KPeD About Languages In Congress
Skalg von Tuari
Musik
Dear Comrades,
Congress is kinda boring. People don't talk about much, simply because there is not much to be argued about. Whether we need a NE, or tax changes, or MPPs, is usually a decision not based on opinions or party lines, but based a necessity. We do things, because there is simply no alternative to it. That explains at least partly, why something as simple as the language used by congress can cause such a big deal.
Let me get this right - language laws in congress always were discussed with a lot of emotion. On the one hand, we have the ones who say „ZIS IS GERMARK“ and want to stress German as the main language. On the other hand, we have the ones who say „TROLOLOL U MAD BRAH“ and want us to speak english, since we used to have a lot of non-German citizens and we wanted them to be able to participate. There were two different kinds of compromises. One of them was to make both languages official - but only state that people „should“ add an english summary. The outcome was simple - everyone wrote in German. In order to change this, the second compromise made both languages obligatory.
Now, being the nature of compromises, no one was happy with that. And that is part of the reason why this discussion is so big. When ministers started writing in english only, it angered those who were opposed to this law - the dual language law does state that „all official government bureaus have to (at least) provide a short summary in english[...]Furthermore, all german posts in the Congress Forum need to have at least an english summary.“ While some assumed that by both mentioning the government and the forum, this law would include ministers, the dominant reading of this law is that it does not.
This, again, led to some people stopping to follow the laws at all. The Chairman now is stricter about that, so this stopped again; the unhappiness, however, continues.
Let me talk about some of the main issues and the position of the KPeD.
Respect for Denmark
One of the main reasons the English as a secondary language was enforced was the Union with Denmark. A lot of people argue that this is Germany, and we should not talk in english; or that the German population is the majority in the Union; or that on the map, it is Germany, not Denmark; or that we are on the German forums.
This is meaningless.
In Erepublik, there is little to no difference between occupation and a Union. There is no such thing as game mechanics ensuring that both sides are equal; one nation will gain ressources, new citizens and power, while the other ceases to exist. The only thing that is different from an occupation is the framing. Framing means the way we regard each other and talk to each other. The only thing that can possibly include is the government; it should be for everyone, not mainly for one of those two groups. Therefore, english is not to be regarded as „not German“, but as the only way to communicate with Denmark and make Danish people feel like they are equal.
Because that is the main characteristic of a Union - not one group dominating, but two sides who are equal and decide to stay together. And it does not matter, which side is bigger - because in a Union, we usually define two equal groups whose largeness only matters when it comes to internal affairs, but not when it comes to their relations to one another. And we should not forget how important Danes are - they might not have our population, but they gave us 2/3rd of our current regions, ressources and a way to block a possible invader.
In order to guarantee equality, however, speaking English and German is not enough. German is still dominating, as english is „neutral“. That is the reason why I proposed a law (see below), that would enforce the use of english, but would give the option of adding either German or Danish. Not many people would choose Danish - but only by this would both languages, and hence both communities, be represented equally.
The law suggested by me:
§1 For the Duration of the Union of eGermany and eDenmark, all official government bureaus have to (at least) provide a short summary in english, if not a full translation. Furthermore, all posts in the Congress Forum may be german or danish, but they need to have at least an english summary.
Minister
However, we still have the matter of ministers not being forced to obey those rules. There have been suggestions to impeach the CP; to force the CP somehow to control them or let them go; to stop obeying the law as a congressmember.
None of those are effective.
The CP is way to valuable to be impeached because of something like that. You might not realise it in your anger - but what language we use will have no imminent effect on Germark. It will not damage our country or enganger us in any way.
Impeaching an active, competent CP will.
The same goes for active, competent ministers. Any CP has a very hard time to find people both capable and willing to do work. Why do you think slayer has been MoD for idontknowhowlongmaybeayear? Simply because no one else cba to do his job. Any CP who is not totally out of his mind will keep ministers, even if they don't obey a language law.
So what can you do? You can change laws to inlude ministers in them - and kick them out of the congress forum if they do not obey them. That us easy, simple, and actually makes sense.
Conclusion
We as the KPeD will support english as a primary language, in order to include the Danish community. We will, however, try to break the dominance of German in congress - in a Union, you have to at least mention Danish. And we will not take part in any actions directed against the government because of the language law, unless they are based on a general change in the GO/laws.
Thats it, sorry for the WoT and lack of translation!
Skalg von Tuari
Comments
Schöner Artikel, aber eine deutsche "Zusammenfassung" wäre auch gut 😉
this should be month #12 in the MoD : >
i support this message
I still remember the good old days when eGermans were regularly attacking eAustrians for not speaking German constantly. Now you're walking down the same path we did long ago. It's a good path : )
(Yes, there are differences - you have a union and we have merely a lot of crazy foreigners wanting to be eAustrians)
dänisch bitte
btw Slayer MoD of the Year (sry rea)
was zum fick bin ich redend, n0s3y is bester
anyway good article, voted
wir sollten nur noch esperanto sprechen😉
Ĉu vi parolas esperanton?
besser wärs wir machen alles auf klingonisch... das hat wenigstens zukunft (höhö).
Eisenmutter, in der Confederation of United Planets Germark wird ja wohl nicht Klingonisch (!!) gesprochen. Btw, wir sollten die BW in Starfleet umbennen. Zukunft und so.
Starfleet is gay. Obsidian Order ftw :3
I neither read the article, nor the comments (don't think that its necessary to read anything anywhere). But I wanted to say: What about no language in congress at all. Maybe some Skype conference calls with sign language and thats it?
Should have implemented this great idea in my chairman times : (
@Rotar Arlensius Day 1,768, 17:19
go to russia and you will get your skype-conferences
English is my native language but I came here to meet and improve my German. If there is a problem with what language to communicate in it should be Esperanto. It holds no national pride for anyone and its a mix of many different languages. Just my two cents.
I do enjoy reading and writing in German, even though it is not my native language.
I am happy with just about any language...thanks to google translate. I know it sucks but better than nothing.
Was soll das englisch? Wir sind in eDeutschland. Macht euch ab!
gute frage. die andern hier sollten schon wissen das mein deutsch total schlecht ist. deutsch ist sehr sehr schwer aber ich liebe die sprache und die deutsche geschichte und die kultur.
aber ich wuerde sagen, andere laender haben die gleiche problem mit der sprach. wo ich in den usa wohne das bundesland ist nur auf englisch, aber in der naechsten bundesland darf ich englisch und franzoeisch und in anderen englisch deutsch und spanisch aber kein franzoeisch.
bitte nicht kontrollier mein schlechtes deutsch! wie ich vorgesagt habe, ich liebe die sprache aber deutsch ist nicht leicht.
man versteht dich vollkommen, db87, und die Fehler sind wenig und minimal, also gar kein Problem. Danke für die Komplimente für unser Land und indem du deutsch sprichst.
man kann natürlich nicht von jedem Zuwanderer verlangen nur für dieses Spiel deutsch zu lernen, insofern ist die Zweisprachgkeit wenn nicht sogar nur Englisch schon angebracht. immerhin sind die Hilfen von Außen und überhaupt die neuen Einflüsse sehr hilfreich und interessant.
Willkommen in eGermark! : ]
db87, you´re very good to understand and the faults are minimal, so it´s no problem. (my english surely isn´t perfect as well) Thanks for the compliments for our land and by speaking german.
of course one can´t demand of every immigrant that he/she learns german just for this game, so the bilinguality if not even just speaking english is quite well-founded. After all the help from the outside and especially the new impressions are very helpful and interesting.
Welcome to eGermark! : ]
otis +1
Hat ja niemand etwas gegen Englisch.Die momentane Regelung, Deutsch und Englisch, ist doch ok.