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

[Martinus]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

In Tashkent?  Absolutely.

Really? He should at least know Russian and be willing to use that.

And people wonder why Americans make so many diplomatic blunders.

[DisturbedPervert]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

Uzbekistan is not Germany.  But I would hope that any journalist there would at least speak Russian

[Berkut]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

Uzbekistan is not Germany.  But I would hope that any journalist there would at least speak Russian

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

What an odd criteria.

Why in the world should a Uzbeki official be required to speak in anything but Tashkent with the media, if a German official is justified in refusing to speak in anything but German?

[jimmy olsen]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

Uzbekistan is not Germany.  But I would hope that any journalist there would at least speak Russian

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

What an odd criteria.

Why in the world should a Uzbeki official be required to speak in anything but Tashkent with the media, if a German official is justified in refusing to speak in anything but German?

If 1% or more of the world's population speaks it, then media companies/governments should make sure that journalists or diplomats they send should know it.

[Berkut]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

Uzbekistan is not Germany.  But I would hope that any journalist there would at least speak Russian

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

What an odd criteria.

Why in the world should a Uzbeki official be required to speak in anything but Tashkent with the media, if a German official is justified in refusing to speak in anything but German?

If 1% or more of the world's population speaks it, then media companies/governments should make sure that journalists or diplomats they send should know it.

Why?

Why 1%? Why not .1%? Or 2%?

This is pretty amusing - people getting all offended at being asked to answer a question in English, but turning around and saying that *other* languages don't matter enough to bother with them.

As opposed to, you know, just speaking in a language both people actually speak well. Can't have that!

[jimmy olsen]

What if he was the foreign minister for Uzbekistan - should he still insist that everyone ask him questions in his language?

Uzbekistan is not Germany.  But I would hope that any journalist there would at least speak Russian

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

What an odd criteria.

Why in the world should a Uzbeki official be required to speak in anything but Tashkent with the media, if a German official is justified in refusing to speak in anything but German?

If 1% or more of the world's population speaks it, then media companies/governments should make sure that journalists or diplomats they send should know it.

Why?

Why 1%? Why not .1%? Or 2%?

Because the number of German speakers is higher than 1%  and the number of Uzbek speakers is lower.

[DisturbedPervert]

Why?

Why 1%? Why not .1%? Or 2%?

Do you really want your news from reporters that don't speak the language of the country they are reporting from?

[Berkut]

Why?

Why 1%? Why not .1%? Or 2%?

Do you really want your news from reporters that don't speak the language of the country they are reporting from?

Not really - but I don't think the reason the German guy refused to speak English with the guy who didn't know German was due to any concern about me.

Clearly a professional journalist is much more capable if they speak the language where they are reporting from, if for no other reason than there will be times when there isn't a common language at all.

[Monoriu]

If a Caucausian speaks Chinese to me in Hong Kong, I'll insist in speaking English 

[The Minsky Moment]

What makes the story interesting is that this a new *foreign* minister, and moreover one about whom there have been questions posed about whether he has sufficient experience and is up for the job.  As a pratical matter, the ability to speak English is a basic job requirement for a foreign minister.  One can debate endlessly about whether this is fair or just but for the time being it happens to be true.  So for a new foreign minister to get excited about this issue can only raise questions about whether he is ready to go or needs more seasoning. 

[derspiess]

Yeah, we're not talking about some tribal language in the Congo here.  That a major news agency like the BBC would be asking questions in English in an important country like Germany is kinda embarrassing.

Yep.  And Guido was right to call the Limey out on it.

I may have found my new Fortuyn 

[The Brain]

Germany hasn't been an important country since Bagration.

[Valmy]

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?

[KRonn]

Damn furriners! Why can't you all just speak American!!!!   

[Berkut]

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.