I think it’s obvious that I absolutely freaking love the German language. I’m been practicing my High German at every opportunity, but unfortunately the jobs I work at dictate that I need to be able to understand the Bavarian and East German dialects (which are worlds apart both culturally and phonetically).
Recently I was speaking with an American who mentioned a commercial that mocked German accents in English. That’s right up my alley, so I YouTubed it. Behold.
Classic, no? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this kind of accent around here, and I’ll never grow tired of it. In fact, I think I’ll adopt it when I’m back in the States. I bet it gets all the ladies.
Speaking of getting all the ladies, I love this guy, Stefen Raab. The name of this song is “Maschendrautzahn” which just means chain link fence. He uses a sample of an old lady, I think from Hessen, saying that word as his chorus. I love the song because it’s simultaneously mocking and celebrating the American lifestyle, like all contemporary German culture, and it’s also mocking and celebrating the goofy accent of the woman. One commenter on the video writes the word as she says it “Moaschendrahtzoaun.”
While trolling around on YouTube, I also found a pretty decent video of a German doing accents in French, Italian, American English, and Spanish. The American sounded slightly too French to me, but of course I’m picky, because nobody can do an American accent in German like I can.
OK, three video threshhold reached. If you’re interested, do make sure to check out Arnold Schwarzenegger doing interviews in German. He’s Austrian, so his German does sound a little silly to me, but it really puts his accent in English in context.
Please let me know vat you sink of ze videos.
The woman comes from EAAAASSSTT Germany. Never mention parts of West Germany with that sächsisch accent. Raab is the German Letterman part 2. Part 1 is Harald Schmidt.
Take Care
Dude, most informative comment ever. Thanks! I’m still pretty certain that I knew a girl from Hessen, and she said that’s how people back home would talk. But maybe she just comes from a hick neighborhood.
The woman in the video does definitely sound similar to the guys at the pizza shop, who I know all come from East Germany (mostly Dresden).
I filed this post title under “Things You’ll Never Hear a Jewish Person Say.”
Conor, everyone knows that you do a Dutch German accent better than anyone.
Also, it rocks that my posts have a Japanese flag.
I gotta speak more German with the Dutch kids here. I really like the Dutch, and they always have the best language abilities of anyone, because they start learning a billion languages in third grade or something.
If they agree that I have a Dutch accent while speaking German, that’ll be the coolest/lamest day of my life.