• epicstove@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    I’m in Switzerland rn and German really does not sound that aggressive. They actually sound quite kind and sweet.

    Polish and Finnish swearing though… That’s next level.

  • Don Antonio Magino@feddit.nl
    0·
    3 days ago

    I don’t like the stereotype (and it is just a stereotype) of German being a ‘screamy’ language. As a Dutchman who also speaks German, it’s a perfectly pleasant language to me in 99% of the cases (but then I think it’s beautiful anyway, hence why I learnt it). There’s nothing inherently ‘screamy’ about German.

    Though I have to admit that when I do hear it being screamed in, it immediately triggers associations with that period in history like I was there myself. I blame movies.

    • Sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      3 days ago

      I don’t like the stereotype (and it is just a stereotype) of German being a ‘screamy’ language.

      Yeah it’s exactly that: Stereotype and being used to a certain melody in a language. For me (German) Arabic often sounds aggressive for some reason… Farsi and Dari sound pleasent though. I don’t understand neither of them…

      Even in Germany we consider some other dialects rude or aggressive sounding. For a lot of people Berlin’s dialect sounds rude or some people from the north have the same feeling with some dialects from the sound. (For me it’s the dialects spoken in the Black Forest).

      Language is weird.

      • RidderSport@feddit.org
        1·
        2 days ago

        Honestly Saxonian ist the worst. I automatically assume I am talking to a Nazi and brace myself. The fact that that I am right in about 1 of 2 cases doesn’t really help either

    • Mouette@jlai.lu
      0·
      3 days ago

      I blame what have done Germany 80 years ago in Europe as the main reason, we are barely getting out of the phase were all people that lives through these times are dead but it is still rembered.

      • bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        3 days ago

        This is exactly what it is. That reputation has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual sound of German. The stereotype, btw is not about it being screamy, but ugly. People claim it sounds ugly and aggressive, for no reason other than Nazis. It’s a cultural stereotype that was completely projected onto the language, most notably how it sounds.

        • boonhet@lemm.ee
          2·
          2 days ago

          It could just be that for a lot of people their only exposure to German is that clip from Der Untergang where Hitler gets super pissed and it does indeed sound like yelling in German is way more aggressive than yelling in English - but the other people in the room don’t yell back at him and there’s nothing aggressive about their speech.

          That and the videos of people pronouncing words in different languages and of course ambulance is said in a normal tone while Krankenwagen is yelled because stereotyp funni, but that’s based more on how the words look when written down I think.

        • tauren@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          I bet most people who believe this have never heard normal German speech, only exaggerated phrases from movies and comic sketches, where Germans are bad guys who intentionally sound threatening.

  • Luffy@lemmy.ml
    0·
    4 days ago

    Its so funny seeing Americans just thinking normal hochdeutsch is hardcore

    Just wait until you hear Ze cute Bayrische Dialekt

    • AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee
      1·
      3 days ago

      My mother tongue is Afrikaans, I thought our insults were intense. Until I moved to the Netherlands, damn chill.

  • The Giant Korean@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    It took me a while to realize that my mom (Korean, from Busan area) was on the phone having a conversation and not a heated argument. Literally sounded like screaming at times.

  • Onionguy@lemm.ee
    0·
    4 days ago

    Idk man “May you get fucked by a swordfisch” (spanish insult) is pretty hard in my book x)

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        1·
        2 days ago

        *Mögest du von einem Schwertfisch gefickt werden.

        Konjunktiv I, and “bei” would be appropriate for “by candlelight” or “at the bakery”, but not “by some agent”. “vom Bäcker” – you’re getting fucked by the baker, "beim Bäcker’ – you’re getting fucked at the bakery. Dative in both cases.

  • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
    0·
    4 days ago

    In Poland we have this old joke, where the reveal is that German language is barbed wire.

    Don’t remember the joke though ;)

      • xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        Same in Polish, iirc. Comes from German immigrants to Poland not being able to learn the language (es ist wirklich sau schwer nur ordentlich “Hallo” zu sagen!).

        • RidderSport@feddit.org
          1·
          2 days ago

          Basically all languages east of Germany. In Russian it’s niemcy or something, also meaning mute. And AFAIK it was less nit being able to learn but rather not willing. Germans formed their own communities and stuck together - or still to this day do.