[Somewhat OT] RE: German reputation

Well, I live in Jerusalem, and as you can imagine German is a language
that arouses mixed emotions here.  One story from right now (this
afternoon) on a leading Israeli website: Two representatives came from a
law enforcement agency responsible for finding and ultimately deporting
migrant laborers who do not hold work permits. This policy has been very
strongly criticized by many Israelis.  Several people who wrote critical
questions to the representatives alluded covertly or overtly to the
Holocaust, and after the representatives wrote their closing comments,
one surfer wrote "Danke schoen" and another "Sieg Heil" [both in
slightly sloppy Hebrew transliterations].  Similarly, I've often heard
people critical of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians make
reference to German when they are criticizing positions they consider
racist (a typical comment is "if you said that in German, people would
recognize you for what you are).

That's my impression of the dominant mood here (I'm not expressing my
opinion - I learnt German as a school student in England, despite some
mild objections from my father, and have nothing at all against the
language).

Kabirr pax mix qytsut
[Grosse Frieden aus Jerusalem]



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List
> [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU] On Behalf Of Yann Kiraly
> Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 6:39 PM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: OT: German reputation
>
>
> Hi! I've been wondering lately what the reputation of the
> german language is where you guys live. (Except Germany of
> course ;)) Judging from what you find on some internet
> boards, it can't be to good (don't ask me where I saw this.
> Multiple places I stumbled on accidentaly.). I live in
> Germany, and as far as I can see, the Germans are quite
> neutral when it comes to judging languages.
>

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