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'Racy' song upsets Kiwis in national German exam
Published: 20 Nov 12 17:20 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/education/20121120-46283.html
Students taking a German language exam were left giggling into their test papers after a song with sexual lyrics was used in a listening comprehension test. But teachers and some more sensitive students were outraged.
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It included a song by the acappella group Wise Guys. The five-man group has often been invited on international tours by the Goethe Institute, has played at several major church gatherings, and is generally considered mild stuff in Germany.
The Year 12 students - aged around 16 and 17 - were played the song Relativ in their exam, something which in itself appears to have been an innovation.
The lyrics are from a man's point of view, running through a list of comparisons, claiming to be relatively smart compared with Heidi Klum, but relatively stupid compared with Steven Hawking - relatively tall compared with a piece of gravel, but relatively small compared with a cliff.
He then talks about liking the object of affections, "relatively a lot", but being incapable of expressing his feelings.
He continues to talk about how the person he is singing to is, "nicer than my neighbour, and I expect that in bed with you, quite a lot would be possible."
It was this line which reduced some students to laughter - and others to tears as they failed to work out what was happening. One teacher told stuff.co.nz she thought the song was "totally inappropriate" for Year 12 students - although she also said she had had difficulty understanding the song herself.
The New Zealand exam authority's deputy chief executive Richard Thornton said the song had been chosen because "it was felt it would engage the candidates" and had been chosen with 16- and 17-year-olds in mind.
Further national language exams are due soon in Spanish and French - with teachers across New Zealand wondering what their students should expect.
The Local/hc
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Your comments about this article:
oh please. talk about somebody having her knickers in a twist...
this is all really pretty tame. There are much grittier things going on in the heads of typical 16-year-olds. Let alone the fact that many of them have already actually had sex.
Sad.
The whole song contains children talk like "I like you a little" , "I like to walk with you hand in hand"... Thats so lame. How should anyone learn a language if you serve them infantile contents that noone wants to hear. The music is not bad though.
Come on, this is not a news! There should be more important things to write about!
@iseedaftpeople & @crastin you are aware germany banned rammstein's last album cover for portraying a spanking, right?
@grimbax nz allows a wide range of opinions in a (fairly) open society. those who might have said "yeah, that song was a bit of a joke" aren't gonna make the news, obviously.
@mako - tell me about it. freizeit stomp, anyone?