Merseymike
Independent
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Post by Merseymike on Feb 17, 2015 10:44:32 GMT
In my experience Hamburg is the only place in Germany where the average person is happy to speak English. My experience I trying to get the under 40's not to speak English is difficult any where but Bayern. Luckily as I have a Ruhrpott accent, some people don't twig and just think I'm a bit slow. I have a friend who returned to Germany two years ago after 16 years living in south Wales. He speaks English with a Welsh accent. He now lives in Berlin, but was brought up in Neustadt, in the wine country (his father was an SPD councillor), He always says that he doesn't speak 'good German' and has a strong regional accent, but since returning, he has frequently been asked which country he comes from!
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Post by iainbhx on Feb 17, 2015 12:53:19 GMT
My experience I trying to get the under 40's not to speak English is difficult any where but Bayern. Luckily as I have a Ruhrpott accent, some people don't twig and just think I'm a bit slow. I have a friend who returned to Germany two years ago after 16 years living in south Wales. He speaks English with a Welsh accent. He now lives in Berlin, but was brought up in Neustadt, in the wine country (his father was an SPD councillor), He always says that he doesn't speak 'good German' and has a strong regional accent, but since returning, he has frequently been asked which country he comes from! Neustadt an der Weinstraße? Yes, that would be a strong regional accent never mind the sociolect.
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Post by iainbhx on Feb 17, 2015 12:59:21 GMT
My experience I trying to get the under 40's not to speak English is difficult any where but Bayern. Luckily as I have a Ruhrpott accent, some people don't twig and just think I'm a bit slow. My accent is not as good as it should be, and I've been asked if I'm a Volga German before. Although apparently I sound more accurately a bit Auslandsdeutsch and a bit Swabian. Was this in Berlin? If so you were being quietly insulted. Most Wolgadeutsch had on arrival either very poor or non-existant German and that has stuck and Berliners have a thing about Swabians, much more the usual jokes about Swabians being mean. If they ask if you are from Sächsische Schweiz, then you are really being mocked.
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Merseymike
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Post by Merseymike on Feb 17, 2015 14:51:10 GMT
I have a friend who returned to Germany two years ago after 16 years living in south Wales. He speaks English with a Welsh accent. He now lives in Berlin, but was brought up in Neustadt, in the wine country (his father was an SPD councillor), He always says that he doesn't speak 'good German' and has a strong regional accent, but since returning, he has frequently been asked which country he comes from! Neustadt an der Weinstraße? Yes, that would be a strong regional accent never mind the sociolect. Indeed! He says himself that in German terms, he speaks Geordie or Scouse! He taught German in British schools for many years, now teaches English and Politics in a German school - a very posh one, I think he is inflitrating the German ruling class with socialist ideas!
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Sibboleth
Labour
'Sit on my finger, sing in my ear, O littleblood.'
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Post by Sibboleth on Feb 17, 2015 16:59:19 GMT
The Hamburg SPD is notorious for right-wing machine politics, yeah.
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Feb 17, 2015 17:48:21 GMT
My accent is not as good as it should be, and I've been asked if I'm a Volga German before. Although apparently I sound more accurately a bit Auslandsdeutsch and a bit Swabian. Was this in Berlin? If so you were being quietly insulted. Most Wolgadeutsch had on arrival either very poor or non-existant German and that has stuck and Berliners have a thing about Swabians, much more the usual jokes about Swabians being mean. If they ask if you are from Sächsische Schweiz, then you are really being mocked. Bonn, actually. My German does have a slight Russian twang, not because I speak any Russian, but because my German teacher at school was also the Russian teacher! I'm more pleased that French-speakers ask if I'm from the province of Liege, especially as I did actually live there.
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Sibboleth
Labour
'Sit on my finger, sing in my ear, O littleblood.'
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Post by Sibboleth on Feb 17, 2015 18:44:18 GMT
My attention has been pointed towards results in Veddel...
SPD 38 Left 22 Greens 15 Pirates 6 PARTEI 5 AfD 4 FDP 4 CDU 3
LOL
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Post by iainbhx on Feb 17, 2015 18:58:03 GMT
My attention has been pointed towards results in Veddel... SPD 38 Left 22 Greens 15 Pirates 6 PARTEI 5 AfD 4 FDP 4 CDU 3 LOL Highly significant is Veddel, about 4000 people of which around 60% are ineligible to vote. :-)
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Post by Arthur Figgis on Feb 17, 2015 19:01:34 GMT
I think 38 is SPD's lowest ever in Veddel...
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Feb 17, 2015 19:38:47 GMT
The Bergedorf Wahlkreis had a CDU candidate named, wonderfully, Dennis Gladiator. Sadly, the SPD didn't field Alan Bestiarius nor the AfD Colin Retiarius.
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Post by iainbhx on Feb 17, 2015 20:01:34 GMT
I think 38 is SPD's lowest ever in Veddel... Since the war, I would have thought so. I suspect it may not have been in 1932.
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Post by markgoodair on Apr 29, 2015 11:45:49 GMT
Bremen State Election on 10th May.
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Post by iainbhx on Apr 29, 2015 14:23:25 GMT
Bremen State Election on 10th May. I shall make my joke Lander comment. There have been two polls for the election to the Bremische Bürgerschaft INSA for Bild Zietung: SPD 37 CDU 25 GRU 12 SED 9 FDP 6 AfD 5 BiW 3 Infratest for Weser-Kurier SPD 38 CDU 23 GRU 16 SED 6 FDP 5 AfD 5 BiW 3 Last election results (5/2011) were SPD 38,6 GRU 22,5 CDU 20,4 SED 5,6 BiW 3,7 FDP 2,4 Which yielded SPD 35, GRU 21, CDU 20, SED 5, BiW 2 Whilst there is 5% threshold, it is a separate 5% threshold for Bremen and Bremerhaven which is how BiW managed to get a seat passing the threshold in Bremerhaven but not Bremen, they gained a second seat by the defection of a Bremen member to BiW from the SPD. I can't see that the cost SPD/GRU coalition won't continue, albeit a little less in numbers.
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 29, 2015 15:01:47 GMT
The Bremen Land is indeed a joke. They were sensible enough to supress Lubeck, and that wasn't even split into two antagonistic parts.
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Post by markgoodair on Apr 29, 2015 17:09:22 GMT
Bremen State Election on 10th May. I shall make my joke Lander comment. There have been two polls for the election to the Bremische Bürgerschaft INSA for Bild Zietung: SPD 37 CDU 25 GRU 12 SED 9 FDP 6 AfD 5 BiW 3 Infratest for Weser-Kurier SPD 38 CDU 23 GRU 16 SED 6 FDP 5 AfD 5 BiW 3 Last election results (5/2011) were SPD 38,6 GRU 22,5 CDU 20,4 SED 5,6 BiW 3,7 FDP 2,4 Which yielded SPD 35, GRU 21, CDU 20, SED 5, BiW 2 Whilst there is 5% threshold, it is a separate 5% threshold for Bremen and Bremerhaven which is how BiW managed to get a seat passing the threshold in Bremerhaven but not Bremen, they gained a second seat by the defection of a Bremen member to BiW from the SPD. I can't see that the cost SPD/GRU coalition won't continue, albeit a little less in numbers. Can we conclude from these option polls that the FPD are making something of a come back?
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 29, 2015 17:21:50 GMT
Christian Lindner's riposte to a member of the SPD who mocked his failed business is wonderful. He's the best asset the FDP have had since Genscher.
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Post by iainbhx on Apr 29, 2015 18:25:08 GMT
Can we conclude from these option polls that the FPD are making something of a come back? To be honest, no, they are still sub-5% in most of the national polls.
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neilm
Non-Aligned
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Post by neilm on Apr 30, 2015 15:34:32 GMT
Christian Lindner's riposte to a member of the SPD who mocked his failed business is wonderful. He's the best asset the FDP have had since Genscher. For those of us who have schoolboy, or no, German, what did he say?
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 30, 2015 15:43:11 GMT
Christian Lindner's riposte to a member of the SPD who mocked his failed business is wonderful. He's the best asset the FDP have had since Genscher. For those of us who have schoolboy, or no, German, what did he say? I forget the exact quotation, but roughly it was: "If you fail in business, the SPD are here to mock and deride you. If you succeed, the SPD redistribution machine will be the first people here to enjoy the money you've generated".
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Post by markgoodair on May 10, 2015 17:48:56 GMT
The FPD get back in Bremen!!
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