Speak German IV
The "vexed" Leitkultur is another rather sad chapter in this book.
You could guess I talk about an entirely different book than this one, but no.
Thanks to WWII Germans feel guilty and using the term Leitkultur is rather "dangerous" to use.
The author reveals that ex-chancellor Schröder in 2006 stated that everybody who lives in Germany should know how we greet each other, what our public holidays stand for and not mix up carnival and Christmas. That we need this orientation if we want to live together.
Politician Renate Künast said in 2005 it would be nice if in Germany no Turkish Man would have his wife walking two steps behind him, loaded with two huge bags full of groceries... Well. Still a common sight here. She said you cannot force this. And that we should not use the term Leitkultur.
Well. Living in Germany really should be more than speaking German, no?
Take Holland. They were known for being very tolerant with or towards immigrants and asylum seekers. In 2002 another party took over and things changed. Learning their language is a duty there now.
When an Arab, who spoke their language, commited murder as revenge for a movie on Islamism Theo van Gogh staged, people burnt down mosques, insulted women wearing headscarfs... impossible over here - we have to tolerate.
Great Britain now has a "Britain Day". And Germany? When Germans proudly waved with the German flag in 2006 (FIFA World Cup was hosted here) we were warned that the world might interpret this as nationalism and this would not be a good thing.
Ha, wrong, they do it without even thinking of that little man from Austria.
Speaking of... The "invasion" of anglicism did not start in 1945 - in 1947 Walter Lippman shaped the definition "cold war". Here it became known as "kalter Krieg". When in 1948 the United States helped people in West Berlin via "Airlift" Germans called it "Luftbrücke". In the 50´s the concept of "Self-Service"-Shops came to Germany - people called it "Selbstbedienung".
The foundation for the German language started to give 3 words per month you could use. Sadly they stopped in 2006.
Why do you have to say "Body Guard", call it Leibwächter. "Brainstorming" - Denkrunde. "Call Center" - Rufdienst... there are alternatives.
"Fast Food".... they state it´s already half German with "fast" being German for nearly it describes that kind of food pretty well, no? You can nearly eat/enjoy it ;-)
German Lufthansa years ago was asked by the author why their motto is "There´s no better way to fly." Why a German company talks to their German customers in English? And that "Keiner fliegt Sie besser." is shorter, too?
Guess what - certainly this was ignored, they still have that stupid slogan...
Maybe we should follow the French?
In 1994 the sectrtary for culture, Jaques Toubon, was able to pass this law: 3500 common "imported" English words were forbitten in advertisement, in instruction manuals and for journalists in radio and TV and in departments.
And Lufthansa? They had to change their slogan into "Il n´y a pas plus belle façon de s´envoler." Why keep it English for Germans? (Not that I had the money to fly with Lufthansa anyways....).
And did you know? Germany is the only German-speaking Country that does not regulate the language by Basic Law - even though it is even named after it´s language. At least that was the case in 2006 - no idea if they changed it.
Austria and Liechtenstein have German as only official language.
Switzerland, Belgium and Luxemburg as one at least.
The campaign to make people drive sober was called: "Don´t drug and drive." And school-kids who are supposed to learn how to handle money... this subject was called "Money and Kids" - hello?!
Children speak "bad" German. At home the TV is often running non-stop, also at meals. TV wins over books - allegedly 1/3 of 17-year-old girls in Germany have never read a book, with boys it´d be 2/3 (hard to believe!).
German is taught only 3-4 hours per week, that makes 16% - France and China teach their kids their language some more... 26%.
The book ends demanding schools teaching more German, hoping it´ll stay a living language.
Let´s see.
Was an interesting read.
Labels: books
munched by Iris Flavia @ 4:45 PM
6 baitBait Bites:
Good post, Iris. Just a few of my random thoughts:
It's interesting to hear about other countries' immigration policies. Apart from the Aboriginal people, Australia doesn't really have a longstanding culture - we've always been a country of immigrants. Multiculturalism sounds good in theory - new foods to try etc, but in practice I don't think it really works. The downside is that you can end up with a lot of ethnic subgroups that speak their own language and don't really mix.
As an English-speaking person, I don't expect to go to another country and meet lots of people who speak English or have lots of English signs everywhere - unless English is an official language of that country. I think nations keeping their heritage is important and they shouldn't feel they have to change or else be considered racist.
It's interesting how a lot of countries, such as Britain and Germany and many other European nations, seem to want to escape their 'racist' or colonial past by opening their borders to whoever. A German friend told me how she thinks Germany is ashamed of its past (World War 2) so they don't ever want Hitler's racial policies to rear their ugly heads again so they feel they have to be open to immigration. Still, I think you can welcome people into your country without having to open the borders to whoever wants to come. Maintaining cultural and national heritage (like speaking your own language in your own country) is important.
Thanks, Sarah!
Yes, the food... who would... ah, nah. Not fair to you. But I am thankful Italians came over here and brought Pizza...
I do think every European Country teaches their kids English from at least class 5 on, so guess you can expect people understanding you - if their national pride isn´t too high (France - at least back then, may (hopefully) have changed).
Though in the last years problems are growing with immigrants, also from Russia, I learned from a couple with a boy aged 15.
Your friend sadly is so right.
In retrospective "we", like Ingo (born 65), me (72) and Bro (77) had near to nothing but Hitler in the subject "History" from class 7 on.
I had to say "I" am sorry for what "I" did to the Jewish people in WW II. I only moved my lips. My parents were kids back then and no one talks about what some Jewish people do to people from Palestina.
Most people from other countries say Germans should finally stop feeling sorry for what happened under Hitler, and I think so, too.
It shall never be forgotten - but I... as me, born in 1972, I do not feel guilty.
Sorry, yes. But not guilty.
And who would´ve ever thought that it leads to so much pressure considering "false tolerance".
Some English words have become so adopted, you think they are German (as a German) and that´s ok and helpful. And many English words being in use here make sense.
We are one world after all :-)
And languages are alive, too.
It's the same here with what happened to the Aboriginal people. I'm sorry for what happened, but I'm not guilty. I agree that Germany should be able to move on. The generation today cannot be held responsible. Today's generations can only try to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I totally agree - we have to make sure things like this don´t happen again - and move on, guiltlessly.
English is almost a complete mishmash of other languages and with people travelling for work and interacting on a global scale it is most likely that everyone's language will become more pidgin. It's only if you have the time and inclination to protect your language by teaching it properly that it could survive intact. Ha, even British people can't speak or spell their own language properly. With people not reading much these days it's hardly surprising that language skills have fallen dramatically. Kids have so many different subjects to study these days that language won't receive the attention that it did years ago.
I hate the term "fries" as I prefer "chips". But I guess I'll grow out of it one day. The bastardisation of the English language by the Americans bothers me greatly.
That´s really confusing with the potatoe-stuff!
What we call chips is what you call crisps, right?
And fries or chips are called Pommes over here...
Yep, it´s all about reading a book from time to time and teaching!
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