What is so unsexy about the German language/accent?

Question

Hi! I'm a native German speaker and even though I only have a slight accent when I'm speaking foreign languages, I feel incredibly ashamed of it due to all the negative feedback online.

Every time people vote for the unsexiest accent, it's most likely German on top of the list. Sure, it may not be primarily associated with seduction, yet reading that you sound like you're vomiting or screaming aggressively when speaking feels like a punch in the stomach. I mean, how are you supposed to feel somewhat attractive or even proud of your native language, when your accent seems to have the sex appeal of as a bedside lamp ;)

Now, I don't want to fish for compliments nor generate an overly polite answer. I would just like to know what you think in all honesty of the German language/accent. I'm open for all kinds of answers :)

Stay safe and healthy!

GoodGuyBreakingBad · Accepted Answer

I think German accents are great, I remember meeting this lady who was born in Germany, she was full-blooded German but on the phone, she sounded so much younger and at the time me and my Mother met her, she said, she was age 60 she had a wonderful personality and she cared about people... She answered an ad we had in the paper we were looking for someone to pay for transportation reasons and she called us we could not ask for a nicer woman... She just said, If she took us anywhere she wanted us to sign a paper that we would be responsible for our own medical expenses should we were in her car and got in the wreck and me and my Mother explained we weren't out to get money off of people and she was very nice about things you just never know nowadays people can be out for money and lawsuits I'm not into none of that stuff all I like do is being friends and be thankful we had someone to give us transportation but things turned out nice and we met a very nice Woman she had a lovely German accent at first we mistook her for being Russian you just never know any more about things.

jshm2 · Accepted Answer

You're being too sensitive.

Some languages sound "aggressive" or "weird" to others. It doesn't mean that the language is bad. Just that the person has an emotional view on what they heard.

Most negative views of Germans and their language are due to the war, and you can safely ignore such people's opinions. But regarding the "language of love," German comes bottom as it cannot nicely say "I love you".

It's a quirk of German, but in nearly every other language "ich liebe dich" isn't a soft sound to hear. The French "je t'aime" and Italian " ti amo" sound much "softer" to the ear.

alice55 · Accepted Answer

I think it's because they associate it with nazi and aggressiveness. I can't talk for all countries but in my country we mostly only hear German accent when watching a movie with nazi in it or some stereotyped German guys in it and they all talk in a very agressive ways so people think the German accent / language sound agressive.

Personally it's my favorite language / accent but for most people in my country it's considered as one of the worst language / accent because of it aggressiveness (they also dislike Russian for the same reasons and prefer Italian and Spanish language).

90sVibe · Accepted Answer

I think the German language and dialects are beautiful and very unique for a European language. My favorite foreign film is in German and it's honestly what sparked an appreciation for your language. People who can't appreciate and respect differences in culture like that don't deserve the time of day. ❤

nolabels · Answer

English is my native language.
I find German to be fun to speak.
I don't know much German myself, but I have a friend who also speaks English as his native language, but he enjoys exploring other languages.
He has taught me some German.

We'll engage in comedic, (to us anyway), role-playing conversations regarding subjects that we truly enjoy discussing. It's just more fun to do it in German.
We'll get some funny looks from some people sometimes, but who cares. We're having fun. Sometimes we really get into it, and it'll get to the point of almost feeling surreal to us.

I disagree about the opinions that German is not sexy.
I think that if people were exposed to more examples of sexy German conversations, that their opinions could be changed.
I think it may be that most of the German that people hear is not of a sexy nature, so it's hard for them to imagine German as being sexy.
In my book, sexy is sexy.

WindAtMyBack · Answer

Do you like to torture yourself? You say it feels like a punch to the stomach, then you ask a question that asks to be punched some more.

A language with more tonal and pitch variations tends to sound "sexier". They have more air sounds and are more smooth. Compare to languages that have more "stops" and plosives. Like sounds where the tongue, lips, teeth or roof of the mouth abruptly stop the sound, or start the sound with a burst. Those languages tend to sound more harsh.

NamerOfStars · Answer

It's kind of like Arabic- all that many people hear of it is angry bad guys screaming death threats. When you actually stop and listen to normal people having regular conversations, it sounds perfectly normal. Sometimes confusing, since German sometimes sounds just like English (for obvious reasons), but normal all the same.

I don't know if it's any different in the other English-speaking parts of the world, but here in the US, all most people get is war movies and Rammstein. Weirdly, that's usually seen as perfectly okay, but if you dare to suggest they give Tannhauser a listen, you get angry glares, at best.

cth96190 · Answer

There is nothing 'unsexy' about the German language.
I love the German language and wish that I could speak more of it.
My only criticism is not of German, but of the way that Germans learn to speak English. My old relatives and friends spoke English with a markedly different accent than today's young Germans.
I wondered why, then it dawned on me.
There has been an American occupation force in Germany for 75 years. That has been the German model for learning English.
When I listened, I could hear the American influence.
Pity.

MCheetah · Answer

Guttural, spitty, throaty sounds. Not to mention being associated with Nazis and all. To me, all German sounds like the Tazmanian Devil. Russian should sound similar, but for whatever reason, is a lot more pleasant to the ears than German is. Personally, the three worst languages to me are  Mandarin (Chinese), German, and Mexican Spanish . I can't stand listening to any of them, and they're all also really loud and annoying languages, as well.

Lochlan · Answer

Nothing could be further from the truth. Good, native Deutsch has a sing-songy pace and has a fascinating amount of consonants. I'm biased, since I've studied it and spoke it in Berlin. However, in some ways I'm sure my German sounds a bit girly haha.

Don't listen to the Scheiße Köpfe, your tongue is wonderful.

El_Dorado · Answer

Ich bin irgendwie der gleichen Meinung. Deutsch klingt ziemlich unsexy. Es ist einfach so, alles klingt ernst/langweilig und manche haben sogar einen starken Akzent, das macht es einfach nur schlimmer. Gott sei Dank, bin ich mit der Hochdeutschen Sprache aufgezogen. Klingt im Vergleich zu Dialekt 100000 mal besser. Spanisch hingegen ist die attraktivste Sprache, meiner Meinung nach.

igaveyouanickname · Answer

What? Most German girls are hot and super cute AF. Das stimmt! (The only other German I know is my mom taught me O Tannenbaum as mother and father lived in West Germany as teenagers before they knew each other.)

I think you just got some haters. You do you best.

Heck, I've stuttered since age 5, can't stand the sound of my voice or picture recorded, and am really weird with my always-being-modified VW Caravelle/Transporter/Vanagon/T25 camper.

FR_Ruby · Answer

Just because people hate on your accent doesn't mean it can't also get more appreciation than other languages. Sometimes people will pick a popular language to hate on but a ton of people also really like it, probably more than many other languages. It just depends on how you look at it. I like the German accent for example, but that's not gonna reduce the hate it can get.

AaronKrieger · Answer

The German language can sound pretty aggressive at times when the words itself aren't. Like if you listen Adolf Hitler speech or old WW2 songs they sound aggressive as hell, yet the lyrics could be beautiful.

For the accent it can be pretty weird at times at least from the guys I heard talk with a German accent, but I don't have anything actually negative towards it. I do think women in general with an accent are going to sound sexy when speaking English. At least for most accents.

TheFlak38 · Answer

People who say the German language sounds unsexy have no idea what they're talking about. When there are clearly so many other uglier sounding languages. Moreover no one ever specifies which version of the German language sounds so unsexy to them out of the dozen different dialects. Of course not because as I said they have no idea what they're talking about.

0112358 · Answer

It doesn't seem the sexiest accent to me.

On the other hand, german women I've met, while there's a range, on average were above average attractive.

Apparently accent isn't everything.

"like a punch in the stomach" is overstating it.

I mainly tease coworkers from german or similar languages that their native language has enourmous compound words, and that probably they have no word for 'table', just call it a 'flatusefulsurfacewithlegs'

Slime95 · Answer

I don't know if you know, because i heard they don't talk about it in the schools, but germany did some bad stuff back in world war 2, so people probqbly just associate your accent with "the villan" Of the movies..

On a side note, its a language kinda abrupt, but i think russian accent is worst than german.

Massageman · Answer

Some of the phonemes (sounds) used are a bit choppy such as velar ejectives, but I think the individual speaker can make even typically harshly voiced phonemes sound smooth. In "typical" speech patterns, French and Italian could (arguably) be considered "sexy" due to their particular phonemes for either, and the more frontal/nasal sounds of the French.

Anonymous · Answer

Im pretty sure this is only a problem if you are a guy.

In a man it seems passionless, lacking charisma, spontaneity etc? Youd think that sort of strong authoritarian accent would appeal to submissive women from a dominance point of view but i dont think its like that, its more middle management and thats not sexy.

Strong women are sexy though and I dunno, maybe its sexist and won't last forever but right now the accent makes you seem strong, its a double standard.

Quackthulu · Answer

All depends on how its done.

MarkRet · Answer

By nature, German has a sharp ‘grrrr’ sound to it. English is also like that to a lesser extent. French and Spanish has a smoother sound to it, like one word just flows right into the next one, and gives it a sexier purring sound.

Jacked_Jones · Answer

The German is not a unsexy language, it can sounds very softand sexy.

I think most people are just brainwashed by the puppet hitler back in ww2, but dont forget, Hitler spoke with a austrian accent and was angry, or "played" the angry guy

If German is unsexy, what is dutch then?

RolandCuthbert · Answer

You are kidding right? The German language is a beautiful thing. I love hearing German spoken when I am in Austria.  Especially by the women there.

420Rachel · Answer

I love the German language and the accent. ❤️ Honestly I can't think of a language or accent that I dislike. My biggest exposure to the German language is the band Rammstein and I love them. 😍

What is so unsexy about the German language/accent?

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