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German Minister refuses to speak English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5839 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 97 of 128 14 March 2010 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Great comment! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jon1991 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5366 days ago 98 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 98 of 128 18 March 2010 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Although it is clear that English is now established as the global world language in some respects, I do believe that
the German Minister deserves some justice. How would Prime Miniter Gordon Brown like it if a German reporter asked to converse in German during a political conference?! Edited by Rhian on 18 March 2010 at 6:29pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5848 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 99 of 128 24 August 2010 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Englishbox has made a correction video for Mr Westerwelle's English on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Englischbox#p/u/8/RocsnCobCfM Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 24 August 2010 at 6:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 100 of 128 24 August 2010 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||
The presenter might have been better off if he hadn't made an error in his English in his very first sentence: you can't "finish" teatime! That dude's clearly a native, so what's his excuse? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5220 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 101 of 128 25 August 2010 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I would be willing to bet a weeks salary that there are no more than two dozen of the six hundred and something Members of UK parliament who can hold a decent conversation in any language other than English.
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| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5678 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 102 of 128 05 December 2010 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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As per a recent WikiLeaks document, the minister's English is better than some might have
suggested. "Westerwelle (who spoke with ease in English) was in a buoyant mood and more confident on his issues than we have seen him so far." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vickyyuchi Newbie Taiwan Joined 5119 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English | Message 103 of 128 07 December 2010 at 2:52pm | IP Logged | ||
That's possible and a good point. For sensitive political issues, no one wants to take risks of being misunderstood, resulting in unnecessary harms and disputes. Using one's native language would be one of the choices. On the other hand, no matter the minister can speak English or not, he to some extent represents his country, including his behaviors, manners, and also his language. He has the right to choose which language he's going to use. If he believes it's the way he shows his patroitism and states the position of his countty, personally, I don't think it's rude or inappropriate. After all, the conference was held in Germany, where people speak German, not English. Enlgish is the lingual franca, but it doesn't mean people need to use that everytime and everywhere. It's just a tool for easier communication, not a displine for people to follow. That's how I think of that. Edited by vickyyuchi on 07 December 2010 at 2:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ratis Hexaglot Newbie Germany Joined 5104 days ago 28 posts - 43 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin Studies: Czech, Japanese Studies: Hindi | Message 104 of 128 08 December 2010 at 10:09am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm pretty fluent in English because I speak it every day - all my colleagues and my
manager are American and I spent years of studies after (!) finishing school to get there. They do NOT teach this in school. School English is just enough to grasp the main points (not the subtleties!) of a news article and is very far from allowing you to handle a political debate without howlers. And even having that far above average fluency level, if I was a state representative talking at a press conference, I still would prefer to not address any serious topics in English in public without thorough preparation AND having my wording checked by a native PR assistant in advance. Keep in mind that a press conference is not about basic small talk ("thank you for coming, sir, please take a seat and a cookie, how's your wife?"), it's about finding exactly the right word(ing) for often sensitive matters. This is why companies employ press representatives with a linguistic and/or marketing background to handle public communication. An average command of a language just isn't enough here. The only thing I found inappropriate was how Westerwelle put it. He could have just as well said: "I'm happy to help you understand that point, let's get a translator to assist us as I want to be sure we don't misunderstand". Same facts, delivered in a much more friendly and welcoming way. I don't think it would have become such a big deal then. Germans unfortunately have a reputation of being direct to an extent that can easily perceived as rude - without them actually meaning to be rude at all. It happens in business affairs as well. Now being Foreign Minister, Westerwelle needs to adapt and learn to handle these kinds of situations more elegantly. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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