How does German sound to your ears?

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

The first time I heard my man speaking German on the phone in Canada, I thought, what a lovely language! So smooth and soft, it is quite lyrical and sounds nothing like Hitler at all. Of course, at the time--having never been to Europe and not speaking a lick of German--I did not realize that Hitler's being Austrian would make a difference or that the reason Mr. Dangerous's German sounded so smooth was because he was mumbling incoherently (a major reason we do most of our communicating in English--I speak to a bajillion German-speakers a day but the hard Berlin accent is a combination of mumbling and deliberate mispronunciation of consonants and dipthongs that stresses me to the max to deal with).

 

So now, I don't mind the sound of it, it is easy to tune out and not too hard to understand as most Germans seem to not speak as quickly as say, Spaniards, but there are definitely days when I go home, roll down the shutters, watch eight episodes of Black Books and refuse to answer the phone for anybody except English-speaking friends. These days are fewer and further between the longer I am here but there really used to be times I thought my brain would explode if I had to hear one more person whine about the tram being late.

 

Speaking it is fun as long as I am otherwise mentally and physically fit however. I like the hard ch in particular.

 

"Achhhhhh ja"

[Chocky 1,223]

I find it a lot easier to understand spoken German in practically any other part of the country than Berlin, except in the deep south (Bayern, not Alabama). The Berlin 'Schnauzer' is the most tiring thing about dealing with the natives in this city..

[Chelle63 958]

It does my head in these days...especially as I’m struggling to make head or tail of the bloody language...I have become an internet junkie and just get lost in various social networking sites because its all in English. I guess I will get used to it eventually :)

[Guest]

As an aside, I love getting into arguments with people who assert that language x sounds better than language y. All I can say is that I enjoy the bedtime stories my German girlfriend reads to me much more than I ever enjoyed the ones my Italian ex-girlfriend ever read.

[NoBullJim 3,685]

Similar to Charlie Brown's teacher. :P

[Tibia 1,974]

Dessa, do you ever get Mr Dangerous to read the shipping forecast?

[brionybird 14]

There are so many soft sounds in German, quite different from the 'guttural' WWII stereotypes of the language.

 

My favourite gentle sounding words so far are Auge, Entschuldigung (luckily for me because I seem to need to say it a lot) and katzenbaby.

[funf 1,007]

May I suggest listening to some German music if conversation is getting you down? There are ways of saying things in German that simply melt me. Or are just so different that I marvel. Let music lead you back.

 

And yes, would that all people speak as clearly as people with "broadcast" voices.

[Chocky 1,223]

 

There are so many soft sounds in German

 

Like 'Ordnungsamt', 'Anmeldungsbescheinigung',or 'Einzugsermächtigung'.

[brionybird 14]

 

Like 'Ordnungsamt', 'Anmeldungsbescheinigung',or 'Einzugsermächtigung'

Chocky, I'm not sure if you are taking the piss out of me...I just read my post and it sounds like a bloody hallmark card (katzenbaby!)... but those words - all of which I had to look up - really are lovely and soft (even if their meanings are a little less romantic).

 

P.S And off topic: I just watched a few series of Chocky, love it!

[Burgo 3]

It's up and down for me. When my lady speaks in German it all sounds very sweet and soft, but when my German buddies are talking to each other, it sounds pretty aggressive. Maybe that's just because of the personalities of these Deutsch cowboys.

 

My girlfriend is the only one who really teaches me German though and due to her pleasant voice I've noticed that I'm saying things like she does... well, maybe an octave lower but there is a definite feminine tone there. I'm sure it will make me a laughing stock one day!

[lilplatinum 7,142]

The word Ordnungsamt is lovely and soft???

[heidi42 13]

I answer the question as follwos: We'd first need to find out "what is German and who speaks it". ;-) By the way a title of a book from a well known Sociolinguist. Worth a read. You can get it in English.

[Punchbear 1,024]

I like the clipped rattle of Hochdeutsch; it's not tender or pretty or blessed with an immediate mellifluence, but it does have a certain angular charm to its cadences. I like the A-10 too.

 

However, the sound of bavarian is like a cheese grater on the ear to me. I hear it and it sounds like a pig chewing a lolo ball.

[Chocky 1,223]

 

Chocky, I'm not sure if you are taking the piss out of me..

 

No, I wasn't, I was just making a point that there are some words which sound quite 'nice', but have horrible utilitarian meanings..

 

 

P.S And off topic: I just watched a few series of Chocky, love it!

 

Apparently Senor Spielbergo has bought the rights to the story and there is a strong chance it will be made in to a film.

[don_riina 7,406]

It is a fucking frightful language. Full stop, period, FACT etc. I could write for years about the futility of having 3 genders for nouns, it is gay, and serves fucking no purpose atall. However, I'll focus just on how it sounds

 

I accurately described the aural appeal of the German language years ago on TT - a pig with a sore throat retching violently into a tin bucket was the phrase I used I believe, and it still stands. If I had the choice of being forced to listen to krouts gabbing for 10 minutes, or letting a bitter, feminist, vegetarian, teetotal, amnesty international member, wii owning, non-smoking bitch attack my naked cock with a cheesegrater for 10 hours...well, my cock would be sore.

[mlovett 8,681]

I speak Spanish and Italian, and can dabble in Portuguese and French. THESE are beautiful languages... German is simply NOT in the same league.

[HellesAngel 1,889]

German grammar is not as bad as many other languages but that's about its only saving grace.

[brionybird 14]

 

The word Ordnungsamt is lovely and soft???

Haha. I think it's the 'nung' sound I like. I did say the meaning wasn't particularly romantic though.

 

A word can sound nice, and not 'be' nice.

[yummy.german 49]

 

The word Ordnungsamt is lovely and soft???

 

Ordnung-samt

 

A velvet to establish order!

(Ok, would be Ordnungssamt, then!)