# I pit those who think stereotype/generalize foreign languages in a negative way **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 24, 2014, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469 "2014-11-24T08:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/61 "2014-11-26T20:21:35Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Both of you are missing the acute accent. See Post #55. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/62 "2014-11-26T21:12:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I know some things about the German language. I took lessons in German once. I learned to sing art songs in German when I took voice lessons in college. I have seen (and listened to) lots of subtitled German movies. Yes, German **is** ugly. Your opinion has been duly noted and registered with the proper authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/63 "2014-11-26T21:49:43Z")
This is the dumbest pitting I’ve seen yet. The premise that a lot of people think foreign languages are evil is just strawman nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/64 "2014-11-26T22:02:36Z")
Yeah. It’s _foreigners_ that are evil. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/65 "2014-11-26T22:54:47Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Both of you are missing the acute accent. Dude, this is about foreign languages being discriminated against, don’t bring cute accents into it… Sorry, someone had to. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/66 "2014-11-26T23:30:58Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > French the language of love French the language of love? Heh, I’d think Mandarin would be the title-holder. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/67 "2014-11-26T23:50:33Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > Since English is our common tongue here, I’ll use it as a reference. The farther away from English sounds one gets, the more ‘unpleasant’ is the language perceived, hence the thought that Arabic and German sound ‘harsh’ … English is, despite a strong Norman French influence (and, frankly, any other languages that we can file off the serial numbers), basically a Germanic language. I keep checking into this thread in the hopes that the OP will have expanded on whatever the hell he/she may have meant, but no luck so far. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/68 "2014-11-27T02:52:44Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > **The Other Waldo Pepper** doesn’t want to let you in on the joke but he was quoting [a 1970s British sitcom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_%28Fawlty_Towers%29). It was very humourous if you got the reference. Oh, I know about Manuel, but the spelling was still wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/69 "2014-11-27T12:45:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > This is the dumbest pitting I’ve seen yet. The premise that a lot of people think foreign languages are evil is just strawman nonsense. hör auf damit ! sehr schnell! ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/70 "2014-11-28T18:54:59Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I’m tired of this bigotry too > > Girls stop hanging out with me when they find out I study Klingon :: claps :: Posts like this are why I love your schtick. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/71 "2014-12-07T01:54:04Z")
No one who speaks German could be an evil man. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/72 "2014-12-07T11:10:02Z")
> [@tbg](#): > > no one who speaks german could be an evil man. the tbg, the! ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/73 "2014-12-07T20:46:17Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > Certain languages do sound different to an untrained ear. Since English is our common tongue here, I’ll use it as a reference. The farther away from English sounds one gets, the more ‘unpleasant’ is the language perceived, hence the thought that Arabic and German sound ‘harsh’ and French and Italian are perceived as more melodious. This post really betrays that you don’t know the first thing about language. The point you’re making, which is that, given a certain common background, people can objectively agree on certain characteristics of other languages (regardless of who is speaking those other languages) is ignorant. Your suggestion that perceived ugliness has to do with distance between English and some other language falls apart at the seems when you include German, which is closer to German than 99 per cent of the worlds languages. As others pointed out, English is a Germanic language. As for ‘harsh’ vs. ‘melodious’, it obviously depends on the speaker, not the language. If someone with a beautiful voice and great diction let’s rip on some beautiful German poetry, it can be perceived as melodious as fuck. > [@](#): > > I’m a native English and Italian speaker who is also fully fluent in Spanish and German, and even i perceive a certain quality of ‘other’ while listening or learning an unrelated language, such as Hebrew or Dutch. The ‘even I’ bit suggests you know a lot about language, that you are somehow an authority; both your factual assertions (wrong) and your use of English (gibberish) undermine this authority. To give an example of a wrong assertion, you appear to be suggesting that Dutch is unrelated to English (or some of the other languages you know), when in fact Dutch is a Germanic language just like English and German, and is intimately related to both. Also, what the fuck to do you mean by ‘I perceive a certain quality of other’ when you listen to a language that you don’t understand? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/74 "2014-12-07T21:50:56Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Wow, that latter, I have never heard… but I would translate that Spanish phrase as ‘‘The window was broken.’’ I don’t really think reflexive verbs are meant to eschew personal responsibility. Ever worked in a pharmacy? People come sheepishly back later and say: The bottle broke on me. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469/75 "2014-12-07T21:55:48Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > The farther away from English sounds one gets, the more ‘unpleasant’ is the language perceived, hence the thought that Arabic and German sound ‘harsh’ … Not compared to a hardcore Boston accent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-those-who-think-stereotype-generalize-foreign-languages-in-a-negative-way/705469.md?page=3)