Re: OT: German reputation
| From: | J. 'Mach' Wust <j_mach_wust@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, December 12, 2004, 18:20 |
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On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:39:26 -0500, Yann Kiraly <yann_kiraly@...> wrote:
>Hi! I've been wondering lately what the reputation of the german language
>is where you guys live. (Except Germany of course ;)) Judging from what
>you find on some internet boards, it can't be to good (don't ask me where
>I saw this. Multiple places I stumbled on accidentaly.). I live in
>Germany, and as far as I can see, the Germans are quite neutral when it
>comes to judging languages.
In German speaking Switzerland, it has a bad reputation! Two reasons: The
Swiss German identity is eager for making a difference to the Germans, and
to most, standard German is the school language, associated with all the bad
feelings towards school. Many are ashamed that they speak Swiss standard
German and not standard German as in media from Germany and are jelous of
the better linguistic skills of Germans (many Swiss Germans hardly ever talk
standard German).
Actually, kids who aren't in school yet enjoy speaking the standard German
they've learned from the German media, and before the world wars, the public
use of standard German was common (since then, it's become more and more
unusual).
gry@s:
j. 'mach' wust