Language lesson
Our attempt to expose the decline of opportunities to learn a foreign language in Britain was marred by errors in a foreign language, as well as one in English. Willy Brandt, the former West German chancellor, was quoted as having once said: “If I’m selling I’m happy to speak to you in English. But if I’m buying dann mussen sie deutsche sprechen.” This should have been expressed as: “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann mussen Sie Deutsch sprechen.” A little further on the piece notes that languages are rarely defended as worth studying for their own sake, for example, to help “understand the words to a Schubert lieder”. The singular of Lieder is Lied. We are truly sorry, or Es tut uns sehr Leid (Wer will heute noch Sprachen lernen – who still wants to learn languages?, 25 August, page 10, G2). Link
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