As first Coach of the Bundesliga, Dutch Huub Stevens insists that his players have to speak German only. Hertha-star Marcelinho: “I’m doing that as the Coach is the boss. But German is so darn difficult”. Bundesliga is discussing about Stevens decision. Can you force someone to speak an official language? Bayern’s Bixente Lizarazu is in Munich since six years and still doesn’t speak a word German. The French understands German, but uses other languages. If he doesn’t understand Hitzfeld’s tactical explanations, then he asks Elber in Spanish. And recently he insulted Niko Kovac in English before their fight. Lizarazu just isn’t interested in speaking German… Does he have to speak German if Hitzfeld is ordering it? The famous Soccer-Lawyer Christoph Schickhardt: “Yes! The employer has the right to give instructions. I wouldn’t tolerate it in my law firm if my employees would communicate in a foreign language.” Does DFL take over the Stevens-decision? League media boss Tom Bender: “The players are having an easier life if they learn the language, but we don’t insist on it”. What do Stevens’ colleagues do? In all clubs the team meetings are in German, but e.g. at HSV Coach Jara is talking Spanish with his Argentineans Romeo and Ledesma. Questionable though that he learns Japanese for his new star Takahara… And other sports? In basketball and football English is the official language. In hockey it depends on the nationality of the Coach. Cologne’s Zach curses in German…
I don't see what the problem is, if Stevens wants that to be his policy then so be it. My own opinion however is that it is a bit stupid to insist that foreign players must speak german. First of all because German is not a world language, and secondly would Huub refuse to sign/pick for example Zidane or Figo merely because they can't sprechen Deutsch? Just hire some student or someone to interpret! By the way Lizarazu may not have any German but he does speak very good English as well as Spanish & French.
If you ask me, I think it is kind of insulting of Lizarazu to refuse to learn German. He's basically saying to Bayern's fans that he's not really interested in their culture and that of the city he's been living in for the past six years. He's the typical "Söldner" - only playing in Munich for the paycheck. I also think it's an embarrasment that the German basketball league operates in English. The two (?) football teams I can understand, because they're basically foreign subsidiaries of the NFL with almost exclusively American players. But an entire league? The funniest thing is listening to Canadian hockey players speak German. They are terrible at it, but at least most of them make at least some effort.
There is also a semi-pro American Football league in Germany. The finals since 1997 04.10.1997 Braunschweig Lions - Cologne Crocodiles 26:23 Hamburg 14800 03.10.1998 Braunschweig Lions - Hamburg Blue Devils 20:14 Hamburg 22100 09.10.1999 Braunschweig Lions - Hamburg Blue Devils 25:24 Hamburg 30400 07.10.2000 Cologne Crocodiles - Braunschweig Lions 31:29 Braunschweig 20300 06.10.2001 Hamburg Blue Devils - Braunschweig Lions 31:13 Hannover 23193 12.10.2002 Hamburg Blue Devils - Braunschweig Lions 16:13 Braunschweig 21097
And while we're at it, I think it's an embarrassment that so many German teams (excluding soccer) have English names: Braunschweig Lions? Cologne Crocodiles? Hamburg Blue Devils? What a joke. It's even sadder to see clubs with a certain amount of tradition - like the DEG - changing their names to make them more "fashionable": DEG MetroStars, Berlin Capitals (Preußen Berlin was way cooler and had tradition too), Iserloon Roosters for crying out loud. Do these clubs have any idea how silly they look with their shiny new English names?
I don't really care about that. The joke rather is that every third team is called Lions or Wolves (either German or English). Regarding DEG it was a necessary step for them to survive, Metro is the corporation buying them, before they were one of the few clubs without additional name (which is extremely bad marketing-wise, which is also the reason for Preußen to change their name in Caps (and their most stupid name was Preußen Devils)). Roosters is admittedly kind of stupid, but it is thought to be fun for a rural club. The hockey names are tons better than the basketball names, which almost include the sponsor name. And in general I don't think that it's stupid for them to act in English. Hockey, American Football and Basketball all are American sports and probably the majority of the players in Germany is from North America. Also, in these sports you simply grow up with the English terms (except for hockey if you learn it in Bavaria), so it rather would be stupid to re-translate it.
Well, I never heard of this guy or his movement. My favourite part is the taxi drivers introducing English - probably this guy can't differ from several languages; at least I always got the feeling that the taxi drivers neither speak German nor English . He's right though that Deutsche Telekom are offenders, but rather not in a language context
I agree that most of the names sound stupid (but; at least in football, it's the same everywhere in Europe. In the European cup you have to play against teams like Graz Giants, Helsinki Roosters etc.) Best team name ever: RÜSSELSHEIM RAZORBACKS (German football league)
From the article: ----------------------------------- However many German businesses say it is essential to speak English. Car giant Mercedes even pays for its workers to take language lessons. ------------------------------------ This is complete BS. There is a difference between learning English properly (which should be encouraged) and speaking an ugly mishmash of English and German in everyday life. The latter leads to mistakes in English such as "Facelifting" and "Handy", which are not words we use in English. Personally, I like the way they do it in Quebec, where shop signs and (I think) radio and TV broadcasts must be in French wherever possible. This is actually an issue I feel quite strongly about, since I spent a lot of time learning to speak German fluently - I hate to see the language being corrupted.
I could not agree with more on this point. The misuse of english in Germany is awful, and mainly the fault of advertisers (almost every ad on TV has an English catchphrase now) and the parts of media. When I first came to Germany a few years ago, I was stunned when almost all I heard on the radio stations were songs in English, even those by German artists! I see two things happening as a result, complete misuse of english words as you said (handy, catching, mobbing, bodybags, etc) on one hand, and silly "germanizing" of english words (gecovered, downgeloaded etc) when the original word would be fine. I could list many more examples of this. As I am also a student of the german language, I too hate to see it developing like this.
Sure there are lots of words used in a wrong sense. What's even worse than in your version is that it's usually written like 'gecovert' and 'downgeloadet' to get a German ending. But I think it's old way of international standardizing that is happening since centuries and even longer. The old Greeks and Romans would probably turn around in their graves if they knew what happened with their words in many different languages. Also, it's not that it didn't happen the other way round - also in English there are many German or French words being used in a wrong way.
That is a valid point, but this is not really a case of language evolution, more a case of one language suddenly trying to be like another. German people have always had a reputation for excellent English but this is changing. I read an article once where a German expert summed it up well by saying the way things are going Germans will no longer be able to speak good English or good German!
Languages evolve. German borrows lots of words from English and other languages as well. Do people order "pommes frites" in the local Imbiss? English probably borrows more than any other language, but I don't see too much of a problem with German borrowing from elsewhere. Look at France. It's actually illegal to use the word "computer" in advertisements, newpapers, etc. Instead, you're supposed to use the French word which would translate to something like "calculating machine." However, most people simply say "computer" with a French accent. My point is that all languages change, and without that change a language becomes stagnated. If Latin hadn't changed, we wouldn't have French, Italian, Portugese, Spanish, Romanian, and all the various dialects of Romance languages. If Old German hadn't evolved, we wouldn't have modern German, Dutch or English.
In Quebec, where they see their language and distinct culture accutely threatened by the 300 or so million English speakers they are surrounded by, you can bet they do not say computer, they say Ordinateur. They also don't say "le parking" like the French, but rather "le stationnement". I'm 100 percent in favor of the law they have in France. At least someone is doing something to prevent the McDonaldization that threatens the rest of the world. As EK 1 says, there's something remarkably silly about watching German TV and seeing every single company with an English slogan. "Doo-glass (Douglas)/Come in and find out", "Mannesmann: the telephone people" and on and on. It's like the Iserlohn Roosters thing - it just looks like they're trying too hard to be something they're not, namely American.
Well, I suppose you and the French government can try to stop the evolution of languages. It's wasted effort though. I'd rather drink a good German beer and not worry about it.
The French government and language authority (forget what it's called) are doing the right thing, I applaud their efforts. Similar efforts are slowly starting here in Germany too. I repeat again this is not language evolution as we know it, there is no precedent for the effects of modern day globalization and the information age.
Lizarazu CAN unterstand German and even speaks German a little bit. I've heard this from an other big Bayern supporter who often watches Bayern trainings. But Lizarazu refuses to speak German in interviews. And olafgb is right, some tactical explanations are translated by Elber or are in English (by Hitzfeld). I hope the Germans will speak more GERMAN in the future again. German is a wonderful language. Many famous poems are in German. But currently the "Americanization" is a strong trend in Germany, especially in business (language).
Re: Re: Speak German in Berlin Today after the victoy vs. Nuernberg (2:0) Lizarazu spoke German fluently (!!) in an interview on SAT.1.
Re: Re: Re: Speak German in Berlin Yes, he started with that last week after the officials demanded that.
The reason so many languages, especially in the West, are so similar is because of this type of "corruption". It's natural and normal when people mix. I'm learning Spanglish right now..lol
i lived in germany for 4 years, so i speak the language too, but i dn't think its that stupid that they use english words. Whats the big deal, like people have already said, thats the way languages and things change. should we just call bratwurst sausages then? I guess we should come up with an english name for fajitas and burritos? NO more gesundheit i guess. We should use the words computer, audio, or video in english for example either. Hell why don't we just go through and develop a whole new language, thats what we would have to do. Just except the fact that their are influences out there, languages and cultures change and evolve. Its only ultra-conservatives who are afraid of their "perfect" little world from changing that get all hussy and fussy about this. We probably should use the words wunderkind and zeitgeist in english either i guess. If u catch my point, languages have always effected one another. Why try and stop things that just naturally happen?