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February 10, 2012
Oettinger ridiculed online for atrocious English
Published: 27 Jan 10 10:49 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100127-24845.html
Günther Oettinger, Germany’s designated EU commissioner, is facing growing ridicule for his atrocious English thanks to a popular video on the internet.
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But then it cuts to the conservative politician attempting to give a recent speech in English – to largely unintelligible effect. In some passages, Oettinger appears not to understand what he’s saying himself and he begins to omit challenging words and phrases.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to nominate Oettinger to the European Commission originally sparked considerable criticism since the provincial state premier had little experience in international affairs. But he managed to win over some sceptics earlier this month by competently handling his confirmation hearings by the European Parliament. That questioning, however, took place in German.
Ironically, Oettinger's home state of Baden-Württemberg is famous for its thick Swabian accents and the region's motto is: "We can do anything - except speak High German."
The online parody comes only a few months after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle faced derision for his own shaky English skills.
Westerwelle refused in September to answer a BBC reporter in English, but told him they could meet for “a fabulous tea” afterward.
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
It's ok when soccer players or so aren't so great in English but politicians?? Come on... :/
I agree with your arrogance comment, but I think the more important point here is that he has been appointed to an international political role. The political lingua franca is English therefore I would some level of competence in English. (Note: I have not viewed the video).
That is why his political opponents and general muck rakers are taking these pot shots at him.
If he's the right man for the job, the educational system should step up and offer to work with him. What an excellent example of someone bettering himself? To ridicule him is to miss the point and underscores a complete lack of understanding on the part of critics.
About time we had a politician that realised that GERMAN is the language her.
The GREATEST regret in my life, is the fact that I can read, write, and speak "English".
Dass insgesamt ist Unsinn.
Fluent English would be nice but is not necessary. Globish is fine. It would also be reasonable to expect a pro German politician to have at least basic French.
( It would be nice if more native English speakers made the effort to speak International English or Globish rather than their own colloquial accent/dialect which they regard as 'English'.)
That said, Oettinger's attempt isn't that bad. His mistake was to give a public reading from a text he hadn't familiarised himself with. He accent is actually OK but he is clearly reading words that he's not familiar with in the written form and pronouncing them phonetically.
I assume that even a UK politician doesn't give a speech in English without a through preparation with his/her staff first and to do so in a foreign language would just be inviting ridicule.
Can't an EU commissioner arrange for someone to transcribe a foreign text into phonetic German if he hasn't got time to at least read it through a couple of times?
I noticed that his audience still vigorously applauded at the end even though what they'd heard had been incomprehensible.
Yet people also claim "no-one speaks Esperanto" which is also untrue.