Benefits of speaking German
Benefits of speaking German
(OP)
How useful is it to be a fluent German speaker?
In the auto business it's key. What about other fields? Should German language speaking be pushed more in English-speaking scools?
In the auto business it's key. What about other fields? Should German language speaking be pushed more in English-speaking scools?





RE: Benefits of speaking German
Knowing Spanish is helpful as a field engineer at construction sites, but can get by without knowing any.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
Otherwise, no impact.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
RE: Benefits of speaking German
I'm actually surprised that the OP feels that a knowledge of German is key in the automotive business. I have several friends who are in that industry, one of whom is a homologation engineer and thus works extensively with foreign regulatory bodies, and none of them know German at all. I'm not doubting it, but I am surprised.
The only other technical area that I know of where German is essential is in organic chemistry, a field that was invnted by the Germans, and where much reference material is available only in that language. In any top-level graduate degree program in that area, German is a required subject for that reason. Fluency isn't needed, of course, just a decent reading knowledge of organic chemistry papers, which is quite a different thing indeed.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
RE: Benefits of speaking German
A fair command of several languages also makes your understanding of other cultures easier. But for work, most companies I have worked with have English as their official corporate language. Yes, even Siemens. I have participated in meetings in Germany where I was the only foreigner and the Germans still insisted to talk English.
SKF, Volvo, ABB - all have English as "their" language. It makes life a lot easier for you guys that seem to master English (US or UK) to perfection.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
RE: Benefits of speaking German
•My dad was a German born and educated organic chemist. Turns out that all of his Japanese customers also spoke German, as that was the language their textbooks were written in.
•A friend who had lived in Japan reported that his doctor kept his notes in German.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
I'd have to say though that beyond being well received in Germany when speaking, or attempting to speak, German, most of the engineers I have dealt with spoke excellent English.
The only time I had a real struggle was when I visited a petrochemical plant in Alsace where the engineers did not speak English and we had to muddle through in a mixture of French and German with lots of extravagent gestures.
In short, you probably won't need to learn another language if you speak English, no matter where you go in the world; but its a great thing to learn another language and its native speakers will appreciate your trying.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Benefits of speaking German
Yah! That's the bottom line,
I award you a star
pinnpoint
RE: Benefits of speaking German
RE: Benefits of speaking German
By coincidence, today I brought in my attempt at Zwetschgenkuchen (plum cake) from a recipe written in German by my former mother-in-law. The cake did not turn out perfectly (the crust is too dry and hard).
Although I speak and read a fair amount of German, I sure could use a German engineer today that can read and translate the handwriting to figure out where I went wrong with this recipe! Maybe I should double check my grams to ounces conversions.
Other than that, the only other time I've encountered 'needing' German in an engineering office is the time those of us who could speak it attempted to translate popular American music band names and lyrics into German, often with comedic results.
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: Benefits of speaking German
RE: Benefits of speaking German
as to usefulness of German as an industrial language - I want to say that it's imperative, but that's just wishful thinking in an international setting. English will get you most places, but I still think that learning other languages and experiencing other cultures is of vital importance (if you happen to pick German, more power to you).
Casseiopea - if you can get me a scanned image of the recipe, I'll give it a shot - if nothing else, I can get my mom involved - she's had decades of experience deciphering handwritten notes :)
Rick
cheers,
rad
"Remember, if you leave it to the last minute, it'll only take a minute"
RE: Benefits of speaking German
radaes,
Thank you for the offer. I'll see what I can do. Unfortunately our office building has had a recent bout of theft. They got our scanner, a couple of laptops and a slide projector. (the guy has been caught and all that was recovered was the slide projector.) I might try a digital photo.
The engineers here liked the cake, or at least didn't mention it if they didn't.
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: Benefits of speaking German
With reference to English as the language of business throughout the world--I did some work for an company that also built projects in Russia. The project manager I worked with told me that they had sent several managers over there, with the expectation that they would learn to speak the language during the course of their projects. He said that after six months over there, none of the Americans could speak any Russian, but all the Russians that they had been working with could speak passable English.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
RE: Benefits of speaking German
try Das Boot.. or Heimat, both ran here in German with English subtitles; the sound of a language, even without the full understanding, is part of the flavour and I always feel cheated of the full impact but dubbing.
Ever watched Polish TV with dubbing? (I think it was Polish, i was watching in Greece so the subtitles were no use to me either) It was more voiceover than dubbing, one guy did the lot in an emotionless newsreader style, men women, kids, the lot.
My wife has watched so much American TV in Germany she is convinced David Hasselhoff is a real German....plus a number of others, I have about managed to pursuade her Eddie Murphy is not German but Irish...the clue is in the name... and that's the point, most European countries (except the UK) dub US imports though the satellite channels will sometimes not bother. (UK TV sometimes has to dub other UK dialects for UK audiences).
So Skogs, CNN maybe, but unless Sweden is much different I would have thought most terrestial TV would be dubbed there also, or am I wrong?
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Benefits of speaking German
rmw
RE: Benefits of speaking German
We have the original sound - and Swedish texts. It is even possible to switch the text off on some channels (or programs, never found out).
Clint Eastwood on French TV sounds just ridiculous and he never was the same Dirty Harry after that. That goes for Sean Connery too.
Julie Roberts in German is also something you could live without.
I didn't even think of it. We seem to be quite alone not having films dubbed. I think that it is a good thing. It keeps litteracy among youth up and also makes you train languages almost inconsciuosly.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
RE: Benefits of speaking German
One can never go wrong learning a foreign language.
Vita sine litteris mors est.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
That's an understatement. Imagine a Chinese who wants to do business in the USA: "one can never go wrong learning English"...
IMHO, if you really want to do business effectively in a foreign country and have an important if not determining advantage over your competitors, you simply have to speak their language and speak it very well, not just be able to say hello and thank you just to make them smile.
RE: Benefits of speaking German
During my Harley days, the local bakery accidentally ran a batch of cookies with no sugar in the dough. They were going to throw them out but instead I bought the batch (about 5 lbs) for a dollar and put them by the coffee pot in Engineering. They were gone with the hour and everbody was smiling.
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein
RE: Benefits of speaking German
Your post reminds me of something that happened a long time ago at my first job after graduating.
I had to run by the boss' house to pick up a file because he was leaving town. While I was waiting, his wife gave me a cake to take to the office. She said she had made it a few days ago, but her family didn't like coconut and wouldn't touch the cake.
When I got outside to my car, I noticed the cake had more than just coconut on top. It was FUZZY with little mold hairs. Not wanting to embarrass the boss' wife, I decided to get rid of it at the office.
So when I got to the office, I set the cake on the counter in the coffee area and hurried off to the ladies room for a more urgent task. I got back 2 minutes later and half the cake was gone. So I went around to everyone and told them not to eat the cake because of the mold.
Only one engineer threw it out. The others just shrugged their shoulders and ate!
ps No one seemed adversly affected. And I don't think it was an intentional thing. The boss lived in a house with an indoor swimming pool and was always complaining about the humidity! Only one of the staff engineers was angry about the cake and never let me live it down.
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"