The German European Commissioner Günther Oettinger became famous on YouTube for speaking English badly (earlier entry).

His main problem was his ignorance of stress. It’s hard to understand English when unexpected syllables are emphasized.

It’s now reported that Oettinger is trying to improve his English. Südkurier (in German, quoting Hamburger Abendblatt) and other papers report that he is increasing his English vocabulary by ten to twenty words a week.

Über seine Lernmethoden sagt Oettinger: „Abends schaue ich öfter ins Wörterbuch. Wenn es einen englischen Fachbegriff gibt, den ich nicht kenne, dann lerne ich ihn auf diesem Weg. So kommen jede Woche 10 bis 20 neue Wörter hinzu.“ Auch im Urlaub wird nun Englisch gepaukt: „Ich habe mir fest vorgenommen, in meinem Sommerurlaub einen Sprachkurs zu absolvieren.“

He looks in the dictionary every evening and if he finds a technical term he doesn’t know, he learns it. He also intends to take a language course in his summer holiday.

Which dictionary is he using, I wonder? I should think the language course will be more help with his pronunciation.