euro|topics - Andrea Seibel

09/01/2009

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Seibel, Andrea

2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Die Welt - Germany | 03/07/2008

The German language in the German constitution?

The Society of the German Language wants German to be enshrined in the country's constitution, the Basic Law. The conservative daily considers this measure unnecessary: "In everyday life [the German language] sometimes rears its uglier head. It is not just the gibberish spoken by the children of immigrants that is horrendous. Many people talk in incomplete sentences, can no longer spell and do not like reading - a phenomenon for which the digital era is also no doubt to blame. ... On top of this the language is peppered with Anglicisms. ... Many educated people get annoyed about this and set up associations to save the German language. ... But could it not be that what is supposed to come across as a sign of self-confidence ... is more a sign of lacking confidence, or even of desperation? Even countries with such passages in their constitutions continue to have the problems mentioned above. Legislation ... cannot improve actual usage. We should leave our Basic Law as basic as it is now."

Die Welt - Germany | 17/05/2006

Ayaan Hirsi Ali to leave the Netherlands

"It's an escape and an expulsion and the same time – thunderbolts and the fall of man,"Andrea Seibel comments, referring to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's imminent emigration to the US. "For the Dutch consensus society, an icon like Ayaan Hirsi Ali represents a constant provocation, a thorn in its side. A missionary like Hirsi Ali isn't concerned with details or positive trends but with butting through her cause. 'I'm really not obsessed, but I want to make use of this window of opportunity.' But now the Dutch have slammed the window shut with a loud bang – with petty, formalistic accusations that she 'cheated' to get residency. A country can destroy itself this way."

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