Posted on 07/30/2004 8:55:16 AM PDT by Area Freeper
Attempts to persuade young Britons that Germany is cool have made little progress, and many still associate the country with Adolf Hitler, beer and football, a survey shows.
The Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture abroad, launched a campaign last year to promote Germany, using grooving ravers at Berlin's Love Parade and model Claudia Schiffer encouraging Britons to learn the language.
But a survey of young Germans and Britons by the institute and the British Council, which publicises British culture, showed it will take more than that to shift British prejudices.
Germans saw Britain as modern and multi-cultural but Britons labelled Germany "uncool", said the Goethe Institute's Klaus Krischok, attributing the contrast to cultural differences.
"Germany lacks the culture of celebrities that Britain has. The British are proud of their music and film stars, who promote the national image abroad, but Germany is associated with cars and beer, or at worst its Nazi past," Krischok said on Tuesday.
He blamed the British media for spreading stereotypes of football defeats and World War Two.
Only 22 percent of Britons surveyed spoke any German, but 97 percent of German participants knew English.
Since when do young Brits dislike beer and soccer?
Owl_Eagle
" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"
And you can thank my Grandfather that 100% of Britain isn't speaking German...
No food on the planet goes better with beer than German food.
Stereotypes of WWII?
Also, they bombed the crap out of them 60 years ago...not cool!!!
I second that. Having a German mother probably helps, but I've got a real weak spot for German food.
Hate to burst Britain's bubble, but don't you suppose that a little of that German interest in the English language is a result of American, rather than British, influence?
For some reason I like to be able to growl in German. It's a fun language to speak. Other than that....
I empathize with this sentiment toward the Germans.
All of Western Europe is uncool... it is soooo old and played out
That's for sure. When I was stationed in W. Germany, I thought that spoken German was the ugliest language in the human repertoire.
WHO KNOWS?? YOU EVER THINK IF IT WASN'T FOR CHURCHILL AND THE BRITS IN '40 AND '41 MAYBE WE IN THE USA WOULD BE SPEAKING GERMAN.
lol....love it.
As much as I like English Ales (especially Samuel Smith's), I prefer German beers any day. My favorite brand: Paulaner.
Vas ist ein stuned beeber?
A lady I work with is German, her mother still lives in Germany. I'm not sure how it works, but evidently the water bill is split between this entire apartment complex that takes up an entire block.
While she was visiting, a delegation of apartment residents confronted her mother about her daughters water usage. "Americans bathe everyday and waste water, she is going to cause our bill to go up with her daily showers".
This made her so mad that she went outside and washed her rent car in front of everyone. It gave me an insight into the German mindset, not a pretty picture.
Time to post my favorite German word: GottradumptaNUFFERmul. (God damn dummy) (Learned from German relatives who used to say that word when I was a kid.)
I don't think we went to the same country. I think of castles and really beautiful scenery, Christkindmart, really good food, and some nice volk, er, folks. I don't care much about "cool" but it is nice place. To visit.
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