German language, (RTE radio ad.)

Banjo String

Just heard an ad on RTE radio encouraging us to learn the German language.

Why?

Is an invasion is imminent or something?

I don't want to speak German!

I'll never speak that language, nein, nein, NEIN!

eviltwin

Heard that the other day, I thought it was a joke, a Gift Grub type sketch or something. Very odd ad indeed.

Banjo String

eviltwin wrote: »

Heard that the other day, I thought it was a joke, a Gift Grub type sketch or something. Very odd ad indeed.

They'll pass a motion in the dail making it mandatory, (if Germany tell them to)

I'm scared!

iDave

Heard it on Newstalk too.

Kylo Ren

SamHall wrote: »

Is an invasion is imminent or something?

If there was an invasion coming, why would the invaders want the country they are about to attack knowing the German language?

If anything it's in their advantage for us not to know the language as a lot of Germans know English as a second language while we only know English and scraps of Irish.

What a stupid statement.

Der Führer will be pleased to know the country he is about to seize is not very competent.

Wohoo I am ahead of the game so. One of my gfs works with german - translation teaching writing and that sort of thing - and has been teaching us as a kind of hobby. I have to admit to being _really_ bad at it but I have managed over two years to pick up more than I did during 6 years of schooling in it.

Tabnabs

It's sponsored by the Dept of Emigration. How else are the government supposed to provide jobs for the school leavers and college graduates?

Sagi

well, many companies in Ireland are looking for german speakers (that's why I moved here) so might be useful, also learning a language is always beneficial.

ColeTrain

Our German overlords deserve our airwaves. If only their porn made onto our screens. Winning streak followed by a bitta riding from dussledorf would be sound

Banjo String

Keno 92 wrote: »

What a stupid statement.

Der Führer will be pleased to know the country he is about to seize is not very competent.

I see you have a German sense of humour.

Triangla

Joblessness is an issue in Ireland so a lot of people are emigrating, mainly to the UK and English speaking countries far away.

Germany has been in the papers a lot in the last few years.

It is seen as the power house of Europe which is doing well economically in this recession.

Language schools are looking to cash in by offering German to those looking to emigrate and widen their options.

Real Life

I heard this ad and i wanted to check the website when i got home but i forgot it. Anyone know what it is?

Morag

Sprechen Sie Deutsche?

jester77

Morag wrote: »

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Lesson 1

Rasheed

I'd rather learn Mandarin. German sounds like you're trying to clear your throat.

snubbleste

Swiss, Austrian & German governments are trying to positively encourage the use of German and that it is not a difficult language to learn.
The reason for the ad campaign is to foster demand for German in Irish schools

Foreign language skills are notoriously bad in this country, but when we look at the languages we learn in schools we seem to follow our heart not our head. With 63% of Irish secondary schools choosing to teach French above other languages. It makes one wonder are we sufficiently jobs orientated in our language teaching. Well the German Embassy along with its Austrian and Swiss counterparts is launching German Connects and initiative to push for a bigger chunk of the language teaching pie to go to German and Pat was joined in studio by the German Ambassador Dr Eckhard Lubkemeier. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/today-with-pat-kenny/programmes/2013/0221/368868-today-with-pat-kenny-thursday-21st-february-2013/?clipid=1004489

http://germanconnects.ie/

jester77

snubbleste wrote: »

Swiss, Austrian & German governments are trying to positively encourage the use of German and that it is not a difficult language to learn.
The reason for the ad campaign is to foster demand for German in Irish schools

http://germanconnects.ie/

They have a point. German is a relatively easy language to learn, it's the most widely spoken language within the EU and the German speaking countries are the economically strongest within the EU.

Caliden

Half of Europe learn a foreign language(English) as well as their native language. What's the harm in educating yourself?

munchkin_utd

The German job office has a shade over 700,000 jobs waiting to be filled on their website as of the last time I looked last night.
A lot are manual jobs but a lot are skilled jobs that there just arent enough young educated germans out there to fill the positions.

Getting one of those 700,000 jobs isnt the worst of reasons to learn the lingo to be honest.

Happyturtle00

Having learned German in school and college and having travelled around Europe a bit, I'll admit that German is a useful language to have. However, Spanish, Italian and French are definitely easier languages to learn. With this in mind, and the general consensus that a lot of Germans speak good English, the incentive isn't there to learn German ahead of another EU language

KTRIC

I lived in Germany for two and a half years and spent a lot of time there on holiday before that. I'd have to say the job market is great, the food and drink is fantastic, as is the countryside, the motorways, the general infrastructure. Well why didn't you stay I hear you say ??

The FUCKING Germans, thats why !! they're some of the most infuriating people I've come across.

SEPT 23 1989

Papiere Bitte:(

Shenshen

Rasheed wrote: »

I'd rather learn Mandarin. German sounds like you're trying to clear your throat.

In all fairness, Mandarin sounds like you just hit your hand with a hammer....

suicide_circus

Shenshen wrote: »

In all fairness, Mandarin sounds like you just hit your hand with a hammer....

or your head, repeatedly.

Rasheed

Shenshen wrote: »

In all fairness, Mandarin sounds like you just hit your hand with a hammer....

I love the sound of mandarin! Each to their own I suppose.

ancapailldorcha

Be more useful than learning Irish in fairness. Probably easier too.

OneArt

susieq124 wrote: »

Having learned German in school and college and having travelled around Europe a bit, I'll admit that German is a useful language to have. However, Spanish, Italian and French are definitely easier languages to learn. With this in mind, and the general consensus that a lot of Germans speak good English, the incentive isn't there to learn German ahead of another EU language

Spanish and Italian are easier than German I think, but French is a b!tch to learn. I did it from when I was 7 to 15 and still don't remember anything. The grammar just gets more difficult and its pronunciation is next to impossible to understand. I'm glad French is confined mostly to France! In comparison German is MUCH easier.

Yes, I'm a bitter ex-French student.

Reoil

To be fair, more people will be able to understand the German, compared to the handful if was in Irish...

monkeypants

Triangla wrote: »

It is seen as the power house of Europe which is doing well economically in this recession.

Not sure how much longer that will be the case if they continue on their mission to make everyone in Europe too poor to buy the stuff they make. There's always China I suppose.

SEPT 23 1989

donegal_road wrote: »

because an RTE director's daughter has a German boyfriend and he is setting up a German language institute somewhere like Stillorgan

In any other country this post could be taken as a joke

Franticfrank

Well I'd be happier hearing German language/German accents rather than those horrendously annoying English accented radio advertisements. The reality is that there are jobs in Germany right now and it's an attractive destination for those who can speak the language. A 1.5 hour flight to Berlin or Frankfurt is much better than heading all the way to Australia. Still, though in terms of general usage, stats show that German comes 10th in terms of the worlds most spoken languages. If you're not emigrating to Germany, learn Chinese.

The German ambassador was on Pat Kenny last week talking about this.
The German (+Austrian + Swiss) governments have rolled out language programs in other countries and are now bringing it to Ireland.

It is for general cultural reasons and to fill German speaking jobs in Ireland and for jobs in Germany.

There are worse things you could do with your time.

ancapailldorcha

If it would help encourage the Germans create job over here, then I say it's a great idea.

snubbleste

Does anyone else think that it is a very clever audio advertisement?
Even though approx a quarter of it is in a foreign language, we can all understand it. It really does get its intended message across.

ado100

I'd much prefer to have learnt German in school rather than wasting my time learning Irish just to keep the oatmeal sock brigade happy!

El Siglo

I did German in school and much preferred it to Irish but our German teacher was atrocious and the class was full of scumbags so it didn't make the learning easy. Having said that I would like to learn German again, not least because it'll make watching war films more understandable and when the invasion does come I won't get caught out by being told "Good luck".

Son Of A Vidic

SamHall wrote: »

Is an invasion is imminent or something?

Dude, you missed the memo, they amalgamated us into The Reich quite a while ago.

Shenshen

El Siglo wrote: »

I did German in school and much preferred it to Irish but our German teacher was atrocious and the class was full of scumbags so it didn't make the learning easy. Having said that I would like to learn German again, not least because it'll make watching war films more understandable and when the invasion does come I won't get caught out by being told "Good luck".

As a native German, I can assure you that understanding German does not make watching war films any more understandable.
9 times out of 10, those extras aren't talking German, but plain old universal gibberish.

Capt'n Midnight

SamHall wrote: »

I'll never speak that language, nein, nein, NEIN!

You might have spoken too soon.





But we are hopeless at languages compared to the competition. If you spoke German you could get any number of call centre jobs in this country.

Apanachi

Learning German is a pretty damned good idea, I live in Germany and speak fluent German and am amazed at how many Irish companies are looking for Germans or German speakers to come over and work for them (it's a shame I'm stuck here for the next few years, or else I'd be on the next plane out to to Ireland to live.

Shenshen wrote: »

9 times out of 10, those extras aren't talking German, but plain old universal gibberish.

I had a good laugh at Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) speaking German in one of the 24 seasons

He did his best, but there's no way he would have fooled that guy in real life with that gibberish he was talking

Rasheed wrote: »

German sounds like you're trying to clear your throat.

Actually I've come to love the German language, and after learning to speak it fluently, i don't find it gutteral at all, I guess you just get used to it.

I also find it's a very colourful language, the German language has so many fantastic words to describe things that you'd need a whole sentence for in English

Cantona's Collars

We can all work for Lidl or Aldi,the only flaw there is that we'll need to speak Polish aswell.

I learned German in school & can speak it better than Irish despite not having used it in years.It's not a hard language to learn despite sounding very harsh when you use it.

Mick ah

El Siglo wrote: »

I did German in school and much preferred it to Irish but our German teacher was atrocious and the class was full of scumbags so it didn't make the learning easy. Having said that I would like to learn German again, not least because it'll make watching war films more understandable and when the invasion does come I won't get caught out by being told "Good luck".

Same story with me and learning it in school. That said, I could get around Germany without speaking english if I had to.

I just loved learning it and gave it a good whack while I was there. The other lads were shiite at it, because they didn't care.

I reckon that'll be the place for me to go when I get my engineering degree.

Capt'n Midnight

Apanachi wrote: »

I also find it's a very colourful language, the German language has so many fantastic words to describe things that you'd need a whole sentence for in English

yes but some of those words are a sentence long

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

TeddyTedson

Although I'd be somewhat of a German sympathizer, I have to admit I was a little surprised when I heard this on the radio.
Although, there are of course benefits to learning any language.

Dwork

I speak fluent German and have had occasion to use it there for work. Sadly, this means that whenever a German person comes over here to work for one of our clients, I get roped in to deal with the fecker. This has proved both advantageous and disadvantageous.

On the upside, being the only cnut in the room that knows what the schnitzel-muncher is on about means I hold the power. On the downside, I have to deal with the whiny, arrogant baxters on a regular basis.

I'd prefer to speak Portugese and only have to deal with hot Brazilian women. This is a dream that eludes me, sadly.:(

Banjo String

Phoenix wrote: »

Anyone have a link to said ad?

Hi Phoenix.

Not sure if radio ads are edited from podcasts, listen back etc.

Anyway, I heard the ad either shortly before, or shortly after Tubs show began (so 0855-0905 approx) this am.

Hope that helps.

Lando Griffin

I can count from 1 to ten in six different languages. Including German.
Some day I will know it in 10 languages and say each number in a different tongue.

Chuck Stone

They should proberly make them lern propar english first dough.

I'd love to learn German properly. I know some bits but I'd want to expand on it.

jaffacakesyum

munchkin_utd wrote: »

The German job office has a shade over 700,000 jobs waiting to be filled on their website as of the last time I looked last night.
A lot are manual jobs but a lot are skilled jobs that there just arent enough young educated germans out there to fill the positions.

Getting one of those 700,000 jobs isnt the worst of reasons to learn the lingo to be honest.

Do they have a website? Did a quick google there and couln't find a decent German employment website from an English-speakers point of view. Have a bit of German myself, wouldn't mind working in Germany it's a great aul country!