Im not sure, but the words might be irrelevant as there might very soon be no one to hear them. When you have birth rate thats as far in the negative as it is for Germans, Im not sure I really care to learn a language that has all the potential in the next 100 years to fall away into the status of modern sanskrit.
“Im not sure I really care to learn a language that has all the potential in the next 100 years to fall away into the status of modern sanskrit.”
Presuming you have the brain power to do so if you tried …. The population of Germany alone is well over 75 million and the country can attract as many immigrants (of the assimilating kind) as they want or need (from Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, parts of Asia). The country’s not going away anytime soon.
Sorry M. Farris, I disagree on that one. From everything I have seen of immigration trends, assimilation is the last thing that happens in that situation. What really happens is that the immigrants, who usually have the higher birth rates, make their own culture the primary one. If you have higher numbers than the original group, why conform to their norms/language etc? There is no motivation to assimilate.
To the extent that there are unassimilated immigrants in WEurope, it’s because the countries didn’t realize/didn’t want to admit they were dealing with immigrants (remember Gastarbeiters? the Gasts never left).
Still, most Turks in Germany (biggest minority I believe) are reasonably assimilated, they speak the language (whether or not they still speak Turkish isn’t that relevant) and abide by local laws/customs. There are later populations that have done less well (especially NAfrican).
But now that the countries involved are waking up to the fact that they are in fact immigration destinations, they’re taking steps to make sure new arrivals do in fact assimilate to a reasonable degree.
Hell, even in Poland, where I live, there are immigrants (though in smaller numbers) mostly Vietnamese, Arabs and Russians. The adults differ in assimilation rates but their kids soon speak Polish better than their parents’ language.
This is apropos of really nothing; just a funny thing that happened to me.
My sister’s family is stationed in Germany, and my wife and parents and I went over to visit for the holidays. We had just parked the car in Wutzburg when around a corner came a guy dressed head-to-toe in a perfect “Star Wars” Imperial stormtrooper costume, carrying the helmet in one hand.
We goggled at him as he passed by, and I had the presence of mind to shrug and say to my dad, “Hey, we’re in Germany. Where else did you expect to see a stormtrooper?”…
I would love it if that was the norm. I’m only 3rd generation Russian and I love that my family came here, learned the language and assimilated without loosing their culture in the mix.
However, I live in TX now and the Hispanic pop is so great that they don’t HAVE to learn English to function here. Not only can they effectively live their lives without ever bothering to learn English, their birth rate and high immigration numbers have them set to become the majority within the next few decades.
I’m just using what I have seen as my reference…but I don’t see much difference (statistically) between the United States’ Hispanic situation and Europe’s Muslim/Arab situation. If Germany wants to keep is “Germaness”, they had better step things up a little…either start having more kids or working on their immigration policies a little harder.
C’est Moi. The market place rules. The Spanish only speakers can function in their little Tex/Mex hacienda, but if they want to go out into the rest of the country, they need English or they can only go from one ethnic enclave to the next. Why do that? Why not become Americans and still speak Spanish whenever they want to.
The Spanish only speakers can function in their little Tex/Mex hacienda, but if they want to go out into the rest of the country, they need English or they can only go from one ethnic enclave to the next. Why do that?
Im not sure, but the words might be irrelevant as there might very soon be no one to hear them. When you have birth rate thats as far in the negative as it is for Germans, Im not sure I really care to learn a language that has all the potential in the next 100 years to fall away into the status of modern sanskrit.
I’m beginning to get militant, firing off emails to anglo papers.
I just don’t think they really realize we’re going global w/the net.
“Im not sure I really care to learn a language that has all the potential in the next 100 years to fall away into the status of modern sanskrit.”
Presuming you have the brain power to do so if you tried …. The population of Germany alone is well over 75 million and the country can attract as many immigrants (of the assimilating kind) as they want or need (from Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, parts of Asia). The country’s not going away anytime soon.
Sorry M. Farris, I disagree on that one. From everything I have seen of immigration trends, assimilation is the last thing that happens in that situation. What really happens is that the immigrants, who usually have the higher birth rates, make their own culture the primary one. If you have higher numbers than the original group, why conform to their norms/language etc? There is no motivation to assimilate.
To the extent that there are unassimilated immigrants in WEurope, it’s because the countries didn’t realize/didn’t want to admit they were dealing with immigrants (remember Gastarbeiters? the Gasts never left).
Still, most Turks in Germany (biggest minority I believe) are reasonably assimilated, they speak the language (whether or not they still speak Turkish isn’t that relevant) and abide by local laws/customs. There are later populations that have done less well (especially NAfrican).
But now that the countries involved are waking up to the fact that they are in fact immigration destinations, they’re taking steps to make sure new arrivals do in fact assimilate to a reasonable degree.
Hell, even in Poland, where I live, there are immigrants (though in smaller numbers) mostly Vietnamese, Arabs and Russians. The adults differ in assimilation rates but their kids soon speak Polish better than their parents’ language.
I believe the term is
This is apropos of really nothing; just a funny thing that happened to me.
My sister’s family is stationed in Germany, and my wife and parents and I went over to visit for the holidays. We had just parked the car in Wutzburg when around a corner came a guy dressed head-to-toe in a perfect “Star Wars” Imperial stormtrooper costume, carrying the helmet in one hand.
We goggled at him as he passed by, and I had the presence of mind to shrug and say to my dad, “Hey, we’re in Germany. Where else did you expect to see a stormtrooper?”…
I left a very bad comment that I probably shouldn
I would love it if that was the norm. I’m only 3rd generation Russian and I love that my family came here, learned the language and assimilated without loosing their culture in the mix.
However, I live in TX now and the Hispanic pop is so great that they don’t HAVE to learn English to function here. Not only can they effectively live their lives without ever bothering to learn English, their birth rate and high immigration numbers have them set to become the majority within the next few decades.
I’m just using what I have seen as my reference…but I don’t see much difference (statistically) between the United States’ Hispanic situation and Europe’s Muslim/Arab situation. If Germany wants to keep is “Germaness”, they had better step things up a little…either start having more kids or working on their immigration policies a little harder.
C’est Moi. The market place rules. The Spanish only speakers can function in their little Tex/Mex hacienda, but if they want to go out into the rest of the country, they need English or they can only go from one ethnic enclave to the next. Why do that? Why not become Americans and still speak Spanish whenever they want to.
I don’t understand the problem.
I think it’s pronounced,
“shitzwertalken.”
The Spanish only speakers can function in their little Tex/Mex hacienda, but if they want to go out into the rest of the country, they need English or they can only go from one ethnic enclave to the next. Why do that?
You’ll have to ask them.
In Spanish.
warmer bruder. That’s what you call the author of that article. Sorry, can’t do umlauts from this console.