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German Minister refuses to speak English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6043 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 73 of 128 22 October 2009 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Very rude IMO.
German is not the only language spoken in Germany. I wonder what he would've said if he was asked a question in Sorbian. I bet he wouldn't be able to answer or even understand the question in the first place. Plus English is a Germanic language that was originally spoken in Northern Germany. Edited by Rhian on 22 October 2009 at 8:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Envinyatar Diglot Senior Member Guatemala Joined 5537 days ago 147 posts - 240 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 74 of 128 22 October 2009 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Long thread. So summarizing what has been said here:
- Native English speakers think that Herr Westerwelle was rude and he should speak English if asked to. - Non-native English speakers say he was right. German must be spoken in a Germany-related press conference in Germany. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5575 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 75 of 128 22 October 2009 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Replace "Native English speakers" with "Some people," and "Non-native English speakers"
with "Other people." The line wasn't drawn that evenly. But yes, that's the gist of this thread. Why is it still open? 2 persons have 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 76 of 128 22 October 2009 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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No, Envinyatar.
Some native English speakers and some non-natives think that Westerwelle was rude and should have spoken English. Some non-native speakers and some natives think that he was right to refuse to speak English. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| janababe Triglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5515 days ago 102 posts - 115 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, German | Message 77 of 128 22 October 2009 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Was it? When was it spoken there? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hobbitofny Senior Member United States Joined 6234 days ago 280 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 79 of 128 22 October 2009 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The minister deals with other nations. The press reporter wanted an English sound bit to show on English speaking TV news in the countries he will be dealing with. The minister is with in his rights to refuse. Since the minister speaks good English it is to bad he did not give the answer in English. It would have been used in English nations around the world that night. I find no fault in his asking and no fault in the refusing. If the minister's job was not dealing with other nations, I would find the BBC report totally out of line. 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 80 of 128 23 October 2009 at 11:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
So was English, an Anglo-Saxon-Jute-Norse-Danish-Norman-French-Brythonic-Goidel ic creole, spoken in the north of Germany before or after the Norse conquest of Western Scotland, the Danish conquest of Northeastern England/Southeast Scotland, the Norman conquest of England and the English occupation of France? Each of these events had it's own effects on "English" as we now know it. To say "English was originally spoken in Northern Germany" is like saying "Sardinese was originally spoken in Rome".... 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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