Re: "Sturm und Drang"

Leslie Danks wrote:

"Pondial" in the other sense of "large fish in small",
perhaps. One of the first questions I was asked by
an Austrian English-teacher shortly after my
arrival in Austria was whether I spoke dialect - because she
was having difficulty understanding what I said. (My diction is
unexceptional Southeast BrE).

If I had had more energy, I'd have written down all the
preposterous things Germans said in conversations about English.
I'd be interested to see it all collected in one heap so that I
could marvel once again. What never fails to amaze me is the
lack of knowledge about Britain although some Germans spend up
to nine years learning British English in school. My God,
Britain is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Germany! Many
Germans have had enough money to be able to tour Britain from
top to bottom and hear how British people actually speak the
length and breadth of the country. Moreover, British radio and
TV are easily available in Germany.

With the older generation of Germans, it's not surprising. Aunt
Gertrud might tell you proudly at coffee time how she learned
perfect "Oxford English" at her girls' school in Braunschweig in
1929, but it doesn't take long to figure out she doesn't have
the slightest idea what "Oxford English" is. When you take a
look in German libraries at schoolbooks written by Germans in
the 1920s, you see egregious mistakes in the use of the
continuous tense and many other examples of grammar that sound
absolutely foreign to a native speaker, British or otherwise.

Today, however, German schoolbooks for English are excellent.
The credits at the front show that they've had British
collaborators. And you can tell it! The reading sections are
brilliant in their choice of subjects to capture childrens'
interest, and the grammar is explained in terse, compehensive
terms that are a joy to read. Moreover, German schools have not
only outings to Britain, they also invite British teachers to
Germany; therefore, many German children have a chance to hear
in their classroom how a Briton in the flesh actually speaks.
Why then British English remains such a mystery to many is
incomprehensible.

Don't get me started on this subject, Les. There'll be no end!

Regards, ----- WB.

.

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