Probable foreign minister Westerwelle to press:"We're in Germany, speak German!"

[Valmy]

Because the actual problem here is that someone asked the poor German official to speak in English - a language he could, in fact, speak.

I guess I find it also justified when bilingual Texas officials insist their press conferences and debates are done in English even when asked questions in Spanish because, you know, this is America we speak English here so everybody in the room can understand.

I guess you find that douchebaggy?

[Berkut]

Because the actual problem here is that someone asked the poor German official to speak in English - a language he could, in fact, speak.

I guess I find it also justified when bilingual Texas officials insist their press conferences and debates are done in English even when asked questions in Spanish because, you know, this is America we speak English here so everybody in the room can understand.

I guess you find that douchebaggy?

If some reporter who did not speak English asked a question in Spanish which the person being asked understood, then yes, he is being a douchebag if he refuses to answer it just because it wasn't spoken in English.

[Valmy]

If some reporter who did not speak English asked a question in Spanish which the person being asked understood, then yes, he is being a douchebag if he refuses to answer it just because it wasn't spoken in English.

Fair enough.  I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Zanza]

I wonder why Westerwelle even wants to be foreign minister. His political interests so far were usually economic policy as far as I can tell. And foreign minister is not a particularly glamourous job in Germany anyway as Angie takes all the limelight at important events.

[alfred russel]

So the language elitism is ok, as long as it is a "major" language that isn't English?

Um...what?  It would just be daft to send a reporter to an English speaking country that doesn't speak English.  Why did you make that caveat?

Because the actual problem here is that someone asked the poor German official to speak in English - a language he could, in fact, speak.

Faeelin brings up whether he can speak it very well. Maybe that is the problem?

[derspiess]

I wonder why Westerwelle even wants to be foreign minister. His political interests so far were usually economic policy as far as I can tell. And foreign minister is not a particularly glamourous job in Germany anyway as Angie takes all the limelight at important events.

Does he have a shot at any higher position?

[The Minsky Moment]

I wonder why Westerwelle even wants to be foreign minister. His political interests so far were usually economic policy as far as I can tell. And foreign minister is not a particularly glamourous job in Germany anyway as Angie takes all the limelight at important events.

B/c Genscher is the only FDP guy that anyone outside of Germany can ever remember, just like Joshka is the only Green.  Being Economics Minister is a not a ticket to fame and recognition.

[Razgovory]

I'm trying to think of this happening in the US.  If somebody posed a question to a US secretary of State in foreign language that this person actually knew I think the American would jump at the chance to showboat their language skills.

[DontSayBanana]

At first I was torn, and then I noticed he even deflected a question from that reporter when the reporter had it phrased through an interpreter.  Assuming he would be addressing a German-speaking forum and finding he has to respond in English without warning could be a viable reason to be upset (I speak German, but would be pretty upset about having to formally answer in it without warning), but refusing to acknowledge a question through an interpreter is pretty damn unacceptable in diplomatic terms.

[ulmont]

I'm trying to think of this happening in the US.  If somebody posed a question to a US secretary of State in foreign language that this person actually knew I think the American would jump at the chance to showboat their language skills.

I am a jelly doughnut!

[The Brain]

If somebody posed a question to a US secretary of State in foreign language that this person actually knew

[DontSayBanana]

I am a jelly doughnut!

Or Hillary with a big red button.

[Alatriste]

I'm trying to think of this happening in the US.  If somebody posed a question to a US secretary of State in foreign language that this person actually knew I think the American would jump at the chance to showboat their language skills.

Assuming he possessed such skills... I think the key of this business is, the man's English is supposed to be awful, so broken and heavily accented that he feared he would become a laughingstock.

[Admiral Yi]

The reporter was being a weenie.  Go ahead and ask the question directly in English, if Herr Homosexual wants to respond directly he can, in crappy English or in German, or he can wait for the translation.  It's not the reporter's place to specify which language he/she wants the response in.

[DontSayBanana]

The reporter was being a weenie.  Go ahead and ask the question directly in English, if Herr Homosexual wants to respond directly he can, in crappy English or in German, or he can wait for the translation.  It's not the reporter's place to specify which language he/she wants the response in.

I didn't see where the reporter asked for the response in English.  The minister was the one complaining about the question being in English, and also ignoring the question when it came from the interpreter.

Undeterred, the reporter then asked Westerwelle if he could respond in German to a question in English, only to be rebuffed again.

"In Great Britain people are expected to speak English and it is the same in Germany, people are expected to speak German," Westerwelle answered.

Herr Homosexual got annoyed about the question itself, and then brushed off the interpreter.