As I understand it, "ignorant" means "lacking in knowledge." Dictionary.com supports that belief.
"adjective
1.lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned:
an ignorant man.
2.lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact:
ignorant of quantum physics.
3.uninformed; unaware.
4.due to or showing lack of knowledge or training:
an ignorant statement."
But when I used it as a translation from what I believed to be the German equivalent, a native German speaker wrote,
"Well, I would actually avoid translating to ignorant as it would sound way more offensive then uneducated…The way Germans would use [th [e German equivalent] has a slight remark of disdain, but it's not even close to what would be in english to call someone ignorant."
The context was describing someone lacking in manners, or unaware of etiquette.
Does igorant "have a slight mark of disdain," or does it have much stronger connotations? And is "ignorant" or "uneducated" the better word for this context? This question is for a native speaker.
Bonus question: How would a German non-native speaker feel about use of the term "ignorant?"
Best Answer
Well I am taking the bonus part here.
The tricky thing about the English ignorant is that there are two words in German that are written the same ignorant and Ignorant, adjective and noun. On the surface the definition is about the same as in English - with the second one refering to a person of such characteristics.
Both have the dictionary addition regarding usage: bildungssprachlich abwertend. The first word has no direct translation. It's along the lines of used in language that requires a certain (high) level of education. The second however means more or less pejorative.
So there are two German words that sound and look the same that definitely have a negative connotation. So speaking German one would obviously pick a synonym without these connotations if you don't want to be that negative.
Since the plain dictionary definition of the pure sense of the word is almost the same in both languages in stands to reason that those negative connotations carry from the native language German over to English for some speakers.
Finally it would be interesting to see what it was translated from. If it actually was translated from the German term ignorant, you should certainly look for a word that definitely has negative connotations.