The German language has taken the Indian population by storm because of its growing popularity and a wide scope. Though popular, this particular language is difficult to perfect, because of its gender specifications. But before we take you through the German road, let us give you a little background.
Facts first!
Image Credit – thenookybox.com
- After French, German is the most popular language in India.
- It is not only spoken in Germany but is native to many other countries like Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg.
- The German language is the home to a lot of employment opportunities in the world. Fluency in the language can land you in a high profile job.
- With the rising trend of digital media, the German language has opened up doors for content writers and proofreaders with fluent German and has increased their demand.
- It has created a room for more business opportunities, like opening up of some of the best learning institutes, specializing in the German language. There are a lot of institutes that offer German language courses in Delhi.
Emerging popularity of the language
Image Credit – qx104fm.com
The German language has gained recognition because of its over complicated nature as a language. Unlike the English language, German is a lot more complex and twisted, when it comes to playing with the gender roles.
English is a gender-neutral language that categorizes male and female under a single category. Both male and female are put into one particular category. For example, there is no separate word for a female doctor or a female teacher or a female actor.
However, in the German language, there are three genders that are associated with the nouns.
- Der for masculine gender
- Die for feminine fender
- Das for neutral gender.
A major confusion that major learners face is the different genders associated with nouns, which doesn’t make sense. It’s a common dilemma that everyone faces. But don’t stress out, we’re here to help.
The dilemma
Image Credit – merriam-webster.com
In the German language, you might think those objects are also gender-specific. For example, a clock is die Uhr (feminine clock) and a table is der tisch (masculine table). Why is there such gender discrimination in language?
If you carefully dig the roots of the language, you will realize that the person or the object is not being categorized in the three gender forms, but the word in play. There are a few rules in the German language that explain the gender role in each noun, which plays an integral part.
Despite all the rules in the German language about nouns, it is considered to be a sexist language. In English, where a teacher is a teacher, a surgeon is a surgeon, and an actor is an actor, irrespective of the gender of the professions, the German language has its own version of gender specification as mentioned under:
- A male waiter is called der Kellner and a female waiter is called die Kellnerin.
- A male actor is called der Schauspieler, whereas its female counterpart is called die Schauspielerin. Interesting, right?
Conclusion
Despite sexism in language, German is the most spoken popular language, and the most sought after, because of these interesting complications. So go for the best German Language Institute in Delhi and find it out yourself!