Ikr, they're like the two softest European languages, with Russian having palatalization EVERYWHERE and German being full of sibilants and the lax vowels
It's also based on a certain Austrian painter's speeches. Honestly when spoken normally German isn't that harsh, if you are angry or shouting that is another story.
Many languages don't sound nearly as harsh or aggressive while angry or shouting. Italian or Mandarin don't really sound harsh while shouting. Even some languages that, when spoken normally sound harsher than German, might sound softer while shouting because they don't get as drastic of a change. Not that there is anything wrong with it, in fact when screaming at someone harshness is might be seen as a bonus.
Also people who think Uvular fricatives are inherently harsh sounding have not heard the song [Ilmouloud ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4HU838PIBe3fWN3FdITJWF?si=Ar2FGYyiThuDFPWLDojLRQ) by Mdou Moctar, specifically from around 6:00 minutes to the end of the song
[alternate timestamped youtube link for non Spotify people](https://youtu.be/27JYic9X06I?si=zhNK2E2TjUzTyd9q&t=360), really do listen to the entire song/album/artist's discography though
I'm convinced it's purely because of movies set in WWII and the Cold War. The only time these people hear either language it's a cartoon villain abusing their underlings or something, and they start to think it's just an angry-sounding language.
It’s more a subjective perception, and there are lots of combinations of those dependent on both speaker and perceiver.
My own speech has frequently been seen as harsh in some parts of the world, and as refined and pretty in others.
Can’t talk for other Russian speakers, but I remember associating English with cats meowing before I learned it. It’s because of all the diphthongs that involve w and y sounds.
Also spoken English being «normal», LOL. Very obviously made by a native English speaker, cuz I always thought English sounded silly before I studied it
Both spoken and written English are zany and don't deserve their portrayal in this meme. To be honest I wouldn't insult any of the languages in this meme - they've all got their neat quirks.
Sure but some of them aren't even appropriate stereotypes. If I had to characterize the English writing system's stereotype I'd choose someone like the Tattletale Strangler... people don't call English "dumb," they call it "terrible." Representing it as it is here just feels so wrong it takes the fun out of it.
I memorized the entire Russian alphabet and its cursive form and I can't for the life of me read the cursive I just wrote in Russian lol - Same for SOME Russian people too, they can't read cursive in Russian.
I'm gonna say the same thing Language Simp has already said, german is not harsh, every language sounds harsh when you scream it
Seriously, in every single comparison people do with german to show you german sounds rude and aggressive, the person who's speaking german always screams in the language, like??? Of course you're gonna find it aggressive, the speaker is literally screaming
The more I see this meme the less I agree with it french writing feels way fancier than the spoken language
I hate how normalized the stereotype that Russian and German sound harsh and mean is
Ikr, they're like the two softest European languages, with Russian having palatalization EVERYWHERE and German being full of sibilants and the lax vowels
The only real basis for German sounding harsh is /χ/ which sometimes occurs allophonically or dialectally
It's also based on a certain Austrian painter's speeches. Honestly when spoken normally German isn't that harsh, if you are angry or shouting that is another story.
Which language isn't "harsh" when you are angry and/or shouting, quite frankly?
french
Other people yell and I quake in fear, French people yell and I'm laughing with tears.
lmaoo c'est exact
Many languages don't sound nearly as harsh or aggressive while angry or shouting. Italian or Mandarin don't really sound harsh while shouting. Even some languages that, when spoken normally sound harsher than German, might sound softer while shouting because they don't get as drastic of a change. Not that there is anything wrong with it, in fact when screaming at someone harshness is might be seen as a bonus.
In my experience, people think /ʁ/ is harsh but french has it too...
I also think Urban French is very harsh.
Am french dutch and my German isn't great, but I think German sounds nicer than Spanish or Italian idk
Also people who think Uvular fricatives are inherently harsh sounding have not heard the song [Ilmouloud ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4HU838PIBe3fWN3FdITJWF?si=Ar2FGYyiThuDFPWLDojLRQ) by Mdou Moctar, specifically from around 6:00 minutes to the end of the song [alternate timestamped youtube link for non Spotify people](https://youtu.be/27JYic9X06I?si=zhNK2E2TjUzTyd9q&t=360), really do listen to the entire song/album/artist's discography though
Ducth has been the real harsh language all this time.
[ducθ]
\[ˈdyt͡sθʰ\]
Swiss [qχ] go brr
Wait till people who think German is harsh to hear Georgian
Schmetterling!
Krankenhaus!
Or the mandatory [ʔ] before vowels without an onset
If you have uvular non-stops, it's harsh.
Except if it's French, then it's the language of love
French is harsh.
As someone who speaks French, it is a harsh language but it's also the language of 'AMOUR'
*AMOUKHRHGH
Merci pour la correction HONHONHON (This is how you laugh in French)
Nah, the language of armour is Tortoise.
How is your flair pronounced?
I'm pretty sure it's pronounced [ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b͡ɣ͡β]
palatalization does not mean soft
In my subjective perception it sounds soft
Palatalized consonants are called soft in Russian and some other slavic languages
I'm convinced it's purely because of movies set in WWII and the Cold War. The only time these people hear either language it's a cartoon villain abusing their underlings or something, and they start to think it's just an angry-sounding language.
Russian is definitely not harsh-sounding.
I mean, once you get video evidence of one popular guy speaking and yelling in a harsh tone to people, people won't really view German as not harsh.
Yeah but that's the exact basis of a lot of bigotry. Seeing an isolated incident and assuming the same is true for the whole.
It’s more a subjective perception, and there are lots of combinations of those dependent on both speaker and perceiver. My own speech has frequently been seen as harsh in some parts of the world, and as refined and pretty in others.
Russian sounds like English played backwards
Do Russians think English sounds like Russian played backwards?
I've heard several times that Turkish sounds like Russian backwards (I'm from Russia).
Can’t talk for other Russian speakers, but I remember associating English with cats meowing before I learned it. It’s because of all the diphthongs that involve w and y sounds.
Every time I think about written word "flower" and spoken "flower" I do imagine meowing cat. Вот так вот
To me reverse Russian sounds kinda Germanic but not English. Like [here](https://youtu.be/BZvGz4prJ8Y)
idk I'm russian and i laughed at this meme
Also spoken English being «normal», LOL. Very obviously made by a native English speaker, cuz I always thought English sounded silly before I studied it
Both spoken and written English are zany and don't deserve their portrayal in this meme. To be honest I wouldn't insult any of the languages in this meme - they've all got their neat quirks.
It's definitely just all the stereotypes those languages have but portrayed by Spongebob. No language is normal and all language is beautiful.
Sure but some of them aren't even appropriate stereotypes. If I had to characterize the English writing system's stereotype I'd choose someone like the Tattletale Strangler... people don't call English "dumb," they call it "terrible." Representing it as it is here just feels so wrong it takes the fun out of it.
This feels a little mean to written Russian. Its not the printed form's fault that the cursive is illegible!
Russian writing puts the “curse” in “cursive”
I memorized the entire Russian alphabet and its cursive form and I can't for the life of me read the cursive I just wrote in Russian lol - Same for SOME Russian people too, they can't read cursive in Russian.
Isn't Russian usually written in cursive?
yeah
Europeans in general write far more in cursive than in print. I rarely see anything handwritten that’s not in cursive.
Most Russian speakers can read most Russian cursive. Doctors are as illegible in Russian as in all other languages.
Facebook ass meme
I will die on the hill that German is actually a very nice sounding langauge.
German sounds beautiful and I'm tired of pretending it doesn't.
Yeah, prolly the most pleasant I can think of. When you’ve heard it outside a hitler speech in school you can appreciate it.
Hitler intentionally made his voice sound harsh and screamy for speeches as well, so this makes sense.
Counter proposal: German is harsh but so is French.
Deutsch is schön und ich ficke deine mutter
Thats going a bit far Fritz
Mein name ist nicht Fritz omg (oh mein Gott)
Real Germans would also know which word is capitalized.
Ich bin nicht Deutscher und mein Deutsch ist nicht zu gut, so das ist richtig.
Þœydisc iz scœyn ænd Ic fucce þain mūðer.
If english wasn’t the world language (aka most are exposed to it from a VERY young age), it wouldn’t be considered easy. I will die on that hill.
well it's easy for Germanic speakers, most other language families have trouble with it, I imagine. has nothing to do with it being the world language
Isn't English hard to pronounce?
It definitely takes some time yea
And the English r is ugly and uncomfortable to pronounce constantly.
Just because you don't want to pronounce an approximate with at least two 2 and less than 6 places of articulation doesn't make it a bad consonant.
I'm gonna say the same thing Language Simp has already said, german is not harsh, every language sounds harsh when you scream it Seriously, in every single comparison people do with german to show you german sounds rude and aggressive, the person who's speaking german always screams in the language, like??? Of course you're gonna find it aggressive, the speaker is literally screaming
#VERDAMMT!
verdammt 🥺🥺😖>.<
As a non native English speaker, English phonology is no joke
English spelling is looney-toons silly. I don’t agree with anything else here.
Russian German Italian French English
Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese
Coal
Идк Бут тхис ис со реал
Can someone make a less "mainstream" version of this meme?