Why should I learn German? What is so special about German arts and literature?

Question

Germany is called das Land der Dichter und Denker, but I don't understand why. Of course, it's because of persons like Goethe and Kant, but how does that make Germany great? There are so many other countries like Greece and India where there have been thinkers and artists of higher achievement. What is so great about Germany that it at least is better than countries like England and France (let alone Greece and India)?

(I don't mean any offense here to German people. This question is born purely of curiosity and want of justification, because my teacher keeps saying German literature is great but doesn't say why).

Answer 1

Thats a name germany gave to itself, like Venice called itself Queen of the sea.These names are not always justified.
Apart from that, whether India has better thinkers and artists is a question of taste and personal preference.Indian philosophers are usually not counted among the philosophers in the scientific sense, since they didn't follow the scientific method.
If you compare the sheer number of famous philosophers in Germany, France and England, you will find that germany had significantly more than the other two countries.
About artists : This is , again, a question of personal preference, but do you really think there were as many famous artists in India and Greece as Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, Dürer, Goethe, Schiller, Brahms, Schubert, Hundertwasser, Brecht etc.?
Nobody ever said Germany is better than Greece. Greek culture is the cradle of western civilization, most western sciences are based on greek scholars.Theres just no special name for greece (it wouldn't be justified anyway, modern greece is far from being like that.)

P.S: India never invented the car, bookprinting with moveable types, X-Rays, helicopter, tv, fridge, motorbike,
record player, daily newspaper, Scanner, dynamo, and never had scientists like Einstein, Koch, Leibnitz, Gauss, Humboldt, von Braun, Otto, Zeiss, Roentgen.

If you don't like german, learn a different language instead.

Answer 2

You already have a base in Spanish, so I would say that you might consider Portuguese and Italian first. Portuguese is written very similarly to Spanish. French , anotherr Romance language is less related to Spanish, but it's the most widely used. German has no relation to the other languages, and is used even less than French. However it often used in business, but harder to learn. So you might consider all these options and decide which suits you best Good Luck Hope it helped

Answer 3

Take the class anyway. Learning a language is a great way to learn about a foreign culture, and to expand your awareness of the world. Besides, german and english are fairly closely related, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn it if you apply yourself to the task.

Answer 4

Vee have Vays of making you like it.