I am learning every week reading James McCabe`s column in DIE WELT (May 31, 2011, page 3, “Bismarck`s Fact”). This week he tells us:
English shares 80 percent of its spoken vocabulary with German … . This familiarity and relative simplicity leads to the typical over-confidence of German-speaking managers when communicating in cyberspace. They are unaware that direct translation form German to English all too often turns a polite request into a brusque command: “Please send the document asap “ and “Could you send the document asap please?” are two different messages.
He goes on explaining:
The word “please” can generate three altogether different meanings dependent on its place within an English sentence. “Please could you …?”, “Could you please …?” and “Could you … please?” respectively indicate a command, an urgent request and a normal polite question.
Sigh. Did I ever say English was easy to learn? But I have to defend us Barbarian Germans a little. Of course using the subjunctive sounds more polite in German as well and if I wanted somebody to come to see me I would not say:
“Bitte kommen Sie her!” and not “Kommen Sie bitte her!” either. I`d say: „Könnten Sie bitte herkommen?“ or „Würden Sie bitte herkommen?“
„Komm her!“ (Come here!) I`d only use if I knew this somebody VERY well ;-)
“Merkels Tipping-Point” is a great article written by Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch about Angela Merkel`s chancellorship in DIE WELT, May 27, 2011, page 3. Excerpts:
In ihrer Amtszeit sägte sie an sämtlichen politischen Eckpfeilern, die die Bundesrepublik über Jahrzehnte so erfolgreich gemacht hatten. Da wäre zunächst die freie Marktwirtschaft, die auf immer mehr Feldern ausgehebelt und auf dem Energie- und Umweltsektor Schritt für Schritt in eine staatlich gelenkte Planwirtschaft überführt wird. (…)
Ein weiterer Eckpfeiler aus dem guten Erbe der Bundesrepublik wackelt bedenklich: die Westbindung. Bis vor kurzem wäre es undenkbar gewesen, dass Deutschland Seit an Seit mit Russland und China gegen die eigenen Verbündeten Politik macht (wie im Falle der Intervention gegen Gaddafi).
Und schließlich: Die Stabilität unserer Währung zeigt ebenfalls furchterregende Risse. Mit dem Euroschutzschirm wurde eine verfehlte Umverteilungspolitik und die damit verbundene Lizenz zum Nichtstun auf ganz Europa übertragen. (…)
In short: During Angela Merkel`s chancellorship market economy was weakened (energy, environment), the Western Alliance called in question (Libyia) and our currency threatened.
And I`d like to add: With Schröder at least we were in a camp with Russia and France, now it is Russia and China. That IS worse!
Maxeiner and Miersch ask the crucial question I have been asking myself: Does Angela Merkel really want to be more left-wing, greener or more social-democrat than the originals?
At the moment it seems so. And that is why she is loosing many of her original voters. Including me. If SPD now chose a rather right-wing social-democrat he`d have my vote. But not Sigmar Gabriel. No. In that case I`d just have to stay at home. Unless the “Axis of Good” is running for Chancellorship – how about that?
I could need some help with this blog. A native speaker to correct my posts that would be really nice.
But when I asked friend No. 1 to tell me if I had made any mistakes in my post about Angela Merkel, he wrote back: “You never make mistakes, Karin!”
Well, that was extremely nice of him to say, but unfortunately untrue. Of course I do make mistakes!
Friend No. 2 I did not even ask because it took him 3 years to tell me that I mispronounced Michigan, yeah, I used to say “Mitchigan” (haha). When I asked him why he had not corrected me earlier he said: “It sounds so cute.”
My approach was totally different. I felt that being a friend meant helping him to improve his German and correcting him when he made mistakes. Which I did! What a huge cultural difference! He must have thought I am the most impolite person in the world!!!
But I am able to learn: Next time I`ll just enjoy his cute accent when he tries to say Würzburg or Eichhörnchen ;-)
I must admit, ignorant me, I did not know the perp walk was legal in the US. So I was totally shocked when seeing the pictures of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs flanked by four police officers. Then I learnt on CNN that this was a time-honored American tradition. A tradition that, in my view, undermines the presumption of innocence. DSK like any other suspect should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. If that is true how can you parade him before the courts in such a humiliating way? And by calling this “perpetrator walk” you, already in words, destroy the presumption of innocence. Totally. Completely.
I guess that is something I will have to add to the – very short (!) – list of things I do not like about the US.
Who said there was no alternative? I had just finished my last post, switched on the news and heard that social-democrat Peer Steinbrück might be running for Chancellor in 2 years time. Great! He has my vote! That will be the first time that I vote social-democrat, I thought I never would, but he is definitely the ALTERNATIVE. If only he could make Roland Koch his minister of finance and economics – but I am afraid his own party will not allow him to do so. Sigh.
Two hours left until the Eurovision Song Contest starts. Last year was great, German Lena won with her song “Satellite”. She was so refreshing, charming, cheeky. But what happened later? Instead of having a competition like every year to decide who was going to sing for Germany this year it was decided that Lena would go for it again. No vote, no competition, nothing. That is boring! And we are not going to win a second time, but at least a new face could have been given a chance, but no.
That reminds me of Angela Merkel`s policies, all inner-party rivals have gone, either they left, or they were silenced or they became Bundespräsident. The result is boring, uncreative, inefficient politics, no discussion, no open minds, the most used argument being the “there is no alternative” argument.
But there always is an alternative. There would have been an alternative to Lena this year, and there will be one to Angela Merkel in two years time.
I am so glad I never had to learn German, it must be such a complicated language to learn! In contrast I found English quite easy to learn, at least the basics. But since I am reading James McCabe`s column in Die WELT I am not so sure. He writes in English and shows us Germans all the little mistakes we are making when speaking English. Even worse! In one of his columms he said: If English people tell you, your English is very good, don`t believe them, they are just being polite! Sigh … it seems as if I had to say good-bye to all these nice compliments, I got over the years, …
McCabe also teaches us about the immense cultural differences between Germans and English/Americans. Too bad they don`t teach you this at school! He writes:
“In the words of William Shakespeare, “Germans are honest men.” While this reputation for straight talk may earn you brownie points for reliability among other cultures, speaking your mind is not always the best move. Above all, direct disagreement in English can carry a more forceful charge than you realize. Both English and Americans, for example, share a penchant for wrapping up the truth in attractive packing.” (…)
“In English we agree to disagree. We sandwich soft criticisms between standard expressions of praise. We say things like “I hear you” and “I quite understand” when we have no interest in listening and couldn`t disagree more. (…) Listening to your English-speaking counterparts, therefore requires a level of interpretation utterly unnecessary in your own language.” *
Did I ever say English is easy to learn? I take everything back! And I`d like to redo some of the conversations I had in English - you bet ;-)
* James McCabe: “Agree to Disagree”, S. 3, Die WELT, 10. Mai 2011
Henryk M. Broder in der WELT: “Die Deutschen: Faul, feige und passiv-aggressiv”
(…) Die Hysterie der vergangenen Tage hat nebenbei auch ein tot geglaubtes Gespenst wiederbelebt, den guten alten Antiamerikanismus. Eben erst war Barack Obama das Gesicht des neuen Amerika, eine Stimme der Vernunft, ein Mann des Ausgleichs. Heute ist er „nicht besser als Bush“ – ja, wenn die Deutschen etwas nicht abkönnen, dann dies: von einem Führer, dem sie vertraut haben, enttäuscht zu werden. Sie nehmen übel, und zwar nachhaltig. (…)
When I was watering my garden yesterday afternoon there was a little plane flying over my house. This is not so spectacular, but some time ago I could swear a little plane did not just fly over my house, but flew a circle over my house and the other day – maybe I am seeing things – but I think there was one that wiggled it`s wings. Wow!
This made me think of this incredibly romantic declaration of love that Gunter Sachs (who died yesterday) made to Brigitte Bardot: He dropped a ton of red rose petals from a plane on to her house in St. Tropez. I know Mühltal is not St. Tropez, but I think that would impress me, too ;-)
Instead of red roses a chocolate bar attached to a handkerchief would do …
I am just watching “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”, the German version of “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar”. Great show! The 2 remaining candidates are sooo cute and in love with each other, yes! Sarah Engels has an angel-like voice, and Pietro Lombardi singing “Che sera, sera”, really sweet, but whoever wins, my superstars are the ones who liberated this world from Osama Bin Laden. Awesome! To meet one of them, would be the coolest thing ever. Not likely to happen, but who knows …