A new foreign-language national anthem — for Germany

posted at 12:22 pm on May 2, 2006 by Allahpundit

Assimilation follies reach Deutschland:

A Turkish version … could demonstrate how multicultural German society has become. “I would see it as a sign of integration if citizens of Turkish descent could sing the third verse in Turkish,” Hans-Christian Ströbele, a member of parliament for the opposition Greens party, told B.Z. newspaper. “It would symbolize the wide array of languages spoken in Germany.”…

“The German national anthem in Turkish would be the opposite of integration,” [Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of Merkel's Christian Democratic party,] told B.Z. “Learning to speak and write the German language is the key qualification. So if we were to offer the German hymn in Turkish, it would give the wrong signal for all immigrants living here.”

One key difference between this proposal and “Nuestro Himno”: the Turkish-language version of the German anthem would translate the original lyrics, not replace them.

Listen to the complete version of “Nuestro Himno” here. And here’s the speech Lamar Alexander delivered yesterday to introduce his Senate resolution calling for the Star-Spangled Banner to be sung only in English. “I worry, Mr. President, that translating our national anthem will actually have the effect of dividing us. It adds to the celebration of multiculturalism in our society which has eroded our understanding of our common American culture.” Ted Kennedy … agrees?

Update: Another surprise opponent of “Nuestro Himno”: Antonio Villaraigosa. Kevin Roderick writes:

Mayor Villaraigosa, looking as uncomfortable on camera as I have ever seen him, appeared on tape on “Live with Geraldo” at 11 pm. Villaraigosa told Rivera that the push to translate the Star-Spangled Banner into Spanish is “absolutely ridiculous,” and while expressing support for marchers and immigration reform he also said, in reply to a question: “If you want to be part of this country, you should sing the national anthem in English and you should wave the American flag.” The mayor did wave the flag while on stage at the Wilshire and La Brea rally Monday.

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This is too late! Already, good little German youngsters are taught to say: “Bir, icki, drei”

DougW on May 2, 2006 at 12:56 PM

They are just adding high octane fuel to the neo-nazis there. All this multicultural crap is doing nothing more than dividing everyone. Wanna speak turkish? Get the hell out of Germany then.

darwin on May 2, 2006 at 1:00 PM

In either case, regardless of the accuracy of the translation, the Germans have every right to be outraged at this, just as we have been.

A nation’s language is an expression of its culture, and the Germans can’t afford to have their culture bastardized any more than we can. Look what happened when a certain Adolf dude bastardized the German culture in the 1930′s.

This should be a wake-up call to all the world, especially here in the US, where our own National Anthem is not only being bastardized by language, it’s being given a whole new text that is meant to foster hate of our country and culture.

RWR

RightWingRocker on May 3, 2006 at 8:30 AM

um, at Bush’s 2001 inauguration he had pop star Jon Secada sing the national anthem in English and Spanish.

_Monk_ on May 3, 2006 at 1:32 PM

_Monk_,

Apparently we all had our blinders on. Although I’m behind Bush 100% in the way he’s handled the GWOT, I feel he’s let us down with regards to illegal immigration.

darwin on May 3, 2006 at 3:29 PM

Of course in 2001 we didnt have 11 million assholes taking to the streets demanding that we repeal laws simply because they were breaking them.

RWR

RightWingRocker on May 3, 2006 at 7:03 PM

José can jou sí, por el Don ser li ahí Juan so prau li hui inhale, at el Twilait eslast glimmin. José brai estraip and el estrella, I forget the rest señor.

Scherzophrenic on May 4, 2006 at 10:38 PM