Hi
posted by Carsten Pfau in Germany forum
Hi Gary, when you talk about a woman being ridiculed on tv for her wrong pronounciation - I hope you are not refering to Verona, because she´s by no means a foreigner, rather she´s as German as it gets and her wrong pronounciation is simply the way she talks (and, by the way, I believe she does it on purpose to increase the level of attention, and I believe she has actually copyrighted some of her weirdest expressions).
Concerning the requirements of the German language in the business world - well, of course you need to speak the language of a certain country if you want to find employment there. Do you really see that as a German thing? If so, try to get a decent job in the US or the UK without speaking English, or try to find even an average job in Brazil without speaking Portuguese or at least Spanish. The list goes on and on... I believe that an average employer has every right not to hire you if you are not able to understand clients, co-workers or suppliers. It just won´t work out if you don´t master the local language, no matter where in the world you want to work. There might be a few exceptions, e.g. a German company that operates internationally, or the German branch of an american company (that would probably overlook the lack of language skills of an american applicant), however, if you are applying to national companies, expect them to be very concerned about your language skills. When I was younger, I interviewed for jobs abroad, and the interview language was always the language of the country the company was in.
On the other hand - if people change back to English after hearing you out in German - maybe your German isn´t that good, or your German skills aren´t that important for the job after all.
I sincerely doubt that anybody would seriously make fun of you if you spoke German with an accent or mispronounced a few words. I have never observed that, not in Germany, not anywhere else in the world. People in Germany may make fun of German nationals who speak a poor German, but in my opinion, not of foreigners trying to master this difficult language. Somebody may try to pull your leg a little every now and then, but I would suspect that to be a friendly way of reaching out to you, rather than downgrading or disrespecting you.
My advice - approach things a little more relaxed and respond to a joke with another joke, rather than feeling offended. There are actually Germans out there that have a sense of humor (don´t call Ripley, he already knows...).
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