Opera

[ProphetKing]

Why yes, I have heard everyday French. Hell, I lived in France for a little over a year, and I still think it is quite a beautiful language. French politicians sound horrible because french is not a language that sounds good when it's used commandingly, like German does. Sure everyday German doesn't sound commanding, but that doesn't mean that it isn't perfect for issuing commands.

And no, there aren't that many famous french operas. I never said I'd seen any popular french opera's (although there are indeed some), but I have seen a lot of smaller, less popular ones. I simply think that the french make good operas, but I never said any were famous . . .

[Christina Anikari]

Sorry about that you just hit one of my stranger pet peeves. I just tend to get annoyed when everybody love something i personally don't like and especially when they attribute something to it that i can't recognize in any way, shape or form. As such it is related to the reason for my opinions on the Tomb Raider series or the depth of The Matrix.

[ZeroForever]

nope... personally not worth the cost to me.

[Mistress Guendolen]

I'd be willing to try seeing one at some point, as I'm open for new cultural experiences, but I'm not in any hurry. And if I never see one I won't be particularly upset.

[May-chan]

people have this terrible stereotype that germanic and slavic languages are horrible cursing harsh languages because the only times they hear it are in documentaries on hitler or stalin...

[Christina Anikari]

Yeah. German and russian can be much more melodic than french or spanish and at times even italian. Also at least german doesn't sound at all harsh in everyday usage as anybody who has ever seen a non-dubbed german movie will know. Other germanic languages are almost never harsh. The primary apart from german are: English, dutch, danish, swedish, norwegian, icelandic and faroeic. I know how all of these sound as i live right in the middle of it and harsh is probably the last word i would use about most of them. Danish for example is the most monotonous language in the world. No matter what then most language stereotypes are quite far off in my opinion, the only one i can think of that fits is the one for italian.

[Aaron]

people have this terrible stereotype that germanic and slavic languages are horrible cursing harsh languages because the only times they hear it are in documentaries on hitler or stalin...

Given that I made the first comment about this in this thread, I'm going to assume that this was directed, at least in part, to me.

I hear them on quite a regular basis, actually. I have friends who are Russian and speak Russian on a regular basis, I have friends who are German and speak German on a regular basis. I'm not fluent, or even conversational, in either, but I know damn well how they sound. So let's not make up where other people have heard other languages spoken. If you want to know where I've heard them, feel free to ask, but don't make up my argument for your own point.

If you wish to point out that the family consists of more than I think, sure, because I didn't know that most of those languages were part of the family (most I thought were either romance or part of different families), so I was wrong in that.

But just as Terra is allowed think whatever she wants about French or any other language, I'm allowed to think the same about other languages I've heard, and sorry if you don't like it, but I've heard enough German and Russian in everyday use to know how these languages sound and what I think when I hear them. I think French sounds absolutely ridiculous when trying to be forceful. Spanish sounds just a little less, and Italian sounds a little less than that.

And if this sounds needlessly harsh, sorry, but it's one of my biggest pet peeves to, whether directly or indirectly, make belittling statements about someone or their experiences that they have no basis (or right) to make.

[May-chan]

Well no, it was not directed at you specifically. But I have experienced it all too much and it is too one of my pet peeves, being half German with many native German family members, that people do run tremendously with the assumption that such a language is no good. And I am equally annoyed that everyone seems to adore the romance languages, which I personally think are unamusing (especially after taking four years of Latin, from which they originate...) Too many people swoon over the French and Paris and their Hollywood ideals and such and it really makes me sick.

And being familiar enough with the languages and being a listener of opera all throughout my life: whenever I mention German some wise*** has to burst out with some garbled nonsense as if trying to imitate the German they see from TV bad guys, and then usually finish off with a remark to the tone of "if you like German you must be a nazi" (which is particularly offensive as my German ancestors were Catholics and Jews who fled).

So this whole darn taboo on Germanic and eastern European cultural experiences is bothersome to me.