin in the 1870s. As a child, it was a natural thing for us to hear German words interspersed with English. They also worshipped in German until the 1950s, and I have my grandmother's Bible and hymnals -- all in German, but printed in the US. So we learned not only to be proud of our ancestry, but to know it had no connection to the Nazi regime. Many thanks for debunking the myth!
Well said! Thank you from Germany
I'm Dutch, but when it comes to nazi's keep in mind that a lot of Germans weren't nazi's by choice but very afraid. I'm living next to the German border and there were 15 concentration camps (Emslandlager) were people kept prison if they were against them.
I'm Japanese but... 1930s Germany is the most interesting period for me. I collect Nazi memorabilia. I didn't get a chance to try Hitler Fried Chicken in Thailand.
@@xXTheoLinuxXx The Americans had camps for a a certain subset of their population who they also happened to be at war with. The British did the same in the Boer war. It is sometimes necessary in wartime to intern possible subversives/enemy populations. The only difference in Germany was that towards the end of the war when the whole of Germany was starving and disease ridden these conditions also manifested in the camps. People generally died from starvation and typhus, not from being forced to inhale a delousing agent. Hmm..a delousing agent in camps where typhus spread by ticks was endemic.
My Mother Family Line Comes From Northern Germany,A Really Long Time Ago,,,,,
We hired a German college girl in our office. She was very sweet and very quiet. She certainly didn't have the stereotypical roughness in her language or manner.
Hitler was in most part an actor. Not at all representing the people of Germany.
I've always loved German. In fact, growing up in Houston, while most everyone else was taking Spanish and French, I took German in junior high, high school, and college. (Alas, I've forgotten most, not having used it in many years.) I love the culture, the countryside, the food, the classical music, and the language.
Pretty much my situation in San Antonio, though I lived in (West) Germany for 3yrs as a kid. I was a German language nerd, did German Club, Pasz Auf team, Sprachfest, TAGS, etc.
@@pablodelsegundo9502 German Club for me too. Highlight every year was a club field trip the New Braunfels for Wurstfest.
Yeah, that is the death of nearly all things learnt. Not using it.
I've taught myself a programming language twice, because I hsvent used it in between. And now, I would need to learn it a third time.
I grew up in El Paso myself and my mother (whose native spoken language is Mandarin Chinese) actually encouraged me to learn Spanish instead from my step-dad (who is from Peru). Upsides include living a city where 70% of the 700k population (and 99% of the 1.2M population across the border) are native Mexican Hispanic and can speak Spanish and also seeing most public signs in both English and Spanish.
@@pablodelsegundo9502 you missed out on Texas German? Fredericksburg is near San Antonio.
I opted to take German as a ninth-grader in my school system in Indiana (around 1980). That was the first year German was offered, alongside French and Spanish which had been in the curriculum for years. On the first day, our teacher (Herr Kinnard) had us memorize a little song that I remember to this day, and it first opened my eyes and ears to how melodic the language can be. Hopefully I'm spelling the words correctly: "O, wie woll, ist mir am abend, mir am abend, wenn zuruh, die Glocken leuten, Glocken leuten, bing, bong, bing, bong." Translated roughly as, "In the evening, I feel at ease when I hear the bells ring." Danke, Herr Kinnard.
It's oh wie wohl, not woll. But the rest is (small and big letters put aside) correct
@@mannmanuel7762 Die Glocken lEuten means The Bells People. It MUST be: Die Glocken lÄuten - the Bells ringing.
@@M11TS Pedant ... 😜
wonder how to hear this sung in German
@@M11TS didn't see that one
As a German who studied Linguistics and Communication Science this video makes me so happy! Love how you make such detailed aspects of spoken language, speaking trends and their effects known and connect them to today's perception of the German language! 💪
+1
You have developed very communicatively, but your Polish is very poor.
Could'nt agree more!
German sounds so barbaric, and you people will never be able to fix all the damage you made during both world wars, world will never forget
@@76arga what Polish? Don't get it.
Hey Fili. When I was first posted to Schwabstadl Kasserne in 1981. They had a Headstart program to teach us enough German to get by. They taught us how to use the public transportation schedule, order a meal, etc.
My post had about 350 Americans. And the rest was Luftwaffe support personell, for the 32nd Jagbomber Geschwader on Lechfeld Kasserne.
They had a Mannschaftshiem on post, where we could get bier and a good Schnitzel dinner.
So I started learning Bayrisch and Swabisch from the Luftwaffe troops that shared our post.
One thing I've learned. Any people appreciate when you show an interest in learning about their language and culture. It's a great way to break the ice with anybody.
Though it can be embarrassing when you mispronounce a word or phrase. And end up saying something completely different.
My Luftwaffe friends wanted to know about me, and my life in America. I drew a picture of a pickup truck on a napkin. And said, "Was ist Das I'm Deutsche?" Das is einen Last Kraft Wagen. Oder LKW.
I said Lust Kraft Wagen. It was quite embarrassing. Still they appreciated the fact that I was trying to learn their language.
I was exposed to the Bayrisch culture along with learning the language. Much Gemudlikiet came with that. So to me, I always thought the Bayrisch and Swabisch dialects of the German language was really quite beautiful. Because there is much beauty in the culture and people of Germany.
Your video's timing is perfect!
Just the day before yesterday, I was at an event for international students (I am currently studying in Canada). On the way back home I spoke to another German student in German.
A guy overheard us and asked what language that was because he said it sounded so nice. I told him it was German and he first wouldn't believe me as he was convinced German sounds angry and harsh.
It turned out he had seen some of these videos and assumed the words/sentences were pronounced normally just like they were in other languages. He didn't realize that this was not how German actually sounds like.
I told him that every language sounds harsh when you pronounce it in an angry manner. Then, I pronounced some of the commonly ill-portrayed words such as Schmetterling, Krankenhaus, etc. in both an angry and my normal voice. He recognized the words when I spoke angrily and laughed.
It made me a little sad that the idea of German being a harsh language is still very much present in people's minds and that this is something that some people wouldn't question.
Later on, we had a long conversation about the German language and he showed genuine interest. Still, it was a little frustrating to learn that these videos (whether it be people pronouncing words in different languages or German sentences in talk shows) that are very common on social media make people dislike the German language without / before actually knowing how it really sounds like.
While I somewhat get the comedic aspect of these videos, I also find it incredibly sad that they keep reinforcing stereotypes that are far from reflecting the reality.
Well for me as someone from England you can imagine what we were taught and shown in history class. That’s about all we learn about Germany unfortunately. I’ve been surrounded by the idea of this mysterious place called Germany all my life and I’ve finally over the past year and a half learned quite a lot about Germany and the language, because I was so curious that I wasn’t told everything there was to know. Low and behold I’m friends with a few Germans now and I adore the language and hearing them speak it. I do find videos ragging on the language funny too but I do feel for you guys when everyone assumes it just sounds evil. I think more exposure to modern German language and people would help peoples understanding. I’m glad many schools here teach French and German.
And then there are lovely local dialects like Kölsch! Lyrically flowing like a melody!
@@hansmolders1066 BAP!
Yes, Aline. There is also, methinks, a tradition of poking fun at Germans and the German language. People in general like mocking any foreign accents; it's only human. Except that some jokes about some other nations or races would be politically incorrect, while the Germans seem to be "free game" bc of what happened 80 years ago. I heard people on CBC (I'm also in Canada) trying to mimick the German pronunciation in a grotesque way, bc they thought it funny - but they wouldn't dare do the same to the Chinese or Creol accent.
Don't worry, lots of people have the same opinion of the Dutch language.
I'm an American that studied German for 11 years- from 7th grade through college. Many times I have heard non-German speakers say "German sounds so angry." My reply- When did you ever hear German being spoken other than Hitler giving a speech or a German officer barking out orders to his troops in a movie? One person replied back- "I've never really thought about it that way." I said German can be very smooth and soft especially if a pretty girl is talking in a calm voice. I am vindicated!
You are right but ..... that's something the rest of the world has only heard of: Hitler yelling in his German speeches . Sorry but that's how it is. It's like knowing that the stereotype of Mexicans was dark-skinned fellows wearing Sombreros and taking a nap out in the open on a sunny afternoon (by the way am South American but that's how international people, especially Americans, sees Latin Americans). I have to say as well that, being us all mixed-blood people, with strong healthy native American ancestors, those theories of inferior races absolutely scandalized our societies during WW2 and to know their Final Solution was to kill all non-white populations..... Guess why here usually average people born 1930/1970 feared Germans.
The world is not allowed to hear Hitler's speeches.. You will only find a few clips on RUclips. Because what he said makes perfect sense, but doesn't suit those still in power today. The Hitler ranting and raving image is a carefully crafted image created by 80 years of uncontested anglo-saxon propaganda/media to ridicule and stigmatise.
True. Sounds angry is really racist.
Well, have you seen the angry german kid video ? 😂
@@amiquigonzales7917 Danke!
ich bin kein Denker und kein Dichter , sometimes i think english is schlichter !
doch würde ich es niemals wagen , zu sagen , das meine deutsche Sprache einfach ist!
so ist es nicht!
doch jeder Fremde , der sie sprechen kann , ....es lernen will von Anfang an!
der sei Willkommen jederzeit !
Doch machst Du Stress und bist ein Räuber , dann beruf ich mich auf Stoiber!
I’ve been learning German for almost two years, and even when I started studying it I thought it sounded a tad aggressive but then I went to Germany. And people there sounded so soothing, adorable and friendly. Like even in general I thought Germans were simply some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, like everyone was so welcoming, helpful, nice. I truly wasn’t expecting that, like I didn’t have the best experiences in Europe cause I went to Spain and people there sounded too loud and weren’t friendly and then to france which without trying to offend Spanish and French people, both were really unfriendly and legit made you feel uncomfortable when you didn’t know their language (I know Spanish but not French, so yeah). Germans were really helpful when you couldn’t express yourself in German, I always tried my best but it was hard. But I swear, I felt so great in Germany, I wanna move permanently there and I know it’s gonna be great, they are so different from the people in my country and I loved that
"I wanna move permanently there" Good decision. We will welcome you.
🙏❤😊
One thing about France mate is know bonjour madame merci! At least your being polite
I had a lovely time in France I speak a little French.
As far as Germany goes eat ist ausgeziegnet!
@@julianwaugh8221 "ausgezeichnet" ;-)
They are 95% pleasant, just like everywhere else. If you're struggling with the language, find a teenager... They are pretty doggone bilingual.
I'm surprised by how much research you put into this, and by how much I actually learned. Awesome work.
What you call research is historical fairy tales. Watch "Europe The Last Battle" for a glimpse of genuine history.
Imagine your country's reputation being ruined by a guy who wasn't even from it
@Liberals Are gross Ruined!
Hitler was ethnic German. Austria is a sister German country of Deustchland
As if the English, French, and Soviet Communist thugs were any better.
In which world he ruined it?
@Snyder The Star Wars Fan shame on you to take willhelm as pfp?Not even a real german😹
Thanks for the useful history lesson! Good research, clear explanation.
Hi Feli 🥰 I've learned English and German as foreign languages during my university time. Being an interpreter I mostly use English, but I do love German and enjoy speaking it. And when someone says in a conversation that German is harsh and unpleasant, I start reading a poetry by Heinrich Heine for them. With my subtle voice and Heine's incredible poetry it changes the opinion instantly! 😉❤️
Vielen Dank für das Vorlesen von Heine.
Dies bringt die gute Seite der deutschen Kultur unter die Menschen!
I do the same, except I use Stefan George's poetry. Feli, any chance you can read us some poems some time?
my grandparents were German (Mainz) and they not only NEVER sounded like Hitler but referred to him as "Der Idiot"
Feli I lived in Germany, mostly in Trier, 13 years. My ex wife is German, from Trier, and my two daughters and granddaughter live there. When my oldest came over to live for a while, she was in High School. She was very worried that Americans would treat her differently because she's German. She was worried that she would be called a Nazi because...German. I assured her that no that isn't the case. And it wasn't. She loved living here. Wichita, KS at the time. We live by the Space Center on the east coast of FL. HItlers performance art when he spoke publicly versus his private voice is dramtically different. But that's what he did, perform for the masses in his speeches. I love the language. I'm so happy I'm fluent.
@Max89PL exactly
Trier is a beautiful town!
@Antti Saarilampi yes yes it is! Oldest city in Germany, settled by the Romans over 2000 years ago! Lots of ruins there. Truly beautiful city
To Europeans, a fluent speaker is indistinguishable to native speakers. Even if you try, you can't ever get rid of your accent. I try this with Japanese.
@@max89pl64 what was that mustache all about tho. 😂
As a child we moved to Upstate New York in 1967. My oldest brother was the one I really looked up to and he influenced me more than the two brothers between us. In our school system they offered German as a language and my oldest brother took it, he was in the 10th grade, I was in the third. For summer one year he did an student exchange to Germany. When I got into Junior High I took German, like my oldest brother had done. My oldest Brother had lived in New York for two years then moved back to the South for college and stayed there. I wound up taking German for three years, till I moved back to the South. I always enjoyed learning German.
A few months ago I called my brother and for some reason I had selected his home phone instead his cell. Whenever he gets a call on his home phone and does not recognize the number, he answers the phone in German. Even though I had not spoken German for over 40 years, his greeting, triggered my memory and I responded with the proper response we had been taught in school. My proper response caused him to stuttered out a question, which I answered, this really got him and in English he asked "Who is this". We both had a great laugh. I would end this by writing out in German, Goodnight, I hope you a wonderful day tomorrow, but I know every word would be miss-spelled, and I want to be honest and not go online and get the proper phrase.
"Gute Nacht, ich hoffe du hast morgen einen wundevollen/wunderschönen Tag (morgen could also stand here)."
Answering the home phone in a foreign language is a great way to stop junk calls. I lived in Japan for three years and learned some of the language. I started answering the phone in Japanese. My junk calls dropped by two thirds. When in Japan I would ask questions in German, and they would ask if I speak English. Simplified things.
Feli, I think you’re an incredible ambassador between the two cultures. It’s been over 35 years since I had German in school & yours is one of my main “go to” sights for information & to try to stay somewhat familiar with the language. Thank you! I hope to visit Germany one day & see how well I can make it through daily activities.
I too studied in high and college, but never did anything with it. Now some 40 years later, I am learning new vocabulary, and discovering lots of Englisch Fremdwoerter in German.
Many of the cultural differences you explained in othervideos, I had been aware of, but not all. This one: can I have been naive to have heard of, or noticed this stereotype?
I have been trying to learn German for years. It is an extremely difficult language to learn and living in Australia doesn't make it any easier. I work with a German lady and she said my German is not so bad but she is an extremely nice lady and probably thinks she'll hurt my feelings. Anyway i love your videos. Please keep going. ❤
If you think than German is difficult than try any of Slavic languages (Polish, Czech, Croatian, Ukrainian, for example) or Chinese, Korean, Japanese.
There was assessment done which languages are difficult for English speakers. Languages were divided in 5 categories from easiest to more difficult to learn. Here are some examples:
(1, easiest) -- Languages closely related to English: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish.
(2) -- Languages similar to English: German
(3) -- Languages with linguistic and/or cultural differences from English: Indonesian, Malaysian, Swahili
(4) -- Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English: Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Taqaloq, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu.
(5) -- Languages which are exceptionally difficult for native English speakers:
Arabic, Cantonese (Chinese), Madarin (Chinese), Japanese, Korean.
@@robertab929 Interesting. Though my japanese is just kind of advanced beginner, I found it to be quite an easy language to learn compared to what I know of german, spanish, french, finnish and whatever. The grammar and pronunciation seem very clean and simple to me. Seems like the simplicity of english grammar but also with consistent easy pronunciation too.
Perhaps the big challenge that many refer to is learning the thousands of kanji characters one must know in order to read and write fluently. For context, english is my native language, though I grew up learning some finnish because of family (definitely a complex language imo) and am sort of fluent now, and have been slowly learning german for the last year or two.
@@Aku-mia13:22 🎉❤
@@robertab929 I totally agree that English and German are closely related. I am a German native speaker, I speak English and a little french and Spanish.
And I doubt, that eg french is closer to English than German. There are so many words, that are at least similar in German and English. French is totally different. And even the concept of Du and Sie (being polite) used to be just alike in English maybe 150 years ago. Eg "Du singst" (you sing) was then something like "thou singst"...
@@frankmunster1566 There is this order English-Frisian-Dutch-German with languages in the middle being understand better than at extreme positions. So you as German/English speaker may also understand a lot of Frisian and Dutch.
French is different than other Romance languages. This is caused by Frankish (Germanic) influences in 6.-10. c. Spelling and pronunciation of born Old French was different than earlier Vulgar Latin from 5. c.
English has Germanic roots (Lower German/Saxon root with some Old Norse influence). Plus many Romance words because of Norman invasion in 11.-13. c.
English has ~26% words of Germanic origin and 58% of Romance origin (29% French and 29% from other Romance language like Latin, Italian). Problems in English with lack of correlation between writing and pronunciation are caused by Norman French influence.
Bingo! This is the influence that media has on society. Media influences the way we think, so when media spread lies like it has when it comes to the German language, then people take it as fact. Growing up in NY, I've taken trips to rural Pennsylvania for antique shops (besides for Hershey) so the first time I've heard someone speaking a variety of German as their language was through the Pennsylvania Dutch, and they sound quite the opposite of being angry! I've always thought it was fascinating that Pennsylvania managed to keep this old variety of the language intact.
Stereotypes lead to so much unnecessary hate, and it's scary to see its consequences. People really need to give cultures and languages a chance. That's how we grow as people. By learning another culture, we start to expand our horizons and change our perspectives.
Dang, long-time-no-see, Avery! I used to see you everywhere, just like Some Guy Without A Mustache, but not so much recently
Very well said!
Yes exactly...🥺🥺🥺
What stereotypes do you mean
Just wait to see what they try to do with the Russian language in western controlled media, it'll be no different. Just watch, it's all going to shift to Iran, Russia and China and how they sound or look now. But for that they'll need new narratives. Nobody is gonna die, like they did in the Middle East, because "but Hitler" and 1940s whatever. Which should be interesting, since Hollywood and the globalists have been running on that mode for nearly 100 years now.
Whole new world. I bet they can't believe they got so far, and it all came crashing down, coincidentally, with the Jeffrey Epstein end, Benghazi and the failure of Soros projects and the end of Mafia state Ukraine. And now RUclips Ceo Susan W is also stepping down. Totally destroyed this platform. Bye bye
Ich bin Brasilianer und habe Deutsch selbst gelernt, am meisten durch Duolingo und RUclips-Videos. Ich arbeite als Uber-Fahrer und benutze eine deutsche Stimme auf meinem Waze, und viele Leute haben mich gefragt ob es Französisch wäre. Sie werden fast immer überrascht wenn ich sage, dass es Deutsch ist.
Oh ich kann das lesen!!! Mein Deutsch wird besser!!!
Entschuldigen sie die Frage aber was ist eine Waze? Trotzdem Kompliment zu ihrem deutsch. Dieses ist sehr gut, wie ich zugeben muss.
@@Yingele Waze ist der GPS-App. Und danke fürs Kompliment 😊
Hallo, Mann. Ich bin auch Brasilianer. Woher kommen Sie? Lb aus Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
ich esse Kartoffel
A fascinating video, thanks a lot for your effort Feli!!! As a professional German teacher in Poland, I often face those prejudices or attitude towards the German language you mentioned at the beginning, and not only from Polish native speakers. Your contribution helped me a lot to understand this attitude (which has many other, mostly historical reasons) and I'll use this video in my lessons. Thanks a lot for this very well written and resesarched video, great stuff! Greetings from Cracow
I used to know someone who never heard any Hitler’s speeches or Nazi-propaganda but acquainted with German in early 1990’es by watching porn. In late 1990, when we worked together, every time I spoke German with someone, the guy shouted “das ist fantastisch “. To that guy, German must have felt like a language of lust.
I’m an American girl who spent middle school stationed abroad in rural England. I was in the top (academically-performing/gifted) homeroom class for my year group, so the school made my class take German, French, and Latin as our foreign languages. The kids took French in sixth grade and then Latin and German as well in seventh. I joined the school in seventh grade, so I liked that everyone was on the same page as me with German and Latin (it took me a bit to catch up to my peers in French, as my sixth grade school didn’t offer French). Also, honestly, my German teacher was a significantly better teacher than my Latin teacher, so I quickly grew to love German and prefer it over Latin and thought it was such a neat language (my teacher also constantly emphasized the similarities to English, which helped me catch on to it). One set of my great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Düsseldorf, so I also liked the connection to my ancestry. In all, I spent 8 school years studying German, going all the way through college (by this point, back in America). I love the language and how it sounds (for me, the words seem easier to differentiate orally than say French or Spanish or Latin, which I appreciate). I even influenced my little sister to start studying German when we were next living in the US (she was in primary school when we were in England, so no languages for her)- she even ended up double-majoring in university in German (and political science). We both quite enjoy the language and how it sounds.
Bravo. I'm also a native German speaker in the US, and the caricaturization of German has bugged me for a long time. Your response is brilliant and so well done. Had no idea about Bühnendeutsch...! Wieder mal was gelernt. Vielen Dank!!
Yes, sorry, me too.🥺🥺🥺
I hate the German Schuldkultur!
Actually most languages have/had distinctive styles of speaking for public speeches, theater and movies. It's definitely a thing in english, too. You can hear it in most old recordings.
Nowadays with better microphones it became less important, but actors in theaters still use it because they don't use microphones all the time. On the one hand movie actors tend to speak more normal than ever, on the other hand it's quite hard to understand some actors at all.
And surely it is not only hitler's Buehnendeutsch, but his horrible, evil actions that shaped the opinion about german language too.
Bühnenaussprache was created, as the name implies, for use on the stage.
It would be ridiculous if a play were staged where in the one family the father spoke with a Berlin accent, the mother with a Munich accent, the daughter with a Frankfurt and the son with a Karlsruhe accent.
So a "standard" pronunciation was produced. Like all standardisations, it had an element of artificiality to it - just as standard written German is to a certain extent an artificial creation.
In the US tv series "Murder, she wrote", one episode was set on a Caribbean island, but no doubt filmed in a studio in Los Angeles.
Most of the "Caribbean" characters were members of one family. The roles were played by UK actors.
Each of the actors spoke in their normal English-speaking voice. It was immediately obvious to British people that each actor came from a different region of the UK.
The American audience wouldn't have noticed this, but for British people watching it was simply ridiculous that each member of the family had a different accent.
I’m eighth-generation PA Dutch, and I found this immensely interesting. For one thing, my four grandparents trilled their “r’s” -particularly my Swiss Mennonite grandfather. Their German dialect was their first language, and they learned English when they went to first grade (they were sixth generation Americans!) By the middle of the 20th century and after two world wars, the younger generation tried to shed their accent, as it was seen to signify being unlearned, i.e. “the dumb Dutchman.” It is interesting to note that my grandparents and parents did not identify with Germany by this point, they considered themselves to be fully American.
Some people in Germany still trill or roll their r. My grandfather born 1913 from Hamburg did...as did many Hambrgers of that time. Now no one in Hamburg does.
@@erichamilton3373 Because older people spoke plattdeutsch nativly which younger generations dont do.
Somehow germany lost a native language and nobody cares.
@@Slithermotion Hochdeutsch is a steamroller.
As a Brazilian from south (Rio grande do Sul), my parents used to speak some german, but i do not speak (Still, cuz i'm learning). Here in the South of Brazil the german spoke is not similar to "Hochdeutsch" but sound like a mixture of german + Portuguese, like "brot" we say "Broto" (that means Knospe[?] in german) and "kuchen" we say "Cuca" (is the same cake). My late grandma that past away some months ago used to say a lot "katze" here and "katze" there, and i notice that she say that to our cats when she call them, so when i start to learn german i realize a LOT of things my grandma and my grandpa said.
Despite several years of studying German I always had difficulty understanding what Hitler was saying in those old newsreels. I chalked it up to the fact that he was Austrian and was basically shouting all the time. Thanks to this video, I now know he was using Buhnenaussprache, which I never knew of. Thanks for this.
Als Deutscher möchte ich dir sagen, es ist kein Verlust die Hitlerreden nicht zu verstehen.
Watch Europa The Last Battle
I looked Buhnenaussprachup and apparently it is considered to be "pure High German". So that's what Hitler spoke! It seems that pure High German sounds horrific too 🤢
@@gdok6088 Hallo. "Reines" Hochdeutsch spricht in Deutschland im Alltag wohl niemand. Bei Hitler war es nicht nur die Aussprache, er hatte auch einen sehr besonderen Sprach Rhythmus.
@@jessyanmeldung Hallo. Vielen Dank für diese hilfreiche Erklärung und Klarstellung.
As a German speaker and a linguist, I braced myself for the usual stereotypes but was most pleasantly surprised. Very well done! Anyone familiar with German literature, poetry, and song will know that language can be as beautiful as any. I also speak Japanese, which, again in part because of the war, is often judged to be somehow harsh and aggressive....Feli is clearly well trained in linguistics. Congratulations!
Wir sollten uns nicht um die Meinung von Ausländern kümmern.
Ich spreche auch Deutsch, und habe in Japan gelebt. Also, ich finde die beiden Sprache sehr schön. Die Sprache der Japanischen (Japanisch?) ist überhaupt nicht so “hart” wie man oft denkt, und die “Buchstaben/Logographen” sind sehr kompliziert, und dabei etwas “fremd” scheinen. (Mein Deutsch ist sehr rostig geworden. Schon seit 25 Jahren habe ich fast kein deutsch gesprochen, und die Wörter kommen mir nicht so schnell!)
@@jcawly1 I've been teaching myself German on and off for about 4 years now, and my little language win today was reading and being able to understand your comment. Vielen Dank für die Gelegenheit!
@@chazchoo99 gut dass du verstanden hast. Ich bin beeindruckt dass du selber deutsch lernst. Wie machst du denn? Mit einem App, oder?
@@jcawly1 Ich habe mit der App Duolingo anfangen, und Ich suchte online nach Grammatikfragen. Ich habe mir deutsche Shows und Filme angesehen (shout out to Dark!). Ich habe deutsche Musik gehört. Ich habe ein paar Videospiele auf Deutsch gespielt. Ich habe jedoch nicht viel Übung im Sprechen oder Schreiben. Ich möchte Deutschland eines Tages besuchen.
German is a rich, fascinating language. One I would love to learn at some point. I've never thought of it as harsh just a few sounds are harsher sounding. But that is the case with most Germanic languages, English included.
Man, there are more than enough great resources for free you can use to learn German. Deutsche Welle, Easy German on RUclips, and the RUclipsr Radical Living made some kinda video course for this as well. I guess I'll learn some German after I master Norwegian.
das isz deine einzige atwort !?
If you think German has a few harsh sounds, you should listen to Swiss German, Dutch or Afrikaans.
When studying Germany in WWII in high school, my history teacher played one of Hitler's speeches. Setting the content of the speech aside and only focusing on the oration techniques he used, I can tell you its not surprising that he created such a strong cult of personality. His pattern was often to start a speech rather meekly and softly then slowly build power behind his words until it crescendos near the end. Its a pattern that works well with humans in general and is often used in music for a similar, attention grabbing effect. I could see how some person in the crowd had somewhat relatable opinions of the state of Germany at the time could be suckered in by his oration.
I am by no means singing any praises to the content of Hitler's speeches, just merely explaining a reason as to why they were so effective.
I'm Italian and since last year i always thought that german didn't sound good at all, but then around january last year, after hearing a german song (ich war noch niemals in new york) i fell in love with this language, I decided to learn it and now it has become my favorite language, I just love the way it sounds, in particular i love the sound "ch" in words like "fertig, zwanzig, vielleicht" and so on, the sound "ch" in words like "doch, Bach, noch" and the "r" sound. I find german words to be simply amazing, and very deep and rich of meaning (like Zweisamkeit, Ehrfurcht, Heimweh" and many many more). I hope that in the future my job will have something to do with german cuz its weird to say but this language just makes me feel good and happy
That's a really pleasant compliment to our language! Coming from an Italian even adds to its significance. Don't you ever forget Udo Jürgens to whom you owe your love to your favourite language!
@@friedrichstock6377 ja natürlich, ich habe tatsächlich ungefähr 250 songs von ihm, vielleicht sogar noch mehr, in meiner Playlist auf Spotify und ich höre jeden Tag seine Musik, er ist, zusammen mit dem Pianisten Ludovico Einaudi, mein Lieblingskünstler, und es ist wegen ihm dass ich angefangen habe, Deutsch zu lernen
ah, i started to learn german as well because i found the sounds like "ch" and "r" very beautiful. the pronunciation of the language is very elegant and just satisfying for my ears to hear...
Kompliment, eine der besten Recherchen zum Thema. My compliments, one of the best researches on the topic on RUclips.
Thanks for the lesson. I became a fan of German after hearing The Beatles “Sie Leibt Dich” & “Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand”. The two songs sound awesome to me. I can’t speak a word of German in conversation, but I can sing along with these songs. For someone who speaks English as a second language, you sound more “natural” than some who speak English as a first language. Amazing! I liked this video and subscribed. Thanks again.
I’m a native Swedish speaker and I’ve been learning German but the words “auf” and “auch” mess me up a lot in verbal speaking because of how it sounds and quite similar sounding when I’m not very used to the sound of the language yet.
Love from Sweden
There was a time when I was deeply interested in WW2 because of videogames I was playing, then learning about it at school and watching documentaries at home made me more interested in the topic, it made me tune into the German language a bit more. I obviously new about the harsh sounding speeches, but I actually didn't think of the German language that way. I remember seeing movies and documentaries where the language was spoken regularly and for some reason I loved the sound of German, I don't even know why, I just like it. I speak Spanish and I've heard many languages, but for some reason, German really stands out to me. It's a precise sounding language and I just love how the vowels and consonants sound. I don't know, it's a very impressive language.
I feel the same way. German is a fun language to speak. The way I describe it is that it’s a good tasting language.
@@vampiricagorist6979 That is indeed a good way to describe it! Yeah, it taste good!
I think German sounds beautiful, although few people seem to agree with me.
@@dreamerjazz352dude we are the same omg bro 😎 😧😂😅this happen to me too this was the same thing that happened to you
Concuerdo contigo aunque muchas personas no estén de acuerdo, para mi suena muy fino y no todo el tiempo están gritando
I was speaking German with my family as we were standing in line at a cash register in a US supermarket. The clerk then asked us what language we were speaking. She was very surprised when we explained that we were speaking German. She said it sounded so "nice" and "smooth". I thought that was funny. : )
Your videos are awesome, Feli! I love how much research you put into everything! Super interesting!
Weiterhin alles Gute in den USA!
I think the 'aggressive ' quality of Germany is also often enhanced in movies, due to the bad pronunciation. Like, not to be mean, but German in movies is often pretty terrible and even I, as a native speaker, have trouble understanding it sometimes. Idk if it's the same with other languages, but I often get the impression that there's just a lot less effort put into accurate German than, say French
I don't know much about other languages, bit It's definitely the same with russian. Not only the characters are mostly villains but also their accent is horrible. Like why can't they hire native speakers, it's usually just a few phrases that need to be said, it can't be a very hard job
@@nastyasunny6977 oh yeah, I feel your pain of always being portrayed as villainous characters, it's so annoying, like, unless it's a movie that involves WWII, which , no argument against doing it then, but so often modern media will stick to this, so yeah, I feel you
It's the same with Spanish, they don't even worry to make it sound natural in American entertainment. Just by watching breaking bad, which is a great show, you can see that Spanish sounds very robotic and unnatural
@@luisleal7301 it's really unfortunate that these languages aren't being accurately represented, you can do so much with that kind stuff, especially if you take into account how little nuances in the language can elevate the text
I imagine a lot of French people would feel the same way about their language being spoken by non-native actors and actresses in movies.
I’m half English half Scottish and half polish, my grandchildren who are German fill me with all the love in the world when I hear them speak . ❤️
Half English, Half Scottish and Half Polish?
Three halves makes one and a half!
Are you one-and-a-half persons?
I took German in college, and I was very lucky to have a teacher from Köln who spoke so beautifully, that I have thought it as a beautiful language since then.
Really wish I would’ve kept up with it!
Hi! The Cologne dialect belongs to the rhineland area - and the dialect of the people from the rhineland is known to be extremly soft and 'singing', because they use to give every sentence a melodic appeal! The origins of this lie in the historic fact, that the residents of tge rhinish area always had many trade contacts to thecpeople from other countries, especially those, where dutch and french language were spoken, which are more soft and emotionally painted....
Greetz,
Lincoln
@@lincolnsixecho51 Yeah, melodic. As Karl Lauterbach proves... 😂
@@Knilch58 Sorry, i forgot, that ONLY YOUR personal opinion or sympathy decides, whether the sound of a language is melodic or not....
That was meant ironical, and there is no need to be that agressive.
Do you know Karl Lauterbach? He is the exact opposite of the in deed very melodic and singing rhineland dialect, so I made this joke, not guessing someone could be p!ssed *ff.
ruclips.net/video/gvseJXrsuS0/видео.html
Btw, I am a native rhinelander. How about you?
@@Knilch58
😅😂😂😂!
I grew up in Canada with English as my mother tongue. I don’t know why, but by my mid-twenties, I fully recognized that German was much sweeter sounding than most people realized. Now, decades later, I am finally making a serious effort to learn this wonderful language. And I thought French was hard! 😅
As a Mexican, killing millions of people is bad, but I have to admit that our ancestors were heroes and sacrificed their culture and religion, converting to Catholicism to acquire the white race (for marrying with Spanish people), thanks to this half of the country is white and curiously all good artists are white in Mexico
Have heard similar things said about Russian !
@@692ALBANNACH russian is the bane of my existance!!! I tried so hard to get a hold on it and i just can not figure out how it is spoken. Welsh, france, italien, japanese, swahili, hawaian, I might not nail it, but I get a decent aproximation I can work with togeather . . . but russian? No matter how hard I try to focus I can not hear the melody to follow
I took French in college and loved it. I tried to learn German, and compared to French, it is very hard. I picked up French a lot faster.
@@txmetalhead82xk I picked up one fance better then on English.... as long as I got e decent teacher in both ... Despite German and English are closer
Ich bin ein Amerikaner und ich liebe deutsch!
I'm likely one of the few Americans that actually learned German just for fun and am self-taught (no formal schooling in it). So happy I found your channel and am now subscribed; Vielen dank, Feli!
Vielen Dank, von einen Deutschen.
@@randomstuffs7648 Danke right?
@@dadwholeftyou Vielen Dank means much thanks
Hi I speak German to i like to see Americans who speak german
@@randomstuffs7648 Guten Tag aus der USA!😀
I mean if Hitler was born French, he would still have managed to make a French chivalric love poem into a death threat.
Ausgezeichnet, Feli. As a young kid growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, I heard just about no one speaking German and my exposure to native speakers was largely limited to a few clips of Hitler that might have shown up on TV in documentaries or movies. In 8th grade I was at our local library and found the old Berlitz language instruction books and started poring over them; that was my first exposure to written German. In high school I read a bilingual version of "Parabeln und Paradoxe" by Kafka with English on one page and German on the facing page and that helped me creep towards a bit more knowledge. It wasn't until college, where one of my roomies was a modern language major who was already very fluent in German, that I found the great treasure trove of German poetry and stories--Heine, Hesse, Holderlin, and many others. One of the most beautiful lines I've heard are from a poem by Hesse ("Beim Schlafengehen") set to music by Richard Strauss at the end of his life; it probably appeals to my old night-owl nature:
"Und die Seele unbewacht
Will in freien Flügen schweben,
Um im Zauberkreis der Nacht
Tief und tausendfach zu leben."
Your comments about German versus French, Italian, and Spanish make sense; those languages seem to have a much higher ratio of vocalic sounds to consonantal sounds than German (and, for that matter, the Slavic languages and other central European languages like Hungarian). It's an interesting distinction. In English we can often say the same thing two different ways: using Anglo-Saxon words, or using Romance language words. "I saw the car go over the hill" or "I observed the automobile traverse the prominence." Hardly anyone would actually say the latter sentence, but you get the idea. It's almost like there are two different "sub-languages" lurking within English. I think a lot of people profile others by the types of words they use and their pronunciation.
"I observed the automobile traverse the prominence." = Awesome.
English vocabulary is said to be about 60% French & Latin on the Germanic base. I've heard it described as, Middle English was sort of a creole of Old English and Norman French.
Regarding "I think a lot of people profile others by the types of words they use..." I agree. I believe the words we choose reveal our individuality or style. Just as every musician has their own way of expressing themselves, and every book writer must be original (not plagiarize,) we are unique in the words we choose.
You forgot another source of the English language, that is even larger than the Roman/Latin one. That is the Nordic/Scandinavian influence. It is extremely.
I, as a Beatles fan, was always impressed by those word games of John Lennon's.
Like, 'imagine there's no heaven(!), above us only sky(!)'.
This does only work due to the possibility to use the Anglo-Saxon based 'heaven' versus the Nordic 'Sky'.
Both source languages are Germanic ones (West Germanic, North Germanic, respectively) but very clearly different to a certain degree. Lennon's sentence makes no sense in German, since we haven't got separate words for a spiritual or a physical Himmel. It's all heaven to us. To create a similar message we would have to use 'All' , or maybe 'Raum' (in the meanings of outer space) and it would not cause the same easy, immediate, emotional reaction.
And a third group of languages had a very strong impact on modern English. That is the Celtic ones.
Because there, of course, was a huge amount of nativ Celtic speakers that were forced to get into use of English as their second language but without learning it by the rules but instead by sheer contact to it, they were creating a sort of creole form of English. This mirrored back to the original native English speakers. But this did not lead to a large Celtic based vocabulary, but rather to a heavy change in the grammer and thereby moved the words around in their position in a sentences structure and a few other aspects as well.
German hasn't changed in grammar very much since it emerged out of Western Germanic but English moved away from the common base a lot. That is the main reason for difficulties when learning German or English from each opposite perspective.
Even car is from Latin.
I notice that, in German, each word is very clearly demarcated and fully pronounced (even within compound words) unlike other languages where words elide. In Spanish a whole sentence can become a word in effect when spoken. This German demarcation can sound aggressive to some. It's actually a joy to those learning German as a foreign language. It's easier to understand Germans.
Well noticed.. greatings from Germany ;)
There are some studies on the Internet that show Spanish is the fastest spoken (European) language while German is the slowest. That probably helps too.
Elision is rare in German but not entirely unknown. When I'm in Germany, I like to mess with people's heads by using the one elision I know, in a very colloquial sentence: "Ich hab' kein Deutsch" (I can't speak German).
My wife learned French in school. When we were stationed along the border and listening to a French radio station she had great difficulty separating the words. Whereas, she thought German to be easier because she could distinguish between them.
not sure why you would say that about spanish. in french one sentence can become one word. spanish is so easy because you can clearly differentiate between every word, same with german.
Very well done and researched, Feli! Gut gemacht 😍.
I agree with all you said!
I remember 9th grade German class, the teacher asked the worst student in the class "how do you say ____" and he replied "probably a lot of spitting and yelling". I couldnt hold in my laughter, even though the teacher was obviously not happy with that comment.
😂😂
I lived in Germany for 8 years, in Wiesbaden, and loved learning the language and speaking it.. i have to say that it took a while to get used to the abrupt and blunt way in which many Germans in my area spoke. Americans can sound “saccharine” to Germans, as one of my German friends told me. I never realized how soft American English sounded until I lived in Germany. There is nothing timid or hesitant about the way germans speak. So, I understand the funny parodies of German harshness. I got used to the way Germans spoke after a while, and it was okay. Personally, I don’t think the stereotype came just from Hitler. Just my own experience. This was a great video!
Must be hangin around with the wrong Germans because my Bonn friends are shy af
Can you still speak it?
Just blame everything on Hitler.
The same is said of the PA Dutch in eastern Pennsylvania (I'm one). I remember my great-aunts in particular, who came off sounding as gruff and almost angry, but they had a smile on their faces! Our culture didn't sugar-coat, we said what what we meant. However, we didn't like conflict!
Wiesbaden? Yikes, those guys are uppity.
Great video, Feli! I think you touched on a lot of good points. I think German culture is interesting (I love authentic German recipes. My dad's great-grandmother was from Germany). But getting back to your video, your breakdown of how the view of a language can be distorted was fascinating. I think another prime example where German sounds beautiful is "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night). It sounds pretty and tranquil in English, but it sounds amazing in German. The fact it was originally written in German and the story behind the song also makes it incredible. Great job!
Funny enough, we still sing one German verse of Stille Nacht at my Catholic Church in NY around Xmas time. And we have no connection to Germany in our local parish that I know of. Some of the youngsters think it must be Latin!
(I know the neighboring Lutheran church has several German hymns).
I'm a German and felt sad because of our language being so harshly jugded. I NEVER thought about Hitler, maybe having ruined the reputation! So that is a huge Aha- moment, thank you very much! Hitler was terrible in so many ways. Even in speaking.
Lots of us like german because the strong way it sounds lol... I think the guy from Rammstein also rolls the r quite heavily when he sings.
@@rjadolf6782 as an argie i love German language its beautiful and sounds strong too l love it we have germans living here even some surnames in Argentina are germans :)
It sounds harsh because it's an old language compared to other languages in Europe. Modern languages produces sounds which are more from the mouth area. I don't judge your language und ich könnte es sogar sprechen oder schreiben (Ich komme aus Die Niederlande) :)
True. He really ruined the perspective of other people from other countries on the view of germany itself. The worst part is that people still hate germany or have a bad view on the country itself just because of ww2 and hitler.
he cared about Germans at least, now you got the Jew and millions of Muslim immigrants, is it better??
I took German in high school for two years. Later I was sent there by the army for three years. Having learned some Hochdeutsch, I thought that I’d be ok. I ended up in Bavaria. That would be comparable to learning English in London and then moving to Mississippi. Fortunately I was able to muddle through, and the locals practically all spoke English.
I did German (not very successfully) in England for four years. I spent a long time learning to say phonemes that don't exist in English. A good example is the ch sound in 'nicht'. Then I went with the RAF to Wildenrath in Germany for 2 years. I was then amazed to find the locals said 'nay' (or nee) just like the Dutch. They were of course speaking PlattDeutsch which is a bit of a mixture of German and Dutch. I found on my travels that when I went to Hamburg I could understand and speak German much better. By the way I found Germans very friendly and after a couple of beers would want me to use the 'du' form to them. I had trouble explaining that the du forms are somewhat irregular and using the sie form is much easier as I could use the infinitive! I had a friend who then lived in Dusseldorf and he spoke a very peculiar German more or less with no Grammar. For example all definite articles were D' as in D' haus. And all the inflections were ignored as there was no ein eine einer einem etc. He spoke it very quickly and most of the Germans he worked with assumed he came from some 'foreign' place like Munich or Saxony. As a native English speaker I can spot a foreigner a mile away but Germans are easily fooled if you speak a form of German. I did find that I would always ask people if they spoke English before using my terrible German. Otherwise they would think I was a Turkish 'gastarbeiter' and not get good service.
@@jimattrill8933 You wouldn't have had to worry about being mistaken for a Turk, their highly typical sociolectal version of German is easily distinguishable from a person having a strong English accent. Turkish "German" sounds insulting to native ears, bordering on painful, while Germans are very forgiving towards English speakers, who actually try their best at speaking German.
@@mercatorjubio3804 Jesus christ chill out bro. racism jumping out on this one
@@miriamg3689 Just plain facts.
oh no . . . yeah, we got some dialects that are so strong and differ so greatly even in vocabulary, that germans do not understand other germans. . .
I’ve been learning German for two years as a second language, and anytime I mention learning German, People usually mention that they think it sounds aggressive. I really like the sound of the German language.
I lived there for 3 years and learned the language pretty well. Somehow, whenever I mention German, though, people haven't said anything about how aggressive it is to me, bur rather how difficult of a language to learn it is or they mention the umlauts quite often. It is an awesome language and very similar to English than most if not all languages. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to speak it with, though, and it has been roughly 4 years since I've been to Germany and spoke German on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to taking some classes at a university here where I live soon.
@@weiserwolfsgeist try hello talk or tandem. You can speak with native speakers there. :)
@Kari Freud I don't do well with online learning, but I didn't know they had native speakers that you can talk to. That might be worth looking into. I've tried so many online language learning apps, but I never get anywhere with them.
@@weiserwolfsgeistWell are you into gaming? I found German servers on some games and met people to practice and speak to while playing. Playing a video game in another language really covers many aspects you’ll need in real life. Navigation/coordination, questions, answers, requests, instructions and much much more. Some Russians youtubers I like actually learned English through games and speaking to people online. That blew my mind lol. But yes seriously great idea to study it properly at a university, well done for taking that step I wish you luck! Try gaming if you have free time ;)
Idk i think german sounds elegant and beautiful. Especially since i love reading german poetry in original language. I am from Indonesia
Danke sehr und liebe grüsse aus der Schweiz 🇨🇭
🥰
Just 95% of humanity, only believe that german sounds like the one leader from Germany spoke like, sadly.
No it sounds evil
That’s Austrian
Growing up in the US during the late 80s and onward, German was definitely seen (in my experience) as a rough language and culture. It was indeed always referred back to Hitler, and most examples came from his speeches. You would rarely see any other examples, except when at the theme parks, you occasionally would hear German in a strict raised voice at children who weren't listening (like every single other family of many different languages there 😂). When I went into high school it was time to start foreign language classes and I didn't want to take Spanish or French, so I chose German. My German teacher was an older rougher-around-the edges kind of lady. I liked her, but looking back, she definitely represented the language in a rough way. So this vision of German remained true for those years and into adulthood.
This changed in college for me though. I still very much loved the German language, the beautiful landscape, and the cultures. When it came time to do another few semesters of a foreign language, I went back into German classes as a refresher. This time, I had a gentle kind older man as my professor who had spent a lot of time in Germany and around native Germans. He was completely opposite from my high school teacher. Like yours, his German was soft and more natural. This is where I learned proper German and absolutely fell in love with the language. I think it's actually a beautiful language that is very clear and easy to understand once you learn to be more fluent in it. I actually do not find it much different from English.
So in my experience growing up and from talking to other people along the way about it when they find out I know/learned to speak German... I can relate to what you brought up in this video and I'd say this is probably where it stems from. Interesting topic for sure. Thank you for covering all sorts of these topics. I love your videos and enjoy learning some new things coming from a native Germans experience.
German and English have a lot in common. Both are indogermanic languages and a lot of words are equal or similar.
exactly MOST AMERICANS ARE FROM GERMANIC INDO EUROPEAN DESCENT THE hEBREW SNAKE PEOPLE TRICKED US WITH SNAKE LIES TO GET US TO KILL OUR OWN .THINK ABOUT IT REAL HARD AND YOU WILL KNOW I AM RIGHT.
Excellent video! I studied German as a minor in Hunter College because my grandmother couldn’t learn it. She was born in 1911, here in the US. During World War I, it was against the law in the US to teach German or speak it in public. If you spoke German in public you would not get arrested, but you would certainly be suspected as an unpatriotic, anti-American, German sympathizer. This could, at worst, get you investigated or detained by police or, at best, cause you to get a lot of angry looks and arguments from non-German speaking Americans. As I was growing up, being a 4th generation German-American, I felt a subtle discrimination against German-Americans. When I was born in 1969, World War II was still fairly fresh in people’s minds, with many veterans still alive. I think that this is also part of the reason that German is portrayed the way it is in film and TV for both comedic as well as dramatic effect. It was so bad for me, I legally changed my name from Robert Kaiser to Robert Bennett. I felt ashamed to be German-American. I don’t feel that way anymore but the stereotypes still persist, somewhat. For example, there is a children’s animated Christmas show called, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” In it, the bad guy is Bürgermeister Meisterburger. His guards are all spike helmed, mean looking types, who take toys away from the children. The town’s peasants look much like Warsaw ghetto Jews, though not expressly Jewish. Everyone is miserable until, Kris Kringle gives out toys and must struggle against the Bürgermeister who has outlawed toys. Also, look at another film, “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.” In this one, German actor, Gert Frobe, plays a King who lives in Schloss Neuschwannstein and hates children. He keeps them locked up in a dungeon. And on and on. American war films propagated this hatred for Germans and there was even a TV Sitcom called “Hogan’s Heroes,” produced by the very Irish-American Bing Crosby, about a German POW camp. I don’t know what’s worse, showing a POW camp in the 1960s and 70s, or the fact that the Germans in it are stupid, fools that make one wonder how they were able to put up much a fight during the war. But that is the point, right? History is written by the victors. Whenever someone mentions how harsh German is, I play the German version of “It’s a Small World After All” or “Druck die Eins” by Annette Louisan. Thanks for this video.
Billy Wilder directed the Buchenwald videos too, no surprise.
Hogan’s Heroes show the Germans as fools because it’s, you know, a comedy. Also, most of the actors playing the Germans were German themselves, usually German Jews, some of whom survived concentration camps. It was the actors who insisted on this comedic take on the Nazis. It’s no different than the approach Mel Brooks used for The Producers or to portray racism in Blazing Saddles. It’s not meant to be an attack on all Germans, nor should it be taken that way.
@@PaulMcElligott whether intended or not, it pointed to destroying German culture pride in America, just like everything now discontinuing similar.
you write:
"Also, most of the actors playing the Germans were German themselves, usually German Jews"
It's telling that Einstein never referred to himself as German, he's only now shilled as German. The others weren't so different from Einstein, with their outlook and motives, were they?
At first, that's odd; calling themselves Germans allowed them to BE the definition of German instead of being the out-group they had been to the Germans. Is that not the ultimate smite and ethnic triumph? Of course, that could only help the very German people move on who they were literally shilling to bomb to pieces ten years earlier, and we've seen the hate parade continue to at least 2020, milking the German people for "what happened" for all they are worth. Around the Christmas holiday, they air Spielberg's Shindler's List. That's intentional. It's a power play. How can you watch a film like Dr. Strangelove and not see the same, the effort like elsewhere in society, to perpetuate a solid narrative with self-benefiting values and worldview hostile to Germans? There are more examples, like the Sound of Music. Or the film "The Mouse that Roared". Always undermining, characterizing and preaching in a way that accelerates openness to their outlook, and hardly a homage to what you perceive it as.
@@larryhats4320 I lived in Germany in the late 60s. At that time Hogans Heroes was very popular among Germans. The dialogue was overdubbed in German. Sergeant Schultz was the most popular character as I recall.
Hi Feli, I have never thought of German as a harsh language. Having a German last name, Seelhorst, it has been part of my entire life. People are always asking where my family came from. I speak and understand a little German and am trying to learn more. I love the language. We, here in the USA, use it daily and most people don't even know it. Thank you for this video.
Feli, what a positive and lovely impression of German and Germany you present to the world. I would love to hear you read Die Lorelei!
I would, too.
8:38 And yes, Till Lindemann, the main vocalist of the well-known German band Rammstein, also employs the mentioned Bühnendeutsch (theater stage German) including rolling his R's.
Yes, that's exactly what I thought, too. Plus since Rammstein is one of the most popular music bands abroad this stresses the impression that German is harsh. Maybe people should listen to Reinhard Mey as well .....
Feli, you are a massive asset to not only Germany but the whole world because of your incredibly informative, sensitive and sympathetic educational videos. Well done!
Agreed
Agree, too! 👍
shes so articulate, and insightfull easy sub
If you give speeches, people will sleep unlike the one who aroused people.
I think s/he means that as a compliment. ☺
I realized this when I visited Germany last year. It was very calming and sweet to hear people speak German, or even English with a German accent
Conversely, it also sounds sweet if, for example, an American woman speaks German.
My high school German teacher used to play Hitler speeches so we could pronounce the language correctly. What a wonderful man he was. During my freshman year in college , my German professor took me aside and told me I had some of the worst pronunciations he had ever heard. Now I know why, lol
Haha, Hitler spoke High German very good, although with Austrian accentuation. The express use of German as language was also better those days. Lots of the present day texts sound more like gibberish by by people that try to sound 'education' and 'clever'. Some of the semantics has changed as well.
Despite growing up in the US and thus having the standard perception of the German language you’re talking, Feli, I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful German people as an adult and soon realized that it is, as you say, a very beautiful language. If I weren’t already committed to mastering Spanish and the dizzying number of different direct articles in German, not to mention the different cases, acquiring German would be my #1 hobby instead. I may take another crack at it in the future.
I thought German was more of a harsh sounding language. Even after a few years of learning the language, I felt like it was almost short, direct, and aggressive. It wasn’t until visiting Germany when I heard people speaking it in everyday life when I realized it was such a beautiful sounding, calm language. It can sound very open and pleasant as with someone who has a very soft English accent. That’s the best way I know to describe it. 😅
Try Dutch. It sounds like someone choking.
I am so happy to hear that 🤗🤗🤗
Til Lindeman said that German is the perfect language for hard metal because it can express anger really well.
@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 don't worry, after hearing cantonese you will feel like the dutch languages sounds like the voice of angels...
@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 I thought that was Danish.
Thanks!
Feli, thank you for this information. I’ve been to Germany twice to visit my son and his family and I do not recall hearing the German language being spoken harshly. The German people I had contact with were warm and friendly. My son was in the Army and stationed near IdarOberstein. After getting released from the Army he stayed in Germany and works for a large construction company. He’s been there for over 30 years!
Keep up the good work with your informational segments.
This video was very well structured 👏 It flowed very nicely. Maybe a weird thing to compliment, but it really stood out to me. 😄
Haha thank you :)
Yeah, her videos are always well-put together. I bet she'd be great directing a documentary.
Great video. My exposure to German was my grandmother and my father. Their first language was German. My father started teaching me German when I was five. My grandmother stopped him because she wanted me to focus on English. Our family had a hard time learning English. I speak with a slight German accent. I learned a lot from this video. Thanks!!
And another great one from Feli., Vielen dank.. 🙏🙏👍👍
Very informative and helpful, Felicia. Thank you for taking the time to educate us further about your beautiful country and self. Wonderfully done!
Born and raised in the US but with German relatives on my father's side, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Germany in the 2010's and absolutely loved everything about my time there. My husband works for a German company, ZF so I was tagging along on a business trip. Hearing your question at the end brought up an experience he had back in the late 1980's because it was so funny and seemed to sum up American's views of Germans as you were pointing out. He was at the International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan as a part of his job. Bosch was giving a presentation on one of their new products where one of their engineers in a very thick German accent declared near the end it, 'And NOW vee vill take CONTROL of the VEHICLE from the DRIVER!' We still laugh about it.
Growing up with a German grandma I heard the normal grandma German language!! I loved my grandma with all my heart so German the language was love!
I started learning German when I was 15, and took to it so well that the teacher had me skip the second year. Some years later (1989) I was walking through a bookstore in Britain (of all places), and I heard a woman speaking Hochdeutsch, and I was completely captivated by the sound and rhythm of the language.
I'm russian but i love german language since i've heared it first when i was about 8. It was love from the first sight and the main reason of my interest was it's strange sound. I admire speaking this language and always tryed to copy famous persons with the most difficult or strange ways of speaking, my biggest problem always was and still is this "R' from the throat) Only few month before i got that it's not necessary to pronounce it this way, expecially in the middle of the word. Thank you for the video, Feli!
It' so funny, I am a German who began to learn Russian two months ago. The sound and the pronounciation are very fascinating for me. In the beginning, the cyrillic script has been challenging to me.
I appreciate it very mich!
@@dr.woodguard4021 Ich lerne Deutsch jetzt hehehe. Have you found some difficulties in pronunciation? I also started learning 5-6 days ago and the sounds R and H are just ahhhhh? Big adventure for me haha. And I wish Glück
@@chinesecake Hi my friend,
the "RRRR" is very easy to pronounce, because I speak spanish and italian too...
("rrrrribera"; "rrrragazzo")...
And the differences between "ch", "sch", "tsch" and "schtsch" are good to comprehend and to express.
I have some colleagues with polish and russian decent, so I can practice on nearly daily basis...
меня зовут Walter.
как тебя зовут?
Aleksei Bruslov was a traitor.
@@dr.woodguard4021 this is so cute
I used to think that German was a phlegmy, aggressive language. But then, I decided to try to learn it to impress someone (spoiler alert: that never works). After studying it as long as I have, now I feel like German has a certain subtle beauty to it, and I look forward to my lessons or watching videos like this.
Great job, Feli!
Hallo Feli, wieder ein so genau recherchiertes Video. Ich kannte die Aufnahme mit Mannerheim und du hast sie natürlich auch mit einbezogen. Ich frage mich schon, wie du es schaffst, immer so genaue und umfassende Beiträge zu einem Thema zu erstellen. In dem Pefektionismus bist du dann doch typisch deutsch. ;-) Viel Erfolg weiter.
Es ist interessant was andere über unsere Sprache denken. Das Gute an der Sprache sind die Vielzahl von Möglichkeiten und Wörter die es gibt. Man kann vieles damit gut ausdrücken.
Si , YES fein , Ich lebe in NRW , ich haette , at auch so geschrieben wie Sie . TOP born in germany
Danke Feli! Es ist zwar bis zu einem gewissen Punkt lustig, aber irgendwann ist es eher nervig, welche Vorstellung viele Menschen mit anderer Muttersprache von der deutschen Sprache haben. 😅
Ganz genau.
Ja sehe ich genauso, umso glücklicher bin ich, dass es Feli gibt die so unermüdlich, informativ und unterhaltsam über ihr Geburtsland spricht.
@@maikehudson333 Diese ganzen Übertreibungen sind absolut nervtötend. Und totaler Quatsch. Millionen Deutsche sprechen leise und angemessen.
You've hit the nail on the head, Feli. I gave up teaching high school German (in Australia) because it was impossible to get enough students past these stereotypes to keep a class going beyond the compulsory language hours. You said everything I've been telling people for years (except the post-party recording, which is a wonderful bit of research - thanks!). We seem, as a culture, addicted to stereotypes and unfortunately when it comes to German not even Octoberfest can outcompete that particular but of history...
I did, however, wish to correct the idea that German is difficult for English speakers (who speak one of the hardest, most irregular languages in the world!). The only languages easier than German for English speakers to learn are pidgin, some creoles, Africaans and Dutch.
This is because so much of English is based on Germanic languages (Anglo-Saxon or Anglisch). The transitional grammar of Middle English (eg Chaucer) includes cases and often throws extra verbs to the ends of sentences, two things that new German speakers find difficult.
The main difference between German and languages English speakers think are easier (Romance languages) is that the difficult parts of grammar come up early in German, whereas in French, for instance, they come up at intermediate rather than beginner level. As languages, there's an enormous overlap between German and English, which appears to have been forgotten around the same time that said dictator managed to wipe out English speakers' interest in German culture.
@Isabella Lucia,
Thanks for sharing your observations. Many of these came up in private conversations with my first German teacher over 45 years ago.
On ease or difficulty of learning German: Among other advantages, I emphasized the Saxon (Sachsen?) connection to classmates who were struggling more than I was. Not sure if it helped, since even those who were not influenced by media-driven stereotypes simply gave up for reasons of their own. At my highschool, our German class enrollment went from 54, to 33, to 16, to 5 over a span of 4 years. (Ich war Überlebender).
On a lighter note, got a kick out of the comment about English being one of the hardest, most irregular languages. That ain't no shit. 😄
I feel sorry for those trying to learn American English. With such a dizzying array of seemingly conflicting rules, exceptions, silent letters, various foreign influences, plus situationally dependent speech patterns jam-packed with colloquialisms and idioms, it's damn near impossible for them.
Iets put this into perspective germany was being carpet bombed for 4 months solid before they retaliated. Adolf Hitler did everything in his power to avoid war, he met with Winston Churchill on 6 separate occasions to try and strike up a peace agreement with that war criminal Winston Churchill, and he even when to such lengths to drop thousands of peace leaflets over London itself at that time. Adolf Hitler painted the mother and child do evil men take it on their self's to paint works of art like that ? Why don't you call Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt despots for bombing Hamburg and Dresden in which millions of civilians were genocided during that attack on these two non-military installations because they were looking for a high civilian death rate in Germany..l would advice the likes of you to go away and stick your head into a book to try and educated yourself on the facts, and stop listening to J Propaganda. Some one as ignorant as you must of been some rubbish german teacher... ?
@@toms8937
Spelling is the bigger issue here, at least in my opinion. But I don't struggle with things like your/you're like some native speakers seem to do.
Words like through, thorough, though, taught, dough, depth and so on are what drives me mad. Like, throw some consonants at the end and dare to guess which one is silent. Surprise, sometimes it's all of them. And which one means what again?
Other thing is the fact that "oo" and "ee" are vowels, but "i" a diphthong made of two vowels and that's kind of ridiculous. And it's not consistently flipped either, it's just a mess.
@@Alias_Anybody yes, it is a mess, and it's true that many native speakers don't get the spelling correct, e.g. "they're, their, there".
From an early age, a relatively large amount of reading from various English and American authors (mostly history and philosophy) proved to be a tremendous help with both spelling and grammar. It's somewhat like a process of osmosis combined with the taking of mental pictures to determine which one is to be used in a particular situational context.
@@Alias_Anybody you might not find any humo(u)r in this, but just for fun:
(Al)though [obwohl] it's tough [hart], it is only through [durch] thorough [durchsätzlich] immersion to a sufficient depth [Tiefe] that this can be taught [beigebracht].
Feli, thank you for making this video. I also think it was very brave of you to make it, because I suspect that Hitler and WW2 aren't easy topics for you to talk about, since there are many people who are quick to associate anyone German with WW2 and Hitler and make all kinds of snap judgements just because of that. Your willingness to talk about these topics, and the intelligent way you present them, says a lot about your character -- all good things, I assure you.
My grandparents were born and raised in Germany. They didn't speak German often, but I did hear them speak it, so I've known since I was very young that German only sounds harsh and angry when the speaker wants to make it sound that way. I also met some Germans in college, including one of my science professors. They didn't sound anything like the German stereotypes, comedic or otherwise. In fact, my science professor had a very calming accent. (A little too calming, actually; it tended to lull me to sleep in class! 🤣) And you sound like music to me, whether you're speaking German or English. Your boyfriend is a lucky man - he gets to hear you all the time!
I can only speek for myself and not for Feli but I think the Nazis etc. aren't that hard of a topic for us Germans than many non Germans think. Sure it is far from an easy light hearted topic and regarding RUclips it most likely won't get monetized (not suitable for many advertisers for obvious reasons). But it is not like Germans don't want to talk about it or something. Yes it's rude if your first question after you learned someone is German is about this topic but if it comes up naturally in a conversation I and I guess many other Germans are happy to give you the modern German point of view on the topic.
@@lenab5266, thank you for your perspective. I grew up in the 1960s and '70s, and at that time, Hitler, WW2 and the Holocaust, in particular, were topics that few Germans wanted to acknowledge, much less talk about. Or so it seemed to me, at least. In retrospect, that shouldn't be a surprise, because that was only 20-35 years after it ended, there were still plenty of people alive who had lived through it and the horrors of that time were still felt, even by those who weren't victims themselves. I'm glad things are different now. It's healthier to be able to talk about things, even things that aren't comfortable.
According to a documentary I saw about him, friends of his said that he didn't speak a typical Austrian accent. When his father was alive, and still working with the Austrian government, the father moved the family to the German side of the border (he was born in Braunau...).
I've never met a German person before (for in Germany). You are such a nice ambassador for the country. It's a pleasure watching your videos
This is the first time I’ve come across your channel. I just wanted to say how excellent I think this episode is. I’ve subscribed to your channel as a result of it. The part about stage/theatre German was especially illuminating, and provides much material for further thought. Thank you.
I was born by the end of 1933 in Schlesien and had the "pleasure" to listen to some of the speeches (screaming) of Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Everybody I knew, spoke a normal-sounding German language without the rolling R. I moved to the USA in 1957 at the age of 23½, but I never forgot my mother-language.
I first learned Germany was NOT harsh like I thought...when I had to sing German operas in college. It was a real eye opener!
My mother and her family spoke German and my brother and I grew up hearing it and never thought it was harsh. And all these years later I still find it to be the language of my childhood and all the love and happy memories I associate with my mom. She's gone now and I treasure the language and the culture it represents. My life in Germany was filled with joy and I absolutely love this country and the people and their language. And BTW English sounds a bit punctuated and oddly stressed to speakers of other languages. But in the end, we need to remember that each language is the language of families and children and daily life. Endlessly beautiful and rich. And as for Hitler, that's not the Germany I grew up in and adore. Thank you Feli, you represent your country so well. Germany is simply amazing!
Hello Feli, thank you for a very interesting video. Back in the early 1970s, I worked for Polydor Records in London (part of Deutsche Gramaphon) and occasionally experienced the German language. In the 1990s I became interested in satellite television and found German music programmes. One such programme was Schlagerclub mit Frank on Super RTL. I started buying CDs from a German supplier and using the TV programmes and the internet found various artists that sang in German and in English. One of my favourite singers is Claudia Jung singing “Komm und tanz ein letztes Mal mit mir.” I’m sorry to admit that I can only say a very few things in German.
Best wishes from Oxfordshire 🇬🇧❤️🇩🇪📡🎤🎼💽
99 Luftbaloons
Another lovely version of „Komm und tanz…“ (that I like) is by Esther Ofarim.
Hi Feli. Great presentation! I spent my early years in Oberammergau so I was surrounded by German. I attended an American school, but each week, Frau Zimmermann (one of the village locals) came to our school and gave German lessons. Thus, I never thought German was a harsh language, even today. To me, German is a very precise language. For example the way the "L" sound is pronounced like in Ulm and zwölf. It wasn't until I was in middle school that I started hearing the strident and angry "Hitler-ized" form. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to future videos!
I have always recognized the beauty of the German language. I grew up listening to opera and found sung German to be appealing to the ear. When I was an undergraduate at UCLA majoring in German, one of my professors invited a PHD student to recite poetry to us. She was an actress from Vienna. It was then, after her recitations, that I fell in love with the beauty of the language…and with her. Thanks for this important video, Feli.
I was stationed in Germany for 5 years in the late 80's and early 90's. When I got there I knew two words Ja und Nein. I had some airmen who worked for me that gave me a basic German book by Maria Madrigal and I picked up basic phrases. Then ZDF had American Series like Dallas dubbed in German from the previous TV season and that helped in following conversations. German friends added to my knowledge and by the time the returned to the US I could carry conversations in German. I went back in 2017 for the first time and was surprised how quickly it all came back.
I lived in Wiesbaden during that time, for 8 years
I was born in the late ‘50’s, when there were 6 or 7 TV channels, and practically no opportunity to listen to normal German being spoken. I can attest to the fact that Hitler was probably the first person I heard speaking German (through either video in school or that old Mike Wallace program “Biography” which Channel 11 in New York showed at six thirty in
the morning). I thank Feli for bringing this to light because I have discovered German is a
beautiful language with many nuances.
Feli, you are absolutely right. The only German I knew growing up was from movies. German always sounded angry and aggressive. Then, at the age of 26 I visited Germany. For the most part I was so focused on trying to communicate that I didn't pay attention to whether the language sounded angry and aggressive. Now that you brought it to my attention I have to agree that in ordinary conversation German does not sound angry and aggressive. I only wish I had learned to speak it better.
Feli, as always, your video was delightful, entertaining and informative. Thank you.
Thank you for this video. My mother’s family came over from Germany to the US in the 1890s so there was no stigma attached to the language (they lived in NYC for about 100 years and in the Upper East Side of Manhattan which was called “Little Germany” in the 1930s and 1940s) I had No Idea that a non-staged recording of Hitler was made and survived. That is amazing. My grandson started college his Sept. and his major is German.
I contracted bacterial meningitis in January of 2018 and was hospitalized for nearly two months. My speech became slurred and I couldn't afford restorative therapy, so I began instinctively reading texts in German, starting slowly and building speed gradually. I also taught myself German songs such as Reinhard Mey's antiwar anthem "Nein, meine Söhne geb' ich nicht". It helped a lot!
My grandfather was a first generation German-American in the early 1900s. I've always been proud of that heritage but he didn't teach German to his children because of unbiased fears. I've always wished he had. Great video. Thank you.
Anyway, that long post aside. I actually AM learning German as a second language. I love how guttural it is, how complex it is, the sound of it as a whole, and how different it is from English, while still having resemblances from shared history in the past. I've only been learning for 2 months, but gradually tackling its complexities and understanding it bit by bit, and is rewarding. I love it when I understand flecks of German (Be it spoken or written) in various mediums. It lets me know I'm making true progress. It's going to be a long road, but worth it!
I also love the music, been listening to Wir sind Helden and Die Toten Hosen, while finding other German acts I like that sing in German....Also, I find it amusing Rock music is still called Rock, in German, despite Rock also meaning, "skirt". The detail makes me smile a little
Feli , you're just awesome !
I enjoy your videos .
Smart, aware, funny, educated, respectful.
I once played Peter Fox's "Alles neu" to some hip hop loving friends in the US. They absolutely loved the way the lyrics sound. I also remember a video with Natalie Portman in some Late Night show. I think it was also Conan. She was almost having a crush on German poetry and how it can sound like when NOT being read the way many non-German speakers think the German language sounds like. And as far as I know Portman does not even speak German or is/was at least not fluent in it back then. But that was a rare moment on American television - next to a lot of people like Sarah Chalke (although I really admire her), being nearly perfect in her German skills, sitting at Conan's too and telling this nonsense just for the fun of it and the cheap laughter of an audience and a host not getting the joke (and not being meant to).
Now that I think of it - it was also Sarah Chalke doing the "I can do a sweet little milk maid" bit on Scrubs (in contrast to her "Evil Old Hausfrau"). So she definitely should and did know better.
While not my first exposure to the German language, the most defining for me was the show Elisabeth das Musical in which I feel the German language sounded so very expressive whether it is words of love and affection, or proclamation of freedom, or even desperation, and of course anger. The consonants are what made it sound so clear and expressive to me 💖
I love it too. It is a deep expression of profound feelings. German Language is therefor first choice.
@@simonruf7188 yes!! Emotions and thoughts are described in such profound way like they reached into the very corner of the human mind and, with the German language as the medium, interpreted the human condition