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Just wondering what you want to express with that. Do you also equate Germans with animals or why did you share the quote? (quality discussions at HN again) Ed

Just wondering what you want to express with that. Do you also equate Germans with animals or why did you share the quote? (quality discussions at HN again) Edit: also the quote is not verified ... Seems like Charles V never said it :P

smalley 9y ago
I believe the implication was most likely that German happens to sound very stern and commanding to many english speakers. Presumably the speaker would want to be speaking German because they believe it would intimidate the horse into performing very efficiently.
- tomjakubowski 9y ago
  I would be surprised to learn that Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was an English speaker.
  - smalley 9y ago
    True, although I'd be equally surprised if he said exactly that as well ;)
  - petecox 9y ago
    It's possible he learned a few words, given that the act of Henry the Eighth divorcing his aunt (Catherine of Aragón) sent shock-waves through Europe.
    - gns24 9y ago
      French was the Lingua franca of the time and probably the principal language of Henry the Eight's court, so quite possibly not.
- kgarten 9y ago
  I guessed so. Yet, I felt quite offended by the first post (I"m German, speak Spanish, French English and Japanese). Don't feel German is necessarily harsh. It seems the perception is mostly from Prussian German ...
  - madshiva 9y ago
    the quote is a joke, you don't need to be offended
    - perseiden 9y ago
      I'm german too and feel like being offended by jokes like that just proves the stereotype... I mean come on, german is truly not the "language of love".
      - naibafo 9y ago
        I think Goethe, Brecht, Schiller and the rest of the German poets would disagree ;)
        kungito 9y ago
        Couldn't you say the same for any love poet from any language? Poetry is about rythm, contrasts, word play and many other things in addition to phonetics. I'm afraid that doesn't change the fact that German is the most memeified language
      - kgarten 9y ago
        I don't think so ... as I mentioned before the current perception of the German language has a lot to do with Prussia and Nazi Germany (first and second world war), as well as Hollywood movies. I can't find the reference, but one of the most common German sentences in movies was "Halt!" (Stop) followed by "Papiere bitte!" (Papers Please). German was before the wars considered the language of poets and thinkers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vy9aqDPYWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vy9aqDPYWA It's all about perception. I don't think there are objective measures to tell if a language is better at conveying certain feelings (or better at certain tasks). If somebody knows research around this topic I would be very interested. For me, I prefer English for anything academic and work related. German I often fall back to when I'm talking about feelings and emotions. You might argue it's because it's my mother tongue. However, I have the feeling (subjective) that German has more words to express mind and feeling related concepts (maybe due to Freud,Nitsche etc. a lot of the terms are also used in English: Angst, ... ). Sorry, being offended is something I cannot control. I know it's stupid. In this case (also pointed out by other commenters) it might provide proof of the stereotype that Germans don't understand humour :P Edit: typos
hashmal 9y ago
Many animal trainers (be it for circus, dogs, etc) use german because (supposedly) their animals can perceive and memorize its sounds better.
- pandaman 9y ago
  Also could be a safety measure e.g. in Russia service dogs are trained with most commands in Russian except for the "Attack!" which is German's "Fass!". I figure you don't want a dog to hear a word from a conversation and execute as if it was a command.
  - yorwba 9y ago
    Most German dogs are trained in German as well, so the "security through obscurity" aspect is probably more of an afterthought. My personal guess is that an influential dog trainer happened to be German and followers of the method adapted the commands without translating them. Unfortunately I couldn't find out who that might have been.
    - nunobrito 9y ago
      Indeed could be the case. What I find is that German is good as an authoritative language. Makes the voice expressions deeper and doesn't include "niceties". This is also a fruit of the culture, Germans very seldom (if ever) apologise. I wasn't taken serious when arguing in German because I would apologise often (Portuguese culture) and often say: "I'm sorry, but you are wrong", just to get a rebuke such as: "So you apologize, you recognise you are the one wrong". Even translating from German to English or other languages you see how direct the language really is. For example, to convince someone to something else we usually start with "If you wouldn't mind, can you please do (...), thanks!", while Germans will often shorten to just "Bitte machen (...)" where the bitte portion is not really heartfelt and doesn't end with a thank you. You'll hear them replying when inquired if this isn't rude behaviour: "It's her job, no need to thank".
      - hashmal 9y ago
reitanqild 9y ago
I can't remember who but we have something similar in poetry around here. Probably some old Danish or Norwegian poet: Latin for writing French for the women German for the dog and Danish for the servant

smalley 9y ago

I believe the implication was most likely that German happens to sound very stern and commanding to many english speakers. Presumably the speaker would want to be speaking German because they believe it would intimidate the horse into performing very efficiently.

tomjakubowski 9y ago
I would be surprised to learn that Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was an English speaker.
- smalley 9y ago
  True, although I'd be equally surprised if he said exactly that as well ;)
- petecox 9y ago
  It's possible he learned a few words, given that the act of Henry the Eighth divorcing his aunt (Catherine of Aragón) sent shock-waves through Europe.
  - gns24 9y ago
    French was the Lingua franca of the time and probably the principal language of Henry the Eight's court, so quite possibly not.
kgarten 9y ago
I guessed so. Yet, I felt quite offended by the first post (I"m German, speak Spanish, French English and Japanese). Don't feel German is necessarily harsh. It seems the perception is mostly from Prussian German ...
- madshiva 9y ago
  the quote is a joke, you don't need to be offended
  - perseiden 9y ago
    I'm german too and feel like being offended by jokes like that just proves the stereotype... I mean come on, german is truly not the "language of love".
    - naibafo 9y ago
      I think Goethe, Brecht, Schiller and the rest of the German poets would disagree ;)
      - kungito 9y ago
        Couldn't you say the same for any love poet from any language? Poetry is about rythm, contrasts, word play and many other things in addition to phonetics. I'm afraid that doesn't change the fact that German is the most memeified language
    - kgarten 9y ago
      I don't think so ... as I mentioned before the current perception of the German language has a lot to do with Prussia and Nazi Germany (first and second world war), as well as Hollywood movies. I can't find the reference, but one of the most common German sentences in movies was "Halt!" (Stop) followed by "Papiere bitte!" (Papers Please). German was before the wars considered the language of poets and thinkers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vy9aqDPYWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vy9aqDPYWA It's all about perception. I don't think there are objective measures to tell if a language is better at conveying certain feelings (or better at certain tasks). If somebody knows research around this topic I would be very interested. For me, I prefer English for anything academic and work related. German I often fall back to when I'm talking about feelings and emotions. You might argue it's because it's my mother tongue. However, I have the feeling (subjective) that German has more words to express mind and feeling related concepts (maybe due to Freud,Nitsche etc. a lot of the terms are also used in English: Angst, ... ). Sorry, being offended is something I cannot control. I know it's stupid. In this case (also pointed out by other commenters) it might provide proof of the stereotype that Germans don't understand humour :P Edit: typos

hashmal 9y ago

Many animal trainers (be it for circus, dogs, etc) use german because (supposedly) their animals can perceive and memorize its sounds better.

pandaman 9y ago
Also could be a safety measure e.g. in Russia service dogs are trained with most commands in Russian except for the "Attack!" which is German's "Fass!". I figure you don't want a dog to hear a word from a conversation and execute as if it was a command.
- yorwba 9y ago
  Most German dogs are trained in German as well, so the "security through obscurity" aspect is probably more of an afterthought. My personal guess is that an influential dog trainer happened to be German and followers of the method adapted the commands without translating them. Unfortunately I couldn't find out who that might have been.
  - nunobrito 9y ago
    Indeed could be the case. What I find is that German is good as an authoritative language. Makes the voice expressions deeper and doesn't include "niceties". This is also a fruit of the culture, Germans very seldom (if ever) apologise. I wasn't taken serious when arguing in German because I would apologise often (Portuguese culture) and often say: "I'm sorry, but you are wrong", just to get a rebuke such as: "So you apologize, you recognise you are the one wrong". Even translating from German to English or other languages you see how direct the language really is. For example, to convince someone to something else we usually start with "If you wouldn't mind, can you please do (...), thanks!", while Germans will often shorten to just "Bitte machen (...)" where the bitte portion is not really heartfelt and doesn't end with a thank you. You'll hear them replying when inquired if this isn't rude behaviour: "It's her job, no need to thank".
    - hashmal 9y ago

reitanqild 9y ago

I can't remember who but we have something similar in poetry around here. Probably some old Danish or Norwegian poet: Latin for writing French for the women German for the dog and Danish for the servant