Is the German accent really ugly?

I let you guys decided, and you asked me to ask other Germans about their accent on the streets from my Instagram poll. I knew there was some reason but I didn't expect to get these answers.
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#germans #germanaccent #germany

[@amaraloves]

I’m a German living in the UK for 6 years now! I’m so glad that many English people and other people say that they can’t place my accent at all. You can hear I’m not exactly British but you can’t really tell I’m definitely German either. A lot of people think I’m from South Africa or Netherlands. Hahaha! Also, after 6 years here I always cringe a little when I hear my own language. It’s really such a harsh sounding language! 😂

[@yourtruebrit]

Which part of the UK are you living in ? :)

[@amaraloves]

@@yourtruebrit I have lived in a few places so far. I lived in Peterborough for a bit over a year, then I lived in Mansfield for a while and studied for a year in Sheffield and then I moved further up north to Redcar. I still officially live in Redcar but I work down south in Henley on Thames as a live-in caregiver. So every few weeks I keep switching between north and south! 😁😆

[@heha6984]

Sorry, aber das ist doch Quatsch. Deutsch ist eine sehr gepflegte, klingende Stimme, wenn sie gut ausgesprochen wird. Vielleicht hören Sie einfach nur die falschen Leute?

[@amaraloves]

@@heha6984 Na ja, wenn man den ganzen Tag Deutsch hoert, ist das ganz anders, als wenn man in einem anderen Land lebt, wo man sich an eine andere Sprache gewoehnt und dann Deutsch nur ab und zu mal hoert. Als ich noch in Deutschland lebte, habe ich das auch so empfunden wie du. Jetzt ist es anders, weil sich meine Ohren sozusagen umgepolt haben! 😆😆

[@sisuguillam5109]

German sounds hard? Not in Hessen. Or Sachsen. Or up north. It sounds soft compared with plenty of other languages.

[@witthyhumpleton3514]

"I arrived in Bielefeld to.." and now we know the video is fake. Classic cultural mistake for outsiders.

[@yourtruebrit]

Hahaha, Bielefeld...

[@ginafromcologne9281]

haha there is no such thing as Bielefeld!

[@Nikioko]

@@ginafromcologne9281 They want to make you believe that there is...

[@albionmyl7735]

It doesn't exist everybody in the world know this after "Wilsberg"

[@ginafromcologne9281]

@@Nikioko Yes, but we know better!

[@koenigsdealer]

As a German I did an exchange year in the US. When people figured out I was from Germany, while I still had an accent, they tried to impress me with their German skills. Those were mainly demonstrated by shouting "Nein, Nein!" in a Hitler Voice. Americans think this is funny, but for us Germans it's embarrassing. Nobody (even Hitler) in everyday life speaks German in that way. That cliche that German is a harsh language is just wrong, but everyone else in the world wants to prove us wrong.

[@emmi_eben]

This is so true! I am quite certain most don't mean any harm at all but by people imitating basicly a Hitler caricature when speaking german, it makes you so insecure about both your english and beeing german in the first place, because that feels like an akward joke about germans sounding (and somewhat beeing) like nazis, even in their average voice... And the last thing you want to be is a nazi, no? Everytime I have to admit I am german I fear the first reaktion to be a nazi label and despite this beeing very unrealistic, these jokes do bring this back on your mind... WWll is just a immensely sensitive subject amongst germans...

[@_.BlueCrow._]

@@emmi_eben God I'm so glad you feel the same, I'm german too and made friends in different countries via internet with the start of Covid. And it wasn't them, but others made those jokes and imitations too when I joined a voicechat for example and they found out I was german, mostly cause I admited it. But everytime I felt so ashamed of my ancestry and also the way I speak. They truly might not understand but to me this whole WWII thing is also very sensitive. Sadly I found myself talking bad about my accent and making stupid jokes that just hurt me in the end, cause I felt and still feel so uncomfortable with it.

[@njbkw1514]

it's just a stereotypes and people should be ashamed for talking about it not you, half off the people are asking me about money or calling me a terrorist all the time😂 just laugh until it becomes old that's the only thing I've seen works 🤔

[@FiNN--]

I dont think its wrong at all. German is a "hard" language - not especially hard to learn but it sounds hard when being talked since it has no flow or smoothness involved. Its very straight foward and when Germans speak english they dont have that type of flow/accent and thats why it sounds so dull and robotic-like If you hear a French dude speaking its full of accent bc their language has a lot of accent and "emotion" in their way of speaking and the German language doesnt have that at all When you hear the bro talking at 3:00 you can hear how "emotionless" it is because that's the way the German language sounds for the most part

[@hansgetzekokain9634]

@@_.BlueCrow._ I feel the same too. And we have to know that Hitler wasn't from Germany.

[@davidkasquare]

I think that English teacher has an important point. It’s the German stereotype that makes Germans intimidated. As soon as they open their mouth, they’re associated with certain personal traits and a whole lot of history. And I just think most Germans don’t feel comfortable with that. They’d rather just be people communicating in the English language.

[@DiaboloMootopia]

I am astounded by the way Germans sometimes think this and at the same time think that English is neutral or even progressive somehow. The UK and USA have equally blood-soaked histories as Germany does.

[@davidkasquare]

@@DiaboloMootopia that’s true. But as those who were on the “winning” side, they are the ones who have written the history after the war. Germany vanished for decades, altogether. Which of course was the right thing, back then.

[@MrEssex105]

Basil Fawlty: "Don't mention the war!" 😁

[@annecosgrove2133]

Liebe Leute, English speakers are honored by the fact that you took the time to learn any English at all! In the U. S.., people don't usually bother to learn languages other than our own. Even some of our educators tell us not to bother, that this skill is not necessary for American education. I consider your accent a badge of honor, a testament to your diligence and interest in full communication with others on a personal level. Thank you!

[@silence8806]

Yes, languages open doors to whole different worlds. I wished i had learned more languages when i had the chance in school and it was easier at that age.

[@StingrayMM20]

You know what? I was happily going to comment on this video that I also hate my German accent with a passion. But I do like your standpoint that would never have occured to me. Made me reconsider. I still dislike the accent, but hatred is maybe a bit strong.

[@davidmarkwort9711]

The Americans don't speak English, they speak a colloquial version of the English language, just like the Australians

[@jana731]

Here is Switzerland we even have to learn two foreign languages.

[@whyparkjiminnotridejimin]

Thank you^^ I don't have a strong German accent but I still feel uncomfortable speaking foreing languages:(

[@hannofranz7973]

I don't why it should be considered worse to speak with a strong German accent than with a strong Spanish, Italian, French or Russian one or any other.

[@yourtruebrit]

I was not to sure, my friends would always ask so I wanted to find out ;)

[@annad.7519]

Because of the history guys. In Spain we don't dislike the German accent. It sounds sweet

[@FortexVize]

@@annad.7519 No actually it just became some kind of meme. The german accent sounds quite funny in English. I am from Germany but learned to speak with nearly no accent from the beginning on. Obviously this is not the case for everyone especially the older generation.

[@hannofranz7973]

@@FortexVize You can make memes of every accent. And, as a matter of fact, the German isn't the only one people make fun of.

[@FortexVize]

@@hannofranz7973 I know that? That is quite obvious to say the least. Still, the German accent is a meme...

[@hughjazz4936]

The German accent has been ridiculed time and time again and we're aware of it. Now we're left with the option to speak like a stereotype and risk being mocked or to not say a thing at all.

[@user-oo7kg9ew8s]

Hugh please don't fall into the trap of thinking the English don't like a German accent, this is not so. Some people simply like to court and promote controversy. To the English ear the German accent sounds attractive if a little authoritarian, and serious, probably because you pronounce every syllable, and your "" d's" are sharp like "t's" but your accent is nevertheless attractive, but in a different way to us than a French accent. Don't take "ridicule" seriously, it's seen as a form of endearment in England. We poke fun at ourselves 😊. Also, as neighbours and "family", isn't it our language and cultural differences that often make us attractive to one another. All the best Hugh.

[@maddinek]

@@user-oo7kg9ew8s I can agree with that. I've spent 5 years in London and everybody recognised my german accent. So whenever I went out in London or visited the US, people were always happy to get to know me once they realised where I'm from (which was easy due to the accent).

[@user-oo7kg9ew8s]

@@maddinek All the very best to you Martin 💑

[@juliameyer10313]

Yes, especially in movies it just seems hurtful when you hear the German accent being so overacted and used to make fun of us. But I think what also plays into it is the way the accent is shown. A harsh, brutal and clumsy tone that is often authoritarian. Not to mention when German as a language is portrayed it somehow always ends up as a Hitler impression

[@leobe2104]

Love your name💀

[@viertouchdownsineinemspiel]

Ich finde ja, Deutsch ist eine sehr schöne, facettenreiche, bildhafte und poetische Sprache. Sie hat zwar eine wahnsinnige Grammatik (ich glaube, nur Polnisch ist da noch wahnsinniger 😂), aber wir haben für fast alles ein Wort. Und haben wir mal keines, dann setzen wir einfach mehrere aneinander und voilá: das neue Wort ist geboren. 🤩👍🏻

[@yourtruebrit]

I also, it was really interesting seeing how other germans feel about there accents :D have a great day!

[@viertouchdownsineinemspiel]

@@yourtruebrit Happy eastern 🐰👍🏻

[@leonidasvonsparta]

ehre !

[@dagmarvandoren9364]

Deutsch ist HERRLICH

[@konradmichels1362]

Deutsch hat keine "wahnsinnige Grammatik", nur die Fälle sind der Hammer. Die romanischen Zeitensysteme sind heftig gegenüber dem Deutschen. Weitere europäische Sprachen wie Russisch, Finnisch, Ungarisch sind grammatikalische Herausforderungen gegenüber dem Deutschen.

[@davidemmett8191]

I find a German accent in English very pleasant to hear. It always makes someone sound intelligent.

[@tartaglia.]

It’s fairly refined but also quite lively; has a slight stress to it as well.

[@killbotter6998]

i just cant stand it XD as a german i should add

[@lemmiix]

it's safe to say we aren't.

[@vyl4650]

@@tartaglia. the stress is definetely there😅

[@yourboss8176]

Lol

[@GrafindeKlevemark]

My father was English and my mother German. They lived for many years in Germany. We all laughed at home when my father tried speaking German to our relatives in Germany. After a couple of glasses of wine, off he went in perfect German; without any wine, it was a catastrophe - lol

[@yourtruebrit]

Haha, lovely story. I don't why we think we are german when we drink :D

[@GrafindeKlevemark]

@@yourtruebrit I would say that you get your tongue around German more easily when it's loosend by a few drinks - lol !

[@yourtruebrit]

@@GrafindeKlevemark I don't why us brits do that haha, apologies to my german friends for thinking I am German :D

[@topquarkbln]

It sounds weird, but when I have smoked a little J, I understand French radio RFI better than otherwise. I attribute it to an illusion, but maybe it truly works by slowing down my brain? 😉

[@Maki-00]

I’m American and I know some French, Spanish, and Japanese and I used to work at language school with students and employees from all over the world. After drinking some wine at our company Christmas party, I was speaking all of those languages like a champ!

[@herrgoldmann2562]

The first lady in this clip already gave the answer. "It comes from a long time ago". German being portrayed as a hard , ugly language is British world war I propaganda. So it started more than 100 years ago. The nazis and the second world war of course made that impression much worse. Meanwhile people might realize that german is a language like any other.

[@franhunne8929]

You are entitled to your opinion, but you are wrong: Mark Twain was before WW I - and already relayed back to "The awful German language" - as a satirist he did certainly not come up with the "awful" himself but used a common trope.

[@franhunne8929]

That essay is from 1880.

[@herrgoldmann2562]

@@franhunne8929 Have you read Mark Twain ? I have and I recommend it to everyone since it is very entertaining. I laughed a lot about it. What Twain is expressing is, that the German grammar is quite complicated and he describes his troubles learning the grammar, which he finds unnecessarily complicated, confusing and with no logic to it :-).He gives a lot of examples and in the end even suggests a grammatical reform of the German language.He does not say that the German language sounds ugly, harsh or anything else negative about it.So I doubt that German was commonly seen as ugly before 1914 .

[@franhunne8929]

@@herrgoldmann2562 He literally titles the essay (which I have read) The AWFUL German language. Not the COMPLICATED, the TROUBLESOME or somesuch - the AWFUL - that sounds pretty negative to me.

[@TheSarahskaninchen]

@@franhunne8929 yeah because it was probably awful to learn. If He never described the Sound as ugly then He probably didnt mean it Like you think. Most people talking about the "harsh" sound of the language often mean some Soundtracks of Hitler talking, Not Sure If the stereotype existed before, maybe it was WWI maybe it was the difficulties in the 19th century, i am Not Sure.

[@PrimeCircuit]

Minor subtitle grievance: When they say "hard" they don't mean "difficult", they mean hard as in stone and steel. For many English speakers the German accent sound like a cutting knife and Germans are not aware of it until they speak a different language. Many Germans speak English well enough but are still embarrassed by their accent.

[@IIIJG52]

I mean....The german account does sound terrible. Ive tried so very hard to get rid of it and approach something more british in my pronounciation because of that.

[@c.norbertneumann4986]

The German word "hart" can also have the meaning of "difficult", e.g. in "harte Arbeit" ("hard work").

[@jlljlj6991]

I thought the same, "harsh" (sounding) would be more accurate in English, not "hard" as in "difficult". It's a false friend.

[@PrimeCircuit]

@@c.norbertneumann4986 True, but not in this context.

[@huzeyfeozer7361]

Cant say whether this is a joke or not

[@DaltonChannel]

Don't worry Germany, every non-English speaking country has the same accent problem. It's actually pretty understandable problem

[@loho1125]

I think the lady with the yellow jacket explained it very well - we see the classical german accent with negative connotation all the time so we want to hide it because we think we are perceived aggressive and threatening when using it. But from what I've experienced, english native speakers are very chill about it. I was never laughed at and I think I have also never damaged any ears permanently (I hope). It also helps to look at our own habits: A french or english accent in german is usually considered very charming and adorable so I'd say most Germans do not care at all about the accent of someone as long as they are intelligible. Why should this be different abroad?

[@dashandtuch7183]

German perfectionism indeed is a curse, Not just when speaking a foreign language. I'm very familiar with the feeling of better doing nothing than to make a mistake. it takes all the fun away from learning Something new and replaces it with preasure and fear of failure.

[@englishwithmiranda]

When I was a kid growing up in California, my parents were too cheap to get a babysitter and would drag me to the cinema about once a month. I must have been about 7 and they took me to see the Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel). I was the only kid in the cinema and too lazy to read subtitles. I was ABSOLUTELY MESMERIZED by the German language! When I hear people say that German is ugly, I always suspect cultural bias. I eventually learned German and even settled down in Austria.

[@rear5118]

Where in Austria? Especially in the country side, Austrians tend to make use of various dialects, so it'd be interesting to hear if you've had any trouble with it

[@englishwithmiranda]

@@rear5118 I live in Vienna. On the plane over for the first time, a couple of Germans were telling me I had made a terrible mistake choosing Austria - because of the Austrian dialects ☺. I must admit, it took a while to understand people speaking Viennese slang. Fortunately my German teachers all spoke clearly.

[@rear5118]

@@englishwithmiranda I see, I also live in Vienna and while the older generation still often speaks in the Viennese dialect, the younger generations tend sound a lot more "neutral" or even sometimes like they're from North Germany due to the influence of German media. But I must say that the Germans often don't realize that they also have dialects in every German State which are also a lot more divers than the ones in Austria. In Austria you've basically only got Bavarian dialects in every Austrian State except for Vorarlberg (and some towns in the west of Tyrol) where allemanic German dialects are spoken which are similar to those in Switzerland

[@englishwithmiranda]

@@rear5118 That's so different from the US, where kids tend to speak slang and eventually grow out of it. I find it hard to understand people from Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Upper Austria. I notice a lot of Austrian teenagers mix in a lot of English words, mostly Americanisms, nowadays. It seems like every sentence includes a few English words: cringe, sorry, whatever, bruh, etc. I wonder what the older generation of German speakers thinks of that.

[@rear5118]

@@englishwithmiranda Yes, the increasing use of English words is definitely true and caused by the dominance of English in the entertainment industry due to platforms like KZbin. But also due to the popularity of German rap music which draws heavy inspiration from it's original American counterpart by incorporating a lot of English into its lyricism. And especially people from Vorarlberg often sound unintelligible to a lot of other Austrians, so there is absolutely no shame in not understanding them :)

[@wingedhussar1117]

I think you misinterpreted what some people said in the video, because it seems to me that some Germans confuse the English word "hard" with the German word "hart": eine harte Sprache = a harsh language a hard language = eine schwierige Sprache So when Germans say that the German language sounds hard, they don't mean that it is diffiicult but that it has a harsh sound. This is a typical example for a false friend (a word that has different meanings in two languages).

[@virginiaoflaherty2983]

I would qualify that phrase by saying a harsh sounding language. Klingend. In English I would understand harsh language to mean speaking in a way that intimidate or dominate others.

[@GrandTheftChris]

It's not a typical false friend since hard can also mean hart.

[@athmaid]

Not really a false friend, "hard" is often used when talking about sounds in language

[@roselandpetals]

American here, just returned from Germany. I think the accent sounds very elegant and even kind of sexy. I look at a German word and my attempted pronunciation sounds rough, but spoken by a native German it sounds so nice and poetic to me. As romantic as French. It could be regional. I was in the west by Luxembourg.

[@zero.Identity]

the answer is simple: we watch many many english videos all day. just like i do right now. we see and hear people speaking english all day. the younger we are, the more. in our head when we read english, we speak it fluently. but whenever we try to speak it, even though we understand everything completely fine and know how it should sound, this accent seems unnatural to us aswell. because we know how english, as in, as a nativ speaker, should sound like. and the second part is simply: how cruel can middle-schoolers be. in that age you dont differentiate or think about why people have problems pronouncing words in other languages. so there is the part in the class that has no problems and is like "dafuq dude just say "Th" instead of "s" is freakin easy" and the others who just cant. because for them it feels like a twist in the tongue they try. just like i cant roll the r. and then there are the people that speak english natively, who make fun of it. not in a hostile way though. but it encourages the feeling you get from school. edit: to sum it up. these are the reasons we want to speak english like we hear and understand it. fluent

[@TemplePiano]

Wow, the first explanation which actually hits it perfectly. Especially the first part: Sometimes I even have english thoughts in perfect english but when I try to speak it just sounds so different than in my own head.

[@cantcomeupwithaname9813]

omg yes. Whenever a german person speaks english online all the comments are "deutscher akzent" "man hört das du deutsch bist" "Hast voll den akzent" or "möchtegern britisher akzent" so in most cases it's germans making fun of other germans. Like there is no need to comment things like that. Ok we're german of course we're going to have some kind of accent. We need to stop shaming our own accent and just accept it.

[@thorstenjaspert9394]

The problem for me is that I have no native English speaker to talk and correct if it is necessary. Speaking English like a native and understanding us is a long life task.

[@zero.Identity]

@@thorstenjaspert9394 not really no. i dont dare to say i have no accent or ever show one. but nobody ever really told me i sound german. so i'd say i at least sound similar to it. but thats for many years now- i'd encourage you for when ever you speak to yourself alone, (we think loudly once in a while) try to do it in english. it also helps. and discord is a great way to find native english speaking people. just look if any english youtuber you watch, has a community server. you'll probably fit right in. or just a big community server from something like a game or anything.

[@stephenmurray5684]

As a Brit, I do not care what the accent is, they are speaking English well and I can understand them, that is far better than I can do in German. A German speaking English is a wonderful sound. Please do not be embarrassed when speaking English, we will listen and help you if needed.

[@Thursdaym2]

I admire anyone attempting to speak my language no matter what the result.

[@Anonym-yr4qn]

This whole "shruggish German-Accent Thing" is actually very ironic, because that's exactly what Americans or Britains are sounding like, when they start speaking German, with a strong english Accent.

[@Fuerwahrhalunke]

To be honest, at some point I stopped speaking English completely (which was mostly on the internet). I prefer German (Probably because it's my mother tongue) by a long shot. I love the way German sounds. I love being able to speak the dialect my forfathers spoke long before me, which was handed down to me by my grandparents. I'm fascinated by old German books and the old handwriting (Namely Sütterlin and Kurrent). I feel blessed that I am able to preserve my heritage through the language (Spoken and written) that I use every day. It's helpful to be able to understand (by reading and listening) English, but I personally don't have to speak it, as there is really no reason for me other than trying to be something that I'm not.

[@StarstreakHVM]

Wären alle Deutschen deiner Meinung, wäre die Welt Besser. Lang lebe die vielfältige deutsche Sprache. Grüße aus dem Königreich 🇬🇧

[@wolsch3435]

I find the expectation of my compatriots to always be perfect very exhausting and annoying. When it comes to speaking English, most of us will never be able to deny that certain sounds and grammatical constructions are a particular challenge. But is that so bad? When members of other peoples speak German, you usually hear it immediately. Sometimes we even find the accent adorable and don't expect perfect German. The most important thing is that we can communicate and be understood!

[@yourtruebrit]

100% and smiling is the most important! :D

[@franhunne8929]

@@yourtruebrit Oh my, then we are doomed here in Germany. Smiling is unconstitutional here, you know about the German allergy against humour, don't you.

[@TheTioram]

@@franhunne8929 oh please stop perpetuating BS prejudice.

[@TheTioram]

Due to my job I’ve been exposed to lots of different nationalities. I don’t think we stand out much in any sort of way

[@franhunne8929]

@@TheTioram Self-deprecating humor certainly is not in your repertoire ...

[@dermihandro]

I feel like many younger germans are afraid to make mistakes when speaking english since they know that their education was well enough that they should be able to speak it fluently. It's not only because they want to be perfect but they know that they should be able to do better. I for example learned english for 15 years, beginning when I was 7, but since I'm not speaking it on a regular basis now, I realise that it isn't as fluent as it used to be and the german accent is getting stronger which frustrates me because I know that I once was better.

[@keiju.6289]

Hell, yess! You described my fear talking in english perfectly.

[@elsotto3314]

Accent or no accent, I don’t really care. I’m always glad when people try to speak my language even when it’s just goedemorgen or goedemiddag or dank je wel and sometimes it sounds funny but it’s the interest and the effort that counts. Being a Dutch woman living in a very tiny country we are almost forced to learn more languages😊 Nice video btw.

[@numivis7807]

I love Dutch! I’ve got two close Dutch friends and always love to visit them and to spend time with them. And I always wanted to learn the language. In my opinion it sounds harsher than German in a way / very very hard to pronounce but also cuter than german somehow

[@soziologeek3340]

Ik hou van de Nederlandse taal maar als je niet in Nederlands woonst is het erg een beetje hard op een goed niveau te bleven. Groetjes uit Duitsland :)

[@juergenstenzel7300]

as a german working with indian team members for many years, people in usa told me, that i developed an indian accent.

[@emray2k]

Lmaooo

[@guywith37subs]

I can't 😂😭 . We sound different when we speak English too compared to our native language

[@clintwestwood3046]

I feel like the stereotypes of being punctual, loving order and being humourless are closely tied to the image of us in the war. These stereotypes describe a cold blooded, heartless soldier. The stereotype is also scary because that makes it look as if germany had a 80mio man army because everyone could potentially be a good soldier as they already have these characteristics

[@dibingsdibingens8463]

Well, if you walk into any kind of authority-building, you'll see these exact traits almost in everyone working there. But thats of course not limited to Germany

[@Mantras-and-Mystics]

@@dibingsdibingens8463 Genauso! 😅

[@TerraGermaniaTG]

I speak English in my videos and I found out that some British or American people even like the German accent. It was always more important to me to speak English correctly than to work on my accent. I think it is more embarrassing when Germans try to sound like Americans or Brits but with bad English skills. :D

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

The sensitivity towards the german accent in the WW2 movies has another aspect that was mentioned in another context: Our perfectionism. We can hear that in these movies the actors are english native speakers faking a german accent. And they are doing a pretty bad job at it most of the time. From all the ones I heard only Ralph Fiennes managed to sound convincing in "Schindler's List" with his slight austrian sounding german accent. The other ones just sound like english natve speakers, imperfectly trying to mimic our imperfect english. They may get the "th" right, because it is easy to mimic, but they miss the "r', "t" and "s" sounds as well as many vowel sounds. So that is our perefectionism saying: "If you want to mimic our accent, do it right, or don't do it at all!"

[@CJ-ft9yo]

i can listen to a German accent all day ! I’m Welsh and my accent gets confused with Dutch, and it’s not as always as obvious to tell they are German unless you notice the s and th.

[@lemmiix]

It's probably because we understand English fairly well and even to such an extent that we recognize if native English speakers make mistakes. So that naturally leads to us noticing the own mistakes we make while speaking. I guess that would bother anyone, knowing you're doing something wrong but can't change much about it.

[@KrimtosLP]

I'm German and when I speak english it drifts a lot into the american accent due to me watching a lot of hollywood movies or playing games in english. I'm actually pretty proud of my pronounciation, I struggle more with the vocabulary :D

[@BananaRama1312]

The vocabulary is the important Part Nobody cares about youre accent

[@michahuenten1004]

Way cool video. And I've learned from it regarding the "low fault tolerance" of us Germans. And I've got to admit that I'd like to change my own behaviour and stop correcting everything when there's some minor mistake. I want to encourage friends and colleagues to speak from the heart without being afraid of mistakes. Thanks a lot for open my eyes. Love it.

[@CommanderTavos99]

6:05 she is actually very spot on and I find myself in her statement. The same in class, dont raise your hand if you arent sure, because saying nothing is better (in our mind) than raising your hand and saying something wrong because otherwise, you get this feeling of having embaressed yourself and looking stupid. Another thing she got very right is, that we rather have a 1on1 conversation, not necessarily because of something like the pronounciation but because IF you are making a fool out of yourself, only one person can hear it and the teacher is most likely interested in helping you rather than making fun of the mistakes ^^' And yes, the TH is killing me as well ='D 7:30 in a personal note, since I have exactly *NOTHING* to do with what happened back then (and especially why things happen like they happened, but thats another topic) I have exactly 0 shame in my german accent and just find it natural, like a french or spanish accent for example. I just want to get along with my Anglo-Saxon brothers and dont care about the rest! =)

[@marshall1982a]

Maybe it's because Brits and Americans laughing their ass' off when they hear the German accent...

[@richtigerkekko334]

You can see how empatic the teaching lady from bielefeld is her entire facial expression totally changed and you could see it in her eyes when she was talking about our pain with the war aftermaths and the connection to our accent. What a lovely piece of youtube gold this video is, at least for me :)

[@Nikioko]

9:09: In the middle of Bielefeld? In the middle of nowhere. 🤣

[@Betha783]

Your spoken "Lass uns gehen" subtitled as "Los geht's" even though you spoke German is hilarious :D It's what happens for movie subtitles as well but usually from English to German, not German to German

[@lenieth]

That was such a wholesome video, thank you very much!

[@asmodinaveldrin239]

I don't know why so many of my fellow countrymen think our language is harsh sounding. It is always how you "use" the pronunciation. We have tons of examples for that. Like songs, sometimes german can sound very soft and quiet and sometimes it sounds hard and loud. And I do like that we have so many different words. As for speaking english, I realy don't care how I sound. For me it is only important that the ppl I am talking to can understand what I want to say.

[@lizchildersmjfan]

I happen to think that German accents are cute. To me German accents don't have to change, because in my eyes they are perfect. I could literally listen to a German speaking all day let it be in German, or English, and I wouldn't even get bored from it. German accents are different, and I love different. There's something about accents that are soothing to me. Much love from USA to Germany!! Currently learning German, as my stepmom is German, and I do have some German in me from both sides as well. I hope to visit Germany. Ish liebe Deutschland!! 🇺🇸 ❤ 🇩🇪

[@Alex-hs9cw]

Honestly, the red haired girl speaks absolutely perfect English for a foreigner. And the old lady is impressive too considering her age.

[@olya_17]

Yea, at first I thought that girl is British too 😂

[@davidelvion1331]

thanks man, bringing peoples and cultures together

[@til159]

Very high quality video, respect. Good filming, settings and cuts.

[@ginajk8857]

The german language is so rich and loveable, absolutely NOT hard . And Germans can handle their words so creative and dry funny . , English is dead easy and I speak it with playmode pleasure. I like some accent , at least I would never hide , coming from a culture with such rich artistic heritage

[@dibingsdibingens8463]

Yup, creativity is a BIG thing in the German language, also the precision which it is capable of. I speak it since almost 27 years now, and the artistic aspects and its potential for creating new words again and again is really fascinating. English doesnt come even close to that (thats just my oppinion tho 🤓)

[@BananaRama1312]

Woooord. Its beyond cringe to hear Germans trying to desperately speak english without and accent and never quite nailing it...

[@frankenfrank9553]

Why should a German accent be ugly? I think that many Germans can be happy and proud to speak and understand English as a foreign language so well.

[@spassky3489]

When it came to learning English I was always the grade A kind of student which honestly made me really proud and I also went through phase in my life where I was very obsessed with my accent because I thought the way I talked was not the way English is supposed to sound like; quite the perfectionist like many of my fellow Germans, I guess. Nowadays I have really come to terms with my accent, in fact, I think I embrace it now. I talk as best I can and others can notice my origin as fast as they like I won't care. Moreover, speaking broken English and playing around with sounds and words can be really fun! My girlfriend and I always find comic relief in such things and it can be honestly astonishing how fun certain situations can become when you just go with your gut and talk the way you think is right in the moment!

[@teltow5502]

These are some good quality videos. I'm surprised you haven't got more views for them..

[@yourtruebrit]

Ah the best part is meeting the people, views are just a plus :)

[@wolfbrigade8042]

I can definitely relate to this video as a german myself. Writing, reading and just understanding spoken english is rather easy for me but I have next to no experience with actually speaking it. Just like in the video I often prefer to not speak at all rather than making a mistake or sounding weird for others. PS: I might be biased but I actually quite like the german language as it's very clean and pronounced with clear beginnings and endings to each word. In other languages words sometimes bleed together which makes them seem chaotic and too fast.

[@sueperfichen]

I'm German and I love the english language. I can articulate myself much clearer and with less words. In German I use more complex sentences and subsentences. I like that especially when talking about more complex topics and when I want to connect the main points. So I like to learn stuff in English because it's clearer and even easier to understand for me but rather discuss it on a deeper level in German. I can 100% agree that we don't like to make mistakes and are ashamed if it doesn't come out perfectly. When I started traveling after graduating I was quite insecure. Practise and positive experiences are key to gain confidence even though it's not perfect. Now you wouldn't necessarily notice immediately that I am from Germany. But to be honest not everyone speaks perfect formal German grammar due to dialects either- which every language has I guess. So why care if we are communicating perfectly? as long as we can understand each other it doesn't matter at all :)

[@krazat]

I love German for the exact same reason but in reversed: (Einmal kleiner Sprachwechsel.) Ich kann mich eben viel vielfältiger und somit prägnanter ausdrücken. Für mich ist gerade das in Diskussionen ideal. aber jedem das seine :)

[@ChestnutTreeCafe]

I love the German accent and the language. Please don’t feel bad about how you sound. It sounds very nice.

[@SINA-1705]

Really? 🥹

[@ChestnutTreeCafe]

@@SINA-1705 Yeah really. It's adorable.

[@obnoxiousnesli]

one thing i learned about speaking german and english everyday is that your whole vocal cords and mouth movements change when you switch between languages. german doesnt have a "flow" the way english has. primarily speaking german that is complicated, clear and "on point" is hard to get out of your speech pattern. especially english is a soft language where the nuances of words are lower, softer and your vocal cords are more compressed when talking.

[@metro3932]

As a german i always wondered why so many people thought i was from the UK. Turns out i somehow developed a really authentic british accent when speaking english. I don't know where it came from, maybe from my many visits to London and Manchester, but i definitely don't have a typical german accent like i always expected to have.

[@Aristaeuss]

As an American, I love the German accent while speaking English as well as the German language as a whole... I love how everything fits together so nicely in the mouth. I just need more practice at speaking and comprehension, I think. It's getting better, bit by bit. Es ist ein Prozess.

[@MegaMrEva]

Great footage mate. I really like your videos. Shouts out to you.

[@yourtruebrit]

Much appreciated

[@joannakader5259]

Dein "ja" am Ende hahaa auch ein Kompliment von mir gute aussprache, und tolles video! Liebe Grüsse Aus Wien Österreich

[@hannofranz7973]

From my own observations as a German, who's living in Spain now, I think it's relative in relation to other languages. You'll find Germans with a very strong accent that don't care very much and speak without inhibitions making lots of mistakes and you can also find French and Spanish people thar are somehow more concerned with their pronunciation. I'm not that sure if this kind of embarrassment is something specifically German.

[@ichhalt486]

Every person is different. Definitely But when I was an exchange student in Brazil, I found that the other exchange students were a lot more comfortable speaking portuguese than I was. I would write and read but I would avoid speaking. Because of my german accent and because people did actually laugh at me. So for me I found the stereotype true.

[@hannofranz7973]

@@ichhalt486 I've heard quite a lot of Germans speak other languages - especially English - with a lousy command and level of correctness without caring about it at all.

[@midnight1022]

My partner is German, and I think their accent is really nice and beautiful. I like how they sound!

[@asherzhangy8330]

hey,bro,I LOVE your videos,please don't stop updating💗

[@kawasaro]

I love your vids, thank you for doing that funny way of social comparisons with you as a friendly interviewer. Good questions, enough time to let develop an answer, different ages... my list of compliments is too long I realise. Good job. subscribed

[@r.b.8061]

I'm German as well. And I always, always, always cringe, if Germans speak English with a strong or even a slight german accent. It is always a problem for me, if I have to follow lectures with a nativ German speaker. Because I'm German and luckily nativ English speakers always things I'm form the US - I'm bad in British English. I'm blessed with the gift to copy accents, my French is also well. It helps me to copy different accents in English BUT even you have a strong German accent in English - don't be ashamed of it, it is very nice to hear where you are from and speaking a foreign language is always a good thing. Like this woman said: It is my personal wish for perfection. And I hear my German flaws in my fellow Germans English ;o)

[@uliwehner]

as a german who has been living in the US for almost 25 years now i can split this right down the middle. There are the ones who do not speak english very well, lack of practice mostly i think, and the ones who speak english very well. The latter, like myself, have a very slight accent, and the personal speaking voice is more noticeable than the accent. i have more of a radio announcer kind of voice. lower register than many english speakers today, and i am quite happy how i sound recorded, and on the phone. Apparently the audience likes it, too. I definitely do not hide my german heritage, but it does not distract from what i am saying in a professional environment. My german dialect is southern (unterfraenkisch) and i certainly do not hide that when i travel back to germany either. I could but i choose not to. Same thing with my german accent in English. People sound like they are from New York, or from California, or from Minnesota, or from Canada, UK, Australia, etc I sound like i am from Germany. Sounds legit to me.

[@reinhardankenbauer3241]

"Man muß Gott für alles danken, selbst für einen Unterfranken!" (German proverb, claiming you got to be thankful to God for each and every human being - even for a person stemming from the Bavarian province of Lower Frankonia, from where Uli Wehner originates.

[@uliwehner]

@@reinhardankenbauer3241 lots of Ankenbauers where i am from. Fraenkische Gruesse.

[@reinhardankenbauer3241]

@@uliwehner Fraenkische Grüße to you, too! I'm from Ebern, near Bamberg, but now living in Berlin. 😎

[@uliwehner]

@@reinhardankenbauer3241 Ebern ist ja nicht weit von Schweinfurt. been living in the US for 25 years now

[@reinhardankenbauer3241]

@@uliwehner My father was born in Schweinfurt in 1915. His father's name was Michael, a railway worker.

[@icyearth]

Great quality content, very well filmed and informative throughout. Not your typical street interview. Only thing I'd change is the music. Sounds so goofy and as if you've gotten it from some random copyright free music website.

[@randydator4848]

Great Video!

[@ncoppens]

German is a very rich language (Goethe for example) and does contain more words to describe things just like the Dutch language. I am from The Netherlands, but we have moved to Austria 11 years ago. I think the accent would be so much less if TV wasn't dubbed in German speaking countries. In The Netherlands tv is mostly subtitled and everyone can speak and understand English. Our son is 6 and speaks 3 languages. For us it was important to expose him to the English language too from a young age to prevent that thick German accent.

[@CycleTheDark]

I think German accent is adorable tbh

[@DomiTravels]

nice one ! your video quality is richtig gut!

[@DerHerrSir]

Nice video, love it

[@yourtruebrit]

Aww thank you :D

[@dusperica]

@yourtruebrit Because of hard: I don't think the Germans mean hard in terms of difficult (deutsch: schwer), I thinks the Germans mean the German language is hard like a stone (deutsch: hart). That means the german words sounds harsh (the opposite of soft).

[@k.schmidt2740]

It's the vowels. I can literally hear a German accent from 100 yards away. After 46 years in this country, it's become an art.

[@m.m.2341]

Sorry, German here, from how far can you hear it? Please say that in meters :D

[@k.schmidt2740]

@@m.m.2341 Yards are pretty much equivalent to meters. So (LMGTFY) 99.44 meters. (It's the quality of the vowel pronunciation, if you are interested. ☺)

[@Mantras-and-Mystics]

Ich liebe die Deutsche Aussprache! Sie ist so rein und klar. ❤️

[@ahsokaincognito]

This is such a good video, it seems like a tv production

[@snakeoilaudio]

when I was living in England there were so many people who spotted my accent right away and they loved it. I met a lot of people who wanted to talk with me just to enjoy my harsh German pronunciation. That sounds strange I know, especially given our history but still, this is my experience. Maybe there were just polite ;-)

[@Siegbert85]

That lady at around 4:00 is spot on... that's me. Rather say nothing than making a mistake

[@yourtruebrit]

yeah I loved that part also :D

[@numivis7807]

Most Germans are. My kiwi bf is learning German atm and I love his accent and his mistakes are cute. So I guess we should try to realize that that’s how English speaking people would see us too😄

[@CGTV581]

Dude. I loved your accent

[@the_tux]

I grew up with the English language by listening to the BFBS station back in the 80s just because of their outstanding techno sets. Hence I developed a very strong classic British accent and I can't even spell it in the way many Germans do.

[@sabinebluhmentahl9275]

Yeah, I was born and raised in Northern Germany, too, and used to listen to BFBS in the 70ies. That's where my love for British English started.

[@justacatwhocantype]

When my family first moved to Canada, everyone thought that I was French Canadian. I never had the typical German accent for some reason. I was young, so my accent disappeared after a few years, and eventually, after 10 years of mostly speaking English, I started to have a bit of a foreign sounding accent on my German. I moved back to Germany 17 years ago, and I would assume that by now my English probably has a bit of an accent again. As for what I think about the typical German accent, it only bothers me when I can sense that it is a result of someone not trying their best. I think that is a problem with many German people, particularly if they are a bit older. 2:29 - translation error. When a German person says that the language is "hart" , they do not mean difficult but that it sounds hard, as in opposite to being soft spoken sounding. Like a harsh sounding language.

[@donato286]

One of the giveaways is the way Germans pronounce the word German when trying to emulate the British pronunciation 🤭 They usually say it as Gəªmən. That əª diphthong is what I find typical, whereas the sound in British pronunciation is more of a monophthong, a long ə: (Gə:mən). Also there's the final consonant devoicing and uprising vowel tones. A couple of examples from the video. - is -> ız in English, while Germans may say ıs instead, devoicing the -s - hard -> hâ:d, where a: is typically pronounced with a falling tone in English, while Germans tend to pronounce the word as há:t and also impart a rising tone on the a: These features are typically used in acting to impersonate a German person speaking in English. And also the "th" sound which is turned into "z".

[@sarah-jl8cr]

I studied Anglistik or I guess you could also say british studies for 3 semesters. For the phonetics and phonology classes we had to decide weither we transcribe in american or british Englisch. Though I was more used to american english trough shows and such (aside from pronouncing ask, can't and so on) I decided to tackle british (I think they called it bbc english, so not really any regional dialects) english. I practiced with reading the literature out loud and with pronuncitation poems and was actually able to "fool" us-customers at my part time job into thinking I was from the UK. Still one of the best compliments to me :D nowadays without much practice I constantly switch between everything

[@bechri9573]

Loved to see the shop's display in the background: "Jeans Fritz" 😂

[@ChiyokoMcNair]

I love the German accent. I find it to be very relaxing, in fact my favorite ASMR artists have German accents.

[@AIEarth999]

German here. To me it's actually funny. I did work with many Ghanian and Nigerian people in the past. Spoke mostly English with them in private and developed a.. kinda African accent in English. It went so far that when I played Online Games people been asking me if I am from the African continent.

[@pakabe8774]

I left school without being able to write, talk, listen or understand English. I have learned to speak English just because I was travelling where nobody could speak German. I had to speak English and I did it, even I was missing a huge chunk of vocabulary. Learning a language is not about perfection, it is about doing it. I needed to talk to people to learn understanding the language. From there I developed a desire of understanding more and I started listening personal stories of people from the internet. German speaking community on KZbin was very similar to English speaking community on YT, the good old days where it was new and not that much manipulated by Google. Since then it changed a lot and most of the videos I watch are English videos (and I remember back then in school, where I was watching a movie in English with friends from school and didn't understand anything), because there you still get what made YT great. I like to learn new things or enjoy people sharing their passions. I never lived outside of Germany and didn't speak English for a very long time, but round about 40 percent of my thoughts are in English, like I would talk to somebody.

[@WilliamEvans-py4gq]

At least Germany gives people credit for trying to speak German Even if they do get it wrong

[@knuteisbar8623]

I love your Interviews. And a older couple from wales tould me that i've got such a nice accent. I touldt them it's westfalian english!! 😂 Greetings from germany!! 👍

[@stella81t]

I thought German Akzent was rough before I came to Germany! Now I think it is amazing! ❤️

[@DikWhite]

There's nothing wrong with any foreign accent, it's perfectly natural to speak with an accent. What I find amusing is when people deliberately try to conceal or deny their accents. I'm half Dutch and can instantly detect a Dutch accent, I've lost count of the number of Dutch people who've been shocked when they've been "found out". I've never encountered a German who's been ashamed of their accent. Well done Germans for speaking English, I wish more of my British compatriots would make more of an effort to learn foreign languages.

[@theresa13]

Very interesting! I have no problem speaking english when I'm travelling and there are no other german speaking people around me but when there are german speaking people around me I always feel ashamed for my accent and my mistakes. In my experience germans (and austrians) are very critical. You can read under so many comments, on instagram for example, people criticizing others for making grammatical or even typing mistakes. And some of my friends that speak english really well always comment on other people's strong accent. Normally I even wouldn't write a long comment in english under a video, that is totally out of my comfort zone. ;) I think more people (including me) shouldn't care what others think of their language skills (my school life would have been so much more enjoyable).

[@Vicky-yh4pl]

That teacher is amazing. I think it's the hardest stwp to dare speaking in public, when you dare trying you'll going to be good at it eventually. Languages never came easy to me (I'm german) but I'm studying partially in english and everyone is struggeling sometimes to express themselves and since you feel normal with your accent etc. it's less of a problem to speak out loud.

[@timokohler6631]

By hard he clearly did not mean difficult, but phonetically hard, as opposed to english or french which are very soft languages. In other words, english and french have a tendency to swallow sounds to make a word or even a sentence sound more smoothly, while in German every single letter is stubbornly pronounced, making the language sound more bumpy or "hard".

[@edelweiss-]

Ich finde unsere deutsche Sprache ist sehr schön. Sie sieht geschrieben für alle schön aus. Aber wenn man sie selbst als Muttersprache *spricht* , ist sie um so schöner :). Sie klingt intelligent und wie eine Sprache für einen Ehrenmann (Gentleman). Außerdem gibt es auch einige sehr weichklingende Wörter im deutschen. Oft passt das sogar zum Wort ;). "Mädchen" zum Beispiel hört sich wegen dem weichen "ch" nicht hart an. "Eichhörnchen" auch nicht.

[@Thursdaym2]

Interesting what the lady said re people from north Germany not understanding those from say Munich. We came across exactly this in Rhodes many years ago. Having become friends with a family from Hamburg, we were joined on a boat trip by one from Munich and the Hamburg family had great difficulty understanding them.

[@thomasweisgerber8080]

Hi there, came across your - quite interesting - YT-channel by accident. Nice video, reminded me of something I heard in one of my many English - lessons at school. This one I definitely kept in mind, ... meanwhile for more than 5 decades, ...unbelievable. This is it: From GEORGE MIKES (British writer of Hungarion origin, 1912-1987): "Once a German, always a German!" Example given for a German trying to speak English: "You mean ziss Eisslant kolt Nu Zealant?!" (You mean this island called New Zealand?! ;-) ) Funny, sad and true at the same time, ... but that is the way the English language is being treated when applied by the majority of native German speakers, .. up to this very day, ...in my modest opinion. But nevertheless I always tried to encourage my former adult students (of English as a first foreign language) to speak freely and to accept to be imperfect and making mistakes, ...especially in pronouncing words in the wrong way. I always told them: "Mistakes are our friends, ..they help us to improve." While learning to speak a new language saying or pronouncing something in the wrong way is always way better than saying nothing at all. But if you are of German origin that really is a hard thing to do, ...for us Germans being or acting not perfect always feels a bit like dying or standing naked in front of a crowd of other peoople. But if we really want to, we can change this German "setting" in our minds. It definitely broadens our world and gets us closer to the rest of the world. Looking forward to more of your "stuff" like this. Take Care Thomas (a "Kraut" with an incurable addiction to British English, ...I belong to the generation of German pupils who have been taught "The King´s English" at school, ...RP was too "low level" for my elderly English teacher ;-) ).

[@dominik6375]

I think it’s also bc a lot of ppl think having an accent comes across as less educated as well so they’re embarrassed

[@Leo-uu8du]

From an Austrian perspective what stands out the most from the German accent in English is the voiced s, which seems to be used instead of all unvoiced s and also instead of the th-sound. Also, they seem to sometimes confuse the sh and the ch-sound (tsh). E.g. shina instead of china. For the Austrian accent, I get mistaken with Scandinavians and Dutch very often. In our local dialects we don't have the voiced s at all, so we use an unvoiced s for all English s (English uses both voiced and unvoiced s depending on position) and an f-sound instead of the th. Also people tell me, I have some "singyness" in my accent. We also do not have the sh/ch mistake, probably due to the ch-sound appearing more often in our vocabulary (Slavic and Italian loanwords have it, but also more native words use it). E.g. In German the only word I can think of right know is "Matsch", while in Austria we have "Gaatsch", "Raatschn", "Tschecherl", "tschechern", "Tschwutschgi", "tritschln", etc. and many words form a tsch-sound when combined with the article like "de Schenkn" and "de Schreamsn" are mostly pronounced like "tschenkn" and "tschreamsn".

[@numivis7807]

That’s interesting. I was traveling with my Austrian friend and what we noticed was that everyone said her German accent is so much stronger than mine. (Both of us didn’t think so) we thought maybe it was because hitler was from Austria and a lot of People only know his accent as the German accent?

[@Leo-uu8du]

@@numivis7807 Hitler didn't use an Austrian accent though. The accent of his speeches was just part of his propaganda. Probably the others were just reminded of Christoph Waltz's accent. He is an actor from Austria who almost always plays the bad guys in American movies and he also played some prominent nazi roles like in the film Inglourious Basterds. Though, I don't think Christoph Waltz's accent sounds very natural, as he tends to overpronounce the s (without making them voiced like in German), which could have two reasons. One being that he has learned it that way in actor school, the other one being that Americans love hearing an extreme accent in bad guys rather than a slight one.

[@numivis7807]

@@Leo-uu8du aah yeah true that could be! Just thought it was interesting that foreign people thought the Austrian accent was more german than the German accent

[@bedialtu2174]

Wow. This quality with so less attention on YT? I think that's really awesome

[@yourtruebrit]

Ah best part is meeting the people 🤗

[@volker4897]

That redhead is stunning!!!

[@Deadhessian]

Thx to my english teacher who was british Mr Hayes and spending most of my holidays as a kid in florida, the brits in Mallorca thought i was american, the americans thought i was canadian. i took it as compliment but in hindsight maybe that's wrong.

[@ArgusStrav]

But what did the Canadians think you were? :D

[@Deadhessian]

@@ArgusStrav the only canadians i met outside of germany been french-canadians...i dont speak french...so uhm, i dunno.

[@stefaniac2095]

This is so German! Germans speak very well compared to Italians. Oh the German perfectionism 😆

[@dariogroe5867]

Good music choice in the end. British and also imperial German anthem 👍🏻✌🏻

[@44r0n-9]

How do you only have 4500 subs 🤔 great and very professional content!