Foreign Languages: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Ones?

Guten Tag my fellow Mibbians!

Well, for the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to teach myself German. I know a couple of phrases and the rudimentary phrases like “hello” and “good-bye” I know many vocabulary words and I review almost every night by listening to the words and trying to say them. I’m actually quite proud with what I’ve been able to teach myself in a couple of weeks.

Today during clubs, I was telling my ex-Spanish teacher who is usually very cultural accepting that I was learning German. Her response was not positive, in fact she asked why on Earth was I trying to learn German? Well, I explained to her that it came from my love of the WWII era and from the fact that I have always liked German because it sounds powerful. She told me that I was a girl in the 21st century and I had no reason to be obsessed with WWII. I guess the whole being a girl comment came from the idea that it is a war, but I’m more interested in the social aspect of the war than the actual fighting itself. Plus the trials such as the Bergen-Belsen trial. So now, my ex-Spanish teacher lost some points in my eyes with that comment. I asked her about why she hates German and she said she hates everything about Germany. She dislikes the people; she dislikes the language…apparently she still thinks that Germany is in the Nazi era because then we began talking about racism. Today Germany is a different country. It is not the same way as it was during Nazi Germany. It did upset me a bit because here is a person I thought was aware of cultures and…she blows it with such a narrow minded comment about Germany.

Well, this journal is to blow off some steam but to also address another point: languages. My ex-Spanish teacher hates German. She claims it is the “language of war.” She says it sounds too harsh and that is a complaint many people have with German.

Personally, I hate French. No offense to anyone who speaks it or is French. It has nothing to do with you, it’s the language. Too many letters and not enough sounds. I also don’t think it is pleasant to the ear at all. I don’t find it romantic in the least bit. I think it sound kind of vulgar in fact. Again, this is to the language. I’m also not a big fan of Arabic or Russian.

I do like Italian; I think it’s a pretty language. I like German a lot, it has a sense of strength to it and I like it. It is a bit rough, but that is what I like about it. It is a language to get someone’s attention.

So my question to you is: what languages do you like? What languages do you not like? And why?

As for my ex-Spanish teacher, I’m disappointed. I mean I have stereotyped before but this was just awful. This boy asked her if she meets a German, would she like him or her? She basically said no…I found that horrifying. I’m mad at her.