Initially this article was to be about Gaming Websites like GameSpy or Gamona but that has been put on hold for now because I remembered Azzkickr. I suppose you already know that he’s strictly against the whole Anglicism-movement. So I thought to myself: Why not annoy him by writing a whole entry in English :). It’s good practice for me after all. I wonder what he’ll complain about now – besides my bad English perhaps but I suppose everyone needs something he can complain about. Talliah complains about the lack of new articles, Rondrer complains about the obvious lack of talent in my movies and I complain about whatever I want to, damnit!
Of course it’s very noble of Azzkickr to try and rescue the German language but although I do like German for some things (e.g. Roleplaying), English is still the international language. Especially as an IT[ihti]-Specialist there’s nothing better to ruin your career than ignoring English. Okay, I know that Azzkickr isn’t opposed to English in general – only to the infiltration of our mother language – but I see that as a part of our modern world. But I don’t want to turn this into a discussion about Anglicism – Azzkickr will surely do that automatically :). I’d rather talk about other things like the hesitation of speaking another language in general.
This is really a big problem even for myself. Also I know that I’m capable of handling a conversation, something in me still hesitates from doing so and from what I hear, that’s a common problem sadly. I’m sure that “fear” will wear down over time if I speak English regularly since it’s basically like using the telephone. Back in the “old days” when I was still a dumb idiot, I didn’t like to use the phone at all but since I’m going to work I don’t hesitate a second before I pick up the phone and do what needs to be done. I really think it would improve communication a lot if this hesitation would be gone but even though the internet allows it, we still don’t really speak the other languages. I only remember one occasion where I truly talked to someone over Roger Wilco (it was back in the old days) in another language and to think about that saddens me somewhat. But I have to stop whining. After all it’s all my fault which brings us back to the issue we started the paragraph with so let’s move on :).
I find it great that today English is already taught in 3rd grade but my (note that!) overall opinion of the whole school-english is still: Useless crap (except for the English LK I suppose). Okay, perhaps you learn the basics and some vocabulary but in reality, this won’t do you much good. I think most of us geeks will agree that their English is purely selftaught. Nowadays this may not be a must anymore but I’m glad that I still was raised back in those times when a German translation was as good as noexistant. Of course in many cases like DOOM that wasn’t really an issue. Click and boom you know? But if you got into the serious business like Star Wars TIE Fighter or, to take it even further, Eye of the Beholder, a little understanding of English was needed. DOS was English only, too of course but you get my point. And so it grew over time. Helped a little by school but mainly with Games, movies, books and so on. Today English is a part of me and I greatly enjoy using it whenever I can. It really opens up a much bigger world. A concept that the French don’t quite understand, yet. That’s the problem with the whole pride-thing they‘ve going over there.
Perhaps there’s someone out there, which doesn’t believe that I really can English also there’s tons of proof out there beginning from my translations (letters mostly) for family members to my work at MobyGames but I have been tested and certified! I was rated C1-3 in the Englishtest of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The highest level you can get there is C2-4 – if you reach that, you’re an interpreter. Since I took the test during my apprenticeship I improved from C1-1. Technically you can take the test once a year but I don’t really know if they change the content everytime. And I wouldn’t write “business fluent English” in my curriculum vitae if it wasn’t right. That doesn’t really help you get a job if there’s no truth in it.
Of course I’m not perfect. My use of commas in particular but I also made, make and always will make other mistakes – some will be in this text – but LEO is a really great help to reduce them. That’s a page EVERYONE should bookmark!
Okay that’s all folks. I hope I made sense and you have enjoyed this as much as I did. Perhaps you’ll stick to English in the comments – just for this article of course. But I’ll make an exception for Azzkickr. He can post in Stroosbessemicherisch.
EDITH: Okay that doesn’t work because of the spamfilter. You’ve to use German after all :(.