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German Minister refuses to speak English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| lecorbeau Diglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 6024 days ago 113 posts - 149 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Turkish | Message 1 of 128 12 October 2009 at 6:36am | IP Logged | ||
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There might already have been a thread about this, but I thought this video might conjure up some interesting (and
civil!) debate. Guido Westerwelle, Germany's presumed next foreign minister, "answering" a question from a BBC reporter in Germany: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zqt0Jr-Gg What do you all think? Edited by lecorbeau on 12 October 2009 at 6:41am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BCPilotguy Newbie Canada Joined 5683 days ago 4 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Russian | Message 2 of 128 12 October 2009 at 6:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Why should he speak English? He's a German government official, doing an interview in Germany, there's no reason for him to speak anything but German. Somehow I can't picture Hillary Clinton answering a question in German at a White House press conference.
I think that Herr Westerwelle handled the question very well. 15 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5681 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 3 of 128 12 October 2009 at 7:57am | IP Logged | ||
I agree. If the concern is that the man is rude or arrogant, I think he was well within his rights as a German official, at a German press conference, to speak German. However, its a different situation if the concern is that his English is substandard and that he's trying to hide the fact. Given that this man may soon be representing German interests abroad, its only natural to want him to be as able as possible. Still, if you watch one of the other videos on the page, you'll see that while his English isn't perfect, its certainly passable. Him speaking English 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5902 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 4 of 128 12 October 2009 at 10:13am | IP Logged | ||
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It's the fault of the BBC. How stupid that a monolingual English (or at least doesn't speak German) is in a German
conference. How can he report the other questions and responses, which were in German? It's truly arrogant as well. Edited by Rhian on 12 October 2009 at 4:29pm 13 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5902 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 5 of 128 12 October 2009 at 10:19am | IP Logged | ||
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Pilot, I voted for your post, but probably you will not receive it because it's not allowed I vote (it seems, I'm not
sure because the admin didn't reply my quesiton). I agree with you. Edit: Votes are meant to be for posts that are helpful and useful, not because you agree with a point of view. Rhian Edited by Rhian on 12 October 2009 at 4:16pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5815 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 7 of 128 12 October 2009 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I disagree with you all. I must admit, I'm not European, so there may be more going on here than I'm aware of. However, the reply struck me as quite rude. If he speaks English and an English-language news source asks him for a direct quote, why is there a problem?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5902 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 8 of 128 12 October 2009 at 11:04am | IP Logged | ||
Exactly 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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